You can tell this one was personal, that this one was from his heart. He's frequently an idiot, a jer, etc.. and this by no means makes up for the shit he's pulled, but I felt it worth listening to and worth sharing.
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Bill Maher is off on so many thing but every so often he nails it: His Open Letter to Rosanne Barr
- Thread starter excelsiorlef
- Start date
Its reverse, he is on most of the time and completely off every so often. Watched him every week up to the election and almost every new rule segment ending was spot on.
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Nice post. I think it is in fact "wise" to dislike Trump, by objective standards, but this was noteworthy because of the Rosanne situation.
Knowing that you should dislike, distrust and despise that lying, dishonest piece of shit isn't necessarily the product of great wisdom, but it is wise nonetheless.
He refutes current Rosanne with statements Rosanne has said in the past. Current Rosanne is a complete heel turn from what she was and hitching her wagon to Trump makes it even more jarring. Ita not just your standard Trump roast segment.
Did Roseanne join him before or after she had resolved that petty feud with Oprah about cheating in arm wrestling?
Yeah. A wise action does not make you a wise person. But every little bit helps.
Unlike supporting Trump it does not disqualify you from being wise.
Yeah, this letter addressed the fictional Roseanne who supported Trump because jobs, not the real Roseanne who thinks David Hogg is an actor.
His defense of Franken was him saying it's not the same as what Weinstein did, and then maybe trying to imply that he shouldn't have resigned. Franken was pushing us in the right direction, arguably. He's also a friend of Maher's, blah blah. I don't think he deserves the same level of condemnation, or maybe even quite the same type. It was right for Franken to be called on it, and despite what good he was doing, I can't imagine him being able to be effective in his job after that, so he had to go.
I generally like Bill, other than lately his penchant for overreacting to political correctness is getting a bit much, and praising loathsome people like Jordan Peterson and Milo.
This segment was his best in a long time though.
Also I agree with his defense of Al Franken very much. I am with the MeToo movement, but there has to be nuance. Al Franken is clearly a very different person now than he was when he was doing comedy, and he has done nothing but fight for women as a politician. I've read a few of his books and they have been great inspirations, he is a good man that stood for and fought for good values.
This segment was his best in a long time though.
Also I agree with his defense of Al Franken very much. I am with the MeToo movement, but there has to be nuance. Al Franken is clearly a very different person now than he was when he was doing comedy, and he has done nothing but fight for women as a politician. I've read a few of his books and they have been great inspirations, he is a good man that stood for and fought for good values.
Yep. Bill Maher is spot on like 95% of the time. The 5% of the stuff that he says that is problematic is just what typically gets the most attention because his audience is almost entirely progressives. Him shitting on and exposing conservatives never gets talked about because its not controversial to his primary audience.
And a nazi. Let's not forget that now. How somebody goes from socialist to alt-right, I'll never get.
It's actually quite easy, especially if you're white - they never earnestly held those beliefs, they just enjoyed being a fringe asshole and they're insulated enough from the consequences of what's actually happening in America.
Wow, there is alot of truth in that. But every time it happens there is a cry of fake news or whataboutism from trump supporters. I wonder if she really would take it to heart.
Bill Maher sucks and if you think he is usually right or 95% right or whatever then you should seriously reconsider why you call yourself a progressive.
Yeah for the most part he's alright. Saw him live last weekend.
The day I start caring about what people who care more about labels think ...ah fuck it, that day won't come.
It was a good segment. I watch every week and as everyone says he is right sometimes and VERY wrong others. His use of the n word last year was awful but he is usually insightful with facts to back him up
A broken clock is right twice a day. Bill only needs to be right once a week.
I'm not talking about "labels," I'm talking about people who think they are progressive but who can get down with a racist imperialist "anti-PC" shithead like Bill Maher. You can use whatever descriptors you want.
If being a progressive means you have to hate Bill, then nooooo thank you.
I mean, he has a writing staff for things like New Rules and his monologue and shit.
Being anything means you have to have some internal consistency and actually consider what it is that you believe.
If your opinions about serious issues are contingent on whether or not they align with some washed up creep ex-comedian who you want to call by his first name like he's your real friend, then those opinions are pretty shallow, IMO
I was about to post this earlier. I like Bill, but he's so hot and cold on shit.
But he fucking NAILED this segment. HARD.
But he fucking NAILED this segment. HARD.
You can keep your "moral consistency". I'll take nuance any day over a strident adherence to any belief system.
Nuance, like "hmm yeah maybe you're right Milo, trans people are weirdos" or "uhh actually terrorism happens because they hate our freedoms" or "yes Dr. Peterson you have a good point about the neo Marxist SJWs" or "hey I found a very thin excuse to drop an n-bomb, check it out."
Maher is like anti-nuance. He's intellectually lazy and historically ignorant. His opinions are all the exact standard ones for an old douchebag who takes political progress as a personal affront.
Not to mention the dude isn't even a little bit funny, although that's subjective, I guess.
I understand the shade thrown at Bill, especially around these parts. I understand his weak spots and hope the guests he has on work on correcting his lack of perspective on certain issues or at least stand up to the shits he invites on sometimes (like what Larry Wilmore did on the Milo episode).
I really like the vigor of modern day progressives but I'm still waiting for them to come bring the fight somewhere outside of message boards. Please come sweep us away in the blue wave of 2018.
I say this as someone who has been reading Chomsky and watching democracy now for 15 years. Bernie making it as far as he did in 2016 was Unbelievable to me. As someone who knew about him since I started following politics. If someone said 15 years from now Sanders might be the democrats presidential choice I'd have laughed you out of the building.
I really like the vigor of modern day progressives but I'm still waiting for them to come bring the fight somewhere outside of message boards. Please come sweep us away in the blue wave of 2018.
I say this as someone who has been reading Chomsky and watching democracy now for 15 years. Bernie making it as far as he did in 2016 was Unbelievable to me. As someone who knew about him since I started following politics. If someone said 15 years from now Sanders might be the democrats presidential choice I'd have laughed you out of the building.
I find myself liking Bill himself less and less over time, but his show remains very entertaining, and there's not really anything else like it on tv. This was a good segment.
Maybe one of his friends could do a New Rule about him being an out of touch Islamophobe with white privilege preaching to young people about being too "PC" because they think Apu is racist or want people to respect their choice of gender pronouns.
It SHOULD be the default belief of any sane person.
Trump's the hero of the everyday simpleton. There just happens to be a lotta damn simpletons out there. "Durrr, Trump'll know how tuh save our country! He's rich, so, that means he'sa got the SMARTS! He'll make us all kinda of rich and bring back coal, make more jerbs for us, sell us tonic that can cure our baldness, make the cripples dance an stuff like dat!"
the thing is the shit he's wrong about is also the shit he's the most sensitive about and he has a way of doubling down on his shittiest stances.
maybe that's also something that makes him like every other human being, idk. but then again if the argument is "he's just like everybody else" then i don't understand how that's a defence of the guy or the show.
It's kinda of interesting to focus the rant on Roseanne the character and not real Roseanne. There's only been a couple episodes of the new season and we don't know what sort of character arc Roseanne will have; she might realize her mistakes in voting for trump. The new yorker article, for example, stated "And, in fact, the seventh episode, which I won't spoil, pulls a daring switcheroo, one that may offer a new lens through which to interpret Roseanne's behavior". I think Roseanne the person is much worse but he doesn't really want to address that because she's his friend
It's usually the people that never regularly watched him at some point or another that have real difficulty why people might still watch him or like what he says most of the time. They see headlines of outrage from his mostly liberal audience and then sum that up to mean he must be wrong most of the time, when its really not the case. People, at least myself liked to watch because he was good at articulating progressive points and having good segments, like this thread shows, that are nice to share, are compact and communicate your thoughts well. I'm not voting for the guy as president or declaring him the official progressive representative, so I don't really see why people get upset about agreeing with him most of the time and disagreeing with him on others. Me personally don't agree with when he talks about certain aspects regarding Islam, free speech, millennials, or how he seems to appreciate the novelty of people like Roger Stone or Milo without knowing much about them. But since there are like limitless things in politics to talk about and he has made a career being on the air for decades interacting with shitheads and destroying them, a live show is bound to get all his weirdness and issues out in the open. He at least when he has these nutbags on calls them out most of the time. When he fails is when he makes a headline everyone gets angry about. This isn't a CNN panel where everyone has to play nice with the crazy people.
I haven't actually watched a live full episode of his in a while though, probably back to the Milo eps. He had a bad few weeks there and i personally needed a break and was tired of watching crazy people believe their shit. It is annoying though when people chime in and proclaim that by saying they agree with many of his liberal policies and disagree with some others that all of a sudden we are now not progressives and must be shamed. This isn't like endorsing and voting Trump to fuck over minorities because i like tax cuts.
It's amazing to me that you can see him nodding along with Milo or listening reverently to Peterson or inviting Bari Weiss onto his show multiple weeks in a row and see that as him "failing" to push back against his crazy guests. Sounds more like he is down with what they're saying.
Yeah, it actually is. It's supporting a guy who shits on Muslims, LGBTQ people and leftists because you like how he makes fun of Trump.
it's a defense because it at least means he's being real about his views and not just trying to pander to his mostly left-leaning/progressive audience. i dont agree with bill maher on everything and that's kind of why i enjoy watching him. i can have my own views reinforced by trevor noah, jon oliver, and era. but reaching out of my bubble from time to time is kind of nice, and i'm only just barely doing that by watching bill maher.
Selectively quoting me here without the context of everything else i was saying is kind of similar to your interpretation of Maher here, which is appropriate. Cool.
Also, please do provide evidence on how he bashes LGBTQ people. I only recall him shrugging his shoulder when Milo presented him with a made-up fact about transgender people, which rightfully so got people upset. And like i said, i watched him regularly so i'll be entertained by the findings.
I guess for me there are certain ideas that aren't actually valid, even if they are "controversial." I don't dislike imperialism apologia or transphobia because they intrude into my left wing safe space, I dislike those things because they're reprehensible.
I don't see him saying awful shit and congratulate myself on how open minded I am and what a diversity of opinions I consume. I don't really understand the appeal, to be honest. It would be one thing to say "he's wrong about some things but he's so smart about other things that he's worth listening to," it's a different kind of thing to actually enjoy his dumbest takes because they represent some ideal of political diversity.