Bill Maher To PC Liberals: “Shut Up”

[SGOS]

There were but two paragraphs and no video in this report of what Bill Maher said the other night so there isn't much context to understand what his point might have been.

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/bill-maher-pc-liberals-shut-145456857.html

Bill Maher To PC Liberals: “Shut Up”

After nicking Sen. Ted Cruz who signed up for Obamacare, and grilling Gov. Mike Huckabee on his Christian persecution complex, HBO Real Time host Bill Maher scolded liberals for their internecine. “What is the point of attacking people who are 95 percent on your side?”  he wondered.

“How deeply stupid has the far left become when gay designers can’t get along with gay musicians, when vegans attack vegetarians for not being pure enough…I see agnostics and athiests bitching at each other . Why is this even a thing? Do you believe in a talking snake? Me neither â€" we’re on the same team!

I can think of but one person from the atheist camp who bitches at agnostics (for being fence sitters [a woman not in this forum, and it's her definition]).  I've heard plenty of semantic arguments over definitions of agnostic, but that seems like a pedantic issue, rather than a PC issue.  And it's not like atheists condemn each other to Hell for being politically incorrect.  In fact, I think of agnostics and atheists being on the same page for the most part.  Arguments of such a nature are rare and rancor is pretty non-existent.

As for vegans and vegetarians, or gay designers and gay musicians, I wasn't aware of any great conflicts there either.  Did something happen in the news lately that I'm not aware of?  I like having Maher on our side.  He might be more well known than Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, but sometimes I just can't figure him out.  However, this could be a news report that's been edited to the level of pointlessness. 

[Mike Cl]

Of course where is it written that just because a person is gay that all other gay people must like him/her?  Of if a person is agnostic or atheist, that all agnostics or atheists must agree with everything they say or think? 

[SGOS]

That doesn't help Maher's argument much.  Atheists can have bitter arguments over political ideology, but I don't think that's relevant to what Maher is saying.  If he is in fact saying they shouldn't argue over such things, then he's naïvely idealistic and his comments become irrelevant, don't they?

Edit:  Also, I'm having a hard time understanding what the politically correct position would be for atheists and gays.  "I'm a real atheist, but you're not??"  Is one type of gayness more PC than another?  I'm getting more and more confused the more I think.

[Munch]

This guy needed more context to what he was saying. Yes I agree if it was the case of a lot of people who are gay, atheist, agnostic, liberal and the like were pick at each other, but he's not providing context to this.
And people are people, we always find things to argue about. What we do argue about isn't taking away to a civilized standard for different groups though, like what christians and republicans want to do.

[Solitary]

https://youtu.be/cxmdi7ZOJEM

[Shiranu]

Bill Maher is just... annoying at times.

I mean, when he is right he is right and the whole toxic attitude is tolerable, but... I'm not 16 anymore, it's just not as cool and edgy as it use to be. It's just immature feeling.

That said I agree mostly with him, and the context was poorly given in the article. It's just his delivery can be so toxic.

[stromboli]

Bill Maher is Bill Maher. In many ways he is as annoying and pushy as Bill O'Reilly. He may be an atheist, but that doesn't make him right all the time.

[Solitary]

It's a comedy show for crying out loud. Comedy is all about offending---ever hear about how many Jews can fit in a Volkswagen? Or, "Daddy, what is a pervert? " shut up and ---- -------!  That really is a nasty one. Even FOX NEWS has said they are not a news show, but a comedy show. The reaction by liberals to Bill Maher show he was correct, they too are taking things way to serious, even WORLD SERIOUS. That was a joke!  :fU:  Solitary

[SGOS]

I still prefer NPR.  If I want to actually laugh with tears in my eyes, I'll watch Jon Stewart.

[trdsf]

The point is well taken that we on the Left are like herding cats, enough so that if someone did get us all pointing in the same direction, I'd consider taking it as the first evidence for a supernatural power worth following up on.  And this is a weakness in the face of a right wing noise machine that can get lockstep conformity out of their minions with Nürnberg-like efficiency.  Frankly, I'm with Bill -- we have much bigger battles to fight than each other.

Could Maher have phrased it better?  I dunno, maybe, but I don't think it would've made a lot of difference, someone would've bitched about it anyway.  D&G could've definitely phrased their comments better -- if they hadn't used the word 'synthetic', I'm willing to bet there wouldn't have been even any notice of, much less protest over, their statement.

As for myself, I've often considered 'political correctness' to be little more than an excuse for liberals to burn books too.  Banning words and hiding behind euphemisms only conceals problems.  It does not fix them.

[Brian37]

Bill Maher is just... annoying at times.

I mean, when he is right he is right and the whole toxic attitude is tolerable, but... I'm not 16 anymore, it's just not as cool and edgy as it use to be. It's just immature feeling.

That said I agree mostly with him, and the context was poorly given in the article. It's just his delivery can be so toxic.

Um no, especially on the issue of religion, religion needs to be knocked off it's pedestal. No not get rid off, but it does not get a taboo status. You have assholes in Indiana discriminating against gays, you have things like Hebdo and all the violence in the middle east. I am with Bill, fuck PC it does not help the way people think it will help.

"Toxic is what religion does, what leads to bigotry and violence.

[Brian37]

Now anyone here that thinks Bill is an immature meanie, here is a MUSLIM from Pakistan who blasted Ben Affleck for his well intended but wrong headed approach.

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/10/25/comment/an-open-letter-to-ben-affleck/

What you really did though, perhaps inadvertently, was silence a conversation that never gets started. Two people attempted to begin a dialogue and you wouldn’t even listen. Why should any set of ideas be above criticism, Ben?

If we want the religion to be civil, then it must accept that it will get picked on. Civility is not demanding taboos or being blasphemy free. Civility is what you do when you get offended. Only an idiot thinks an insult is worse that being murdered over an insult.

[Mermaid]

Um no, especially on the issue of religion, religion needs to be knocked off it's pedestal. No not get rid off, but it does not get a taboo status. You have assholes in Indiana discriminating against gays, you have things like Hebdo and all the violence in the middle east. I am with Bill, fuck PC it does not help the way people think it will help.

"Toxic is what religion does, what leads to bigotry and violence.

While I agree with what he says, he's disrespectful. Being disrespectful is doing the same thing in the opposite direction. While Religulous was very good, it was also hard to watch because of this.

Proselytizing either way is not going to solve any problems.

[Solitary]

  Religion is suppose to be respected now like it is a sacred cow? I never will after seeing the atrocities done by all the religions, even Buddhism is corrupted by other religions now. Solitary

[Mermaid]

Religion is suppose to be respected now like it is a sacred cow? I never will after seeing the atrocities done by all the religions, even Buddhism is corrupted by other religions now. Solitary

No. That's not at all what I mean.

I feel the same way you do about how many fucked up things are done in the name of religion. I also think judgment and proselytizing is at the center of that. If everyone just minded their business and quit trying to control what other people do on either side of the fence, the world would be a much better place.