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[Toxi]

If it were Maher against 99% of leftists, sure, I'd be fine with that. But I don't think that's the case. I think we're all sort of inclined to see "the left that's not me" as the fringe opinion, but I don't think a successful liberal coalition is possible without people on his wavelength.

Throwing out all of the people who are occasionally assholes sounds very nice, but I think a vast majority of people are occasionally assholes. Can't build a society without them.

And I imagine you agree - that there's a level of shitty opinion you're okay with before you throw someone out. My bar is probably just lower - but I think most people should be lowering their bars. The US is hostile to leftist thought, and we can't afford it.

Bill Maher has many times whined about the "regressive Left" and how the liberal coalition should reject those people. We're just holding him to that same standard.

 

[Knuckle Sandwich]

I listen to him because he's funny and I agree with him on certain things. He can also be painfully unfunny at times and there are things he believes that are idiotic. I don't care if he shits on religion.

 

[Bolivar687]

That's reasonable *shrugs*

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Watching/listening to Bill Maher ≠ agreeing with everything he says.


Hell, sometimes I listen to conservative AM radio when I'm driving, just to keep tabs on them. Sure as hell doesn't mean I agree with them.

 

[The Technomancer]

If it were Maher against 99% of leftists, sure, I'd be fine with that. But I don't think that's the case. I think we're all sort of inclined to see "the left that's not me" as the fringe opinion, but I don't think a successful liberal coalition is possible without people on his wavelength.

Throwing out all of the people who are occasionally assholes sounds very nice, but I think a vast majority of people are occasionally assholes. Can't build a society without them.

And I imagine you agree - that there's a level of shitty opinion you're okay with before you throw someone out. My bar is probably just lower - but I think most people should be lowering their bars. The US is hostile to leftist thought, and we can't afford it.

I'll say this: my bar is lower for people who don't have a show on HBO and a prominent voice. There's stuff like the transgender issue where it would take only basic education for Maher, someone who considers himself pretty intellectual, to get on the right side of things.

 

[dohdough]

He's not as smart as he thinks he is and doesn't really like push-back on his views. I used to enjoy his show for the catharsis, but it got old after a couple years. I still enjoy his stand up though and some of his guests are on point. His constant railing against Muslims is a huge turn off.

One thing I give him credit for is putting his money where his mouth is despite how reprehensible as some of his speech is.

Another thing I've noticed is that his writers and advisors are VERY important in regards to how he understands an issue and talks about it on his show. I've noticed that there was a lot of improvement made when it came to talking about race in the last several years and I don't think it's due to him educating himself and evolving his views on his own.

 

[broncobuster]

Which ones? Genuinely curious. I don't know too much about him but watch him fairly often.

Some has been touched on by others, such as his views on transgender people. And he has some hangup on saying transgender from one of his recent episodes.

I occasionally watch his show depending on the guests. It can be interesting from time to time, but never been much of a fan of Bill himself.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Howard Stern should be fired - Transphobe, Islamaphobe, had KKK on his show!
Dave Chapelle should never be hired again
Chris Rock too! He said vile shit about white kids...racist pig

Anyone else? Off the top of my head

 

[The Albatross]

"liberal white supremacist"

A few more threads and Bill Maher will be a Neo-Nazi according to some you.

Funny,,he got fired from ABC because he said the 9/11 hijackers weren't cowards.

He's a Liberal White Supremacist, Muslim Terrorist sympathizer and a pedophile

Yep, this is how the left eats their own. You have to be ideologically pure, otherwise you're "Gross" or a nazi, and the result is that you get left with ideological purists who get destroyed in local elections or you tear down your own candidate so much that a reality TV show host beats her.

 

[unpopularblargh]

Howard Stern should be fired - Transphobe, Islamaphobe, had KKK on his show!
Dave Chapelle should never be hired again
Chris Rock too! He said vile shit about white kids...racist pig

Anyone else? Off the top of my head

I don't think anyone has said he should be fired...

 

[Puck Beaverton]

I don't think anyone has said he should be fired...

You should see the other thread.

 

[Dude Abides]

He's a comedian and a fairly dumb one. I don't know why anyone thinks he's anything more.

 

[bionic77]

Lets be real.

Shitting on Islam and muslims is not something that is going to hurt you in America. If we can elect a president that campaigned on a muslim ban I think that is a pretty normal view to have in the US.

Not that I agree with Maher but I think these views are pretty common in America.

 

[Nokagi]

Some of what he said in this are uncomfortable truths and some is bullshit he pulled from his ass as most people do when they speak about stuff they know little about. I'll let the "real liberals" argue over which is which. As for me I'll continue watching his show cause I find it enjoyable and I have the ability to simply disagree with some of the stuff he says.

 

[CopperPuppy]

This GIF is a pretty succinct summary of Maher. The guy is the consummate pushover and intellectual lightweight. I actually didn't even know that people needed to be told Bill Maher was a joke until I came on GAF and saw how many ardent followers he has here. As the above GIF demonstrates, he's little more than a snide coward who is incapable of a responding with anything other than some dumbed-down paraphrase of something Hitchens/Harris/Dawkins wrote. He's like the brand new, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed undergraduate atheist - itching for one of his friends or family to bring up religion so he can parrot some enlightening Dawkins quip. Like that kid, he's simply not capable of any depth.

If anyone is truly looking to fucking Bill Maher of all people for liberal commentary on current events or issues, I don't know what to tell you anymore.

 

[Fracas]

Bill Maher is a fucking moron. I seriously can't believe the dude has a following when there are infinitely more intelligent people in liberal pundit circles.

 

[Ultryx]

Watching/listening to Bill Maher ≠ agreeing with everything he says.


Hell, sometimes I listen to conservative AM radio when I'm driving, just to keep tabs on them. Sure as hell doesn't mean I agree with them.

This.

 

[Don'tBeWeird]

Feels like he has a particular problem with Arabs. So, yes, that's racist, and yes, that does make him a piece of shit.

He also loves presenting the idea that most Muslims are evil (genuine Islamophobia), but apparently didn't like the idea of a travel ban.

And then there's the Milo stuff.

But hey, all that bigotry seems okay with a few people on here.

 

[I H8 Memes]

Never liked Maher. For the same reason I dont like Rumsfeld, Trump, or Rove. He has a sociopaths eyes. No real empathy in the eyes of someone like that. I guess I must be crazy to think I can see this shit so clearly in these peoples eyes.

 

[Clefargle]

Maher is dumb and more useless of a "liberal" than half of the YT comments section. What a limp idiot

 

[Lime]

My fear is that the young people listening to him and who consider themselves liberal or left-leaning will grow conservative and eventually Republican when faced with the challenges of an ever-changing world and the legitimate pushback against oppression from minority groups. I.e. they would sooner ally themselves on issues like Islamophobia and anti-PC oppression with fascists like Stephen Bannon or Ann Coulter than they would listen to the grievances of discriminated Muslims or students protesting against transphobia on college campuses.

 

[jmdajr]

Bill Maher is a fucking moron. I seriously can't believe the dude has a following when there are infinitely more intelligent people in liberal pundit circles.

Why is it hard to believe? Just being Intelligent doesn't guarantee anything. I mean it's kind of sad, but it's the truth.

 

[Got]

Lol, he gave money to Obama so minorties, take a hike.

It's almost as if he's a true moderate liberal, you know, the useless kind.

 

[BrutishMrFish]

Yep, this is how the left eats their own. You have to be ideologically pure, otherwise you're "Gross" or a nazi, and the result is that you get left with ideological purists who get destroyed in local elections or you tear down your own candidate so much that a reality TV show host beats her.

Someone giving speeches to Wall Street is nothing compared to someone being a bigot, and yet some of the same people who slammed Hillary for the former are defending Maher for the latter (not you specifically, I'm just saying).

The same exact argument that Maher used to defend discrimination against trans people was used to defend the racial segregation of bathrooms. If Maher had made the same baseless comments about black people that he did about trans people (ie. that we shouldn't let them use the right bathrooms because someone might prey on women), would it still be a purity test?

And besides, there's a difference between doing this to a presidential candidate and doing this to an entertainer. Maher does for the left what Milo does for the right, and at the end of the day, nothing vital to either political party hinges on their shoulders.

 

[WedgeX]

Lets be real.

Shitting on Islam and muslims is not something that is going to hurt you in America. If we can elect a president that campaigned on a muslim ban I think that is a pretty normal view to have in the US.

Not that I agree with Maher but I think these views are pretty common in America.

Sadly all too true. Grew up in a city where about half of the city has roots in the Middle East and a large number of Muslims. Hatred against both was really high and far too common.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Lets be real.

Shitting on Islam and muslims is not something that is going to hurt you in America. If we can elect a president that campaigned on a muslim ban I think that is a pretty normal view to have in the US.

Not that I agree with Maher but I think these views are pretty common in America.

The thing with Maher is that at least he's consistent when it comes to being critical of religion. For example, here he is referring to the bible as "God's big book of bad ideas."

 

[Tain]

tbh i don't know of leftists that listen to this clown

liberals on the other hand

 

[AcademicSaucer]

You should be able to mock religion tho, I really dont see how that is bigotry.

In a perfect world religion wouldnt exist.

 

[Inferno313]

The thing with Maher is that at least he's consistent when it comes to being critical of religion. For example, here he is referring to the bible as "God's big book of bad ideas."

His criticism of Islam goes well past the faith though into bigoted statements and jokes about middle-eastern people, he's constantly equivocating the religion to the culture while sitting back and going: "Islam isn't a race, so I'm not being racist!"

 

[Puck Beaverton]

I would like to note, for the record, I consider Maher the liberal, slightly less crazy version of Bill O'Reilly.

 

[Dude Abides]

Yep, this is how the left eats their own. You have to be ideologically pure, otherwise you're "Gross" or a nazi, and the result is that you get left with ideological purists who get destroyed in local elections or you tear down your own candidate so much that a reality TV show host beats her.

I was going to vote for Hillary until I saw someone on the internet say something mean about Bill Maher so I voted for Trump instead.

 

[DrKelpo]

The man played a role in my personal journey into atheism and quitting church.
I watched a lot of stuff from him criticising religion in general, but holy shit, I was unaware of some of his stances.

Awful hate towards islam and that pedo-remarks are horrible too.

 

[Back-In-Black]

This GIF is a pretty succinct summary of Maher. The guy is the consummate pushover and intellectual lightweight. I actually didn't even know that people needed to be told Bill Maher was a joke until I came on GAF and saw how many ardent followers he has here. As the above GIF demonstrates, he's little more than a snide coward who is incapable of a responding with anything other than some dumbed-down paraphrase of something Hitchens/Harris/Dawkins wrote. He's like the brand new, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed undergraduate atheist - itching for one of his friends or family to bring up religion so he can parrot some enlightening Dawkins quip. Like that kid, he's simply not capable of any depth.

If anyone is truly looking to fucking Bill Maher of all people for liberal commentary on current events or issues, I don't know what to tell you anymore.

Even though I disagree with the OP's video that attempts to discredit Bill Maher, I agree with everything you've just said. It's why I've always found him insufferable to watch as opposed to Jon Stewart who is more willing to learn something and admit when he was wrong.

 

[WhiskeyKnight]

You should be able to mock religion tho, I really dont see how that is bigotry.

It's not, but for modern liberals, criticizing jihadists makes you a racist.

Which makes me sad, because I used to think of myself as a liberal.

 

[Vestal]

What a cunt.

This is usually how Maher does his round tables, he talks to the Nutty guest tries to make him backtrack then asks a question as if he was the guest.

 

[Toxi]

This is usually how Maher does his round tables, he talks to the Nutty guest tries to make him backtrack then asks a question as if he was the guest.

Yeah, that's not what happened.

 

[AntraxSuicide]

Also y'all do realize Maher is just an entertainer/comedian right? Why are you taking anything he says to heart?

So this kind of thing is something of a pet peeve of mine (Gawker was famous for a similar defense).

Either I take someone seriously or I don't. But these guys want it both ways;they want to be treated like cutting edge journalists who are doing hard work (tm) to bring people the real news (tm)....until they say something offensive or violate some ethical standards. Then it's "hey I'm just a comedian" or "this isn't a news site, it's just a blog for lulz."

 

[Don'tBeWeird]

You should be able to mock religion tho, I really dont see how that is bigotry.

See the post below yours.

Also, when you're trying to paint the majority of Muslims as potential suicide bombers, that's when you're deep into bigot territory, and when you're allowed to share an opinion like that on television, well, that's how you get travel bans targeting a specific group of people.

 

[jmdajr]

So Bill Maher is essentially being primaried.

Who will be voted in as the new Real Time star?

 

[Spaced Harrier]

@ Lime

You were calling people right wing concern trolls for Criticism in the Iran/Swedish ministers in headscarves thread

I find supposedly "progressive" people who abandon all criticism of powerful and often times suffocating religions and cultures in the name of avoiding "racism" far more dangerous than left wing Atheists.

(I'm not American so not that familiar with, Bill Maher)

 

[OG Shaka Zulu]

Maher's one of the most famous pseudo intellectual liberals. Dat boy dumb.

 

[Back-In-Black]

So Bill Maher is essentially being primaried.

Who will be voted in as the new Real Time star?

Larry Wilmore.

Spoiler

/s

 

[Oersted]

Dan Cohen made this 7 minute compilation of some of the inane statements that Bill Maher has made and the people he agrees with. Why do people consider him a progressive again?

I see that many people, mostly liberals, listen to Bill Maher and consider him a valid and progressive voice, yet to me he comes across as a thickheaded buffoon with some incredibly harmful opinions. He complains about so-called political correctness, he supports the Zionist regime in Israel, and his track record in regards to Muslims is incredibly toxic - honestly, I see little difference between people like Steve Bannon and Bill Maher when it comes to their view on "Muslims" and the whole "the West vs Islam" discourse. So I don't know why anyone who considers themselves progressive or liberal would want to respect the guy when he clearly is more similar to an old disgruntled conservative.



http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-pr...ageous-statements-about-islam-and-muslims-are

You forgot his comments about women which are simply dehumanizing.

 

[KalBalboa]

I don't think anyone has said he should be fired...

I've seen the requests all over the place.

 

[cdyhybrid]

I don't. He's a tool.

 

[CopperPuppy]

Larry Wilmore.

Spoiler

/s

I'm frankly game for Real Time with Larry Wilmore.

 

[Emarv]

Bill Maher has always been trash, especially as a comedian. Every young dude (and it's mainly dudes) I knew growing up gravitated toward him because he was militant (and obnoxious) about defending marijuana and saying their religious parents were idiots.

 

[TenCentCoast]

He's a transphobic fuck who economic liberals like because he isn't "PC". Fuck him.

 

[Messofanego]

The guilt by association with Milo and Coulter sucks. That hurts the whole video.

But almost everything a Maher says in this clip is just criticism of the religion. And it weirds me out when liberals characterize criticism as illiberal. Especially when the target is religion, the defense mechanism of the patriarchy.

Nearly everything in this clip he says is about muslims, not as much the religion.

Jon Snow: "Would you come to a debate about this with a moderate muslim?"
Bill Maher: "Find one."

Bill Maher: "Wouldn't it be a great moment for moderate muslims - who I hear so much about - why don't you go to the Middle East and fight ISIS? Where are the moderates who want to fight ISIS if they're so bad, if they hate ISIS so much?"

Bill Maher: "The most popular name in the UK for babies this year was Muhammad. Am I a racist to feel I'm alarmed by that? Because I am. I don't have to apologise for not wanting the Western world to be taken over by Islam?"

Bill Maher: "The terrorists and mainstream [muslims] share a lot of these bad ideas."

Bill Maher: "When all the Syrian refugees were going to Europe, I wasn't for it."

Bill Maher: "Their culture is not like ours."

Bill Maher: "They're worse. What's wrong with saying that?!"

Bill Maher: "I'm not insulting Arabs or muslims, I'm keeping it real."

Bill Maher: "Freedom might not be on the top of their list of what they really want."

Bill Maher: "Why did they stop traffic and get on their cellphones and honk their horn on September 11th when the thing happened?"

Bill Maher: "Talk to a woman who's ever dated an Arab man. The reviews are not good."

Bill Maher: "If muslim men could get laid more, we wouldn't have this problem."

Anderson Cooper: "Islam is a religion of peace. Do you buy that?"
Bill Maher: "Yeah, they blow you up. There's a piece of you over there. They're violent because they threaten us and because they bring that desert stuff."

Bill Maher: "It's a culture of suicide bombing. We're dealing with a culture that is in its medieval era."

Bill Maher: "Hundreds of millions of them support an attack like this."

Bill Maher: "It's not a small percentage, right? Who believe in some of the illiberal ideas that support terrorism?"

Bill Maher: "Vast numbers of muslims."
Jon Snow: Vast majorities of muslims?"
Bill Maher: Absolutely! Most muslim people in the world do condone violence."

Bill Maher: "They do seem like professional refugees sometimes. I mean lots of places in the world have refugees. Look, America stole a lot of what used to be Mexico. But Mexico doesn't set up shop in Tijuana and lob rockets to Los Angeles! I mean, Germany, and Czechoslovakia, and Poland after the war, thousands and millions of people. When Indonesia expelled the Chinese. It happens, it's awful. But people do move on at a certain point. How long do people get before they move on? It's a fait accompli. Israel is not going away."

Richard Dawkins: "To hell with their culture."
Bill Maher: "There you go, Richard Dawkins!"

 

[radios shipping overview]

I think he's a cunt.

I think the atheist niche of liberals like him primarily for his militant stance against Islam.

Yeah, the folks who hate all religions equally, but especially Islam.