They won't. They've already made their "comment."
I'm actually curious if ratings are going up due to all the controversy this year, trumps presidency, etc
Bill Maher apologizes for N-word. HBO/Sasse also comment
- Thread starter xDUMPWEEDx
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They won't. They've already made their "comment."
I'm actually curious if ratings are going up due to all the controversy this year, trumps presidency, etc
lightskintwin
Banned
I don't think the one's wanting Maher fired for this, watch his show regularly; so his ratings will be fine.
I thought it was a dumb attempt at a joke, and show's he's way too comfortable with that word and/or thinks he's too cool or down for black folks to get away with it, or worse yet doesn't respect them enough to remove it from his vocabulary, but I still enjoy his show and will continue to watch.
However I do understand the criticisms Maher is getting not only for this, but for things he's said in the past.
As somebody who's watched his show for over a decade, Maher seems to suffer from a limitation in perspective that I can only assume comes from being an elite, rich White male. I think Sam Harris suffers from this too.
Muffdraul
Member
I assume most people watch the show for the panel discussions, not because they like Bill Maher. That's why I watch it, anyway. I often find him grating, with his smug smarm. I do agree with most of his political and religious views, though.
metalslimer
Member
I would rather his show be gone and replaced with an actual liberal whose more informed than Maher is. I would actually love to see Jon Stewart in that format where he isn't limited. I also have never found Maher particularly funny so the only good I've ever gotten from his show was the format.
Speaking of which I really wish Larry Wilmore had figured out how to do his show because when he is on he is fucking amazong. I think the 4 times a week show killed him.
plagiarize
Banned
Thanks Daryl. Said it better than I could have. Seeing people avoid acknowledging that the joke was racist is pissing me off.
I don't think Maher's intent was to be racist. I think he wanted to lampoon Sasse, as a far right Rublican, saying "Come work in our fields" or whatever. He wanted to draw a comparison between modern day extreme Republicans and slave owners while simultaneously deprecating himself by confessing he's too lazy to perform real physical labor.
Of course the WAY he conveyed this WAS inexcusably racist. But I wonder what the reaponse would have been if he'd said "I'm a house N-Word" or "a house slave" instead of actually using the N word.
I do agree that anyone that would say the word on air must use it frequently enough to have it chambered in their mind, tired or not. I like Real Time as a show, so now I gotta think about this. :-(
Of course the WAY he conveyed this WAS inexcusably racist. But I wonder what the reaponse would have been if he'd said "I'm a house N-Word" or "a house slave" instead of actually using the N word.
I do agree that anyone that would say the word on air must use it frequently enough to have it chambered in their mind, tired or not. I like Real Time as a show, so now I gotta think about this. :-(
You do realize as a comic he makes his points via irreverence, right?
When pressed more seriously, he almost always talks about the clear dangers of Sharia law and how those views often create tyrannical societies. He especially highlights the statistics that emphasize the acceptance of that position in certain countries, and this is where Islam becomes the "motherload of bad ideas," as Sam Harris has alluded to on the same show.
If you really think his nuance on an issue is literally dating, you're just looking for an excuse to push a card on him. You would more likely be better off attacking him for more profound botches on making his points, but that's also why I brought up Sam Harris earlier, for their points are the same from what I understand, and in that regard they're sound.
I'm sure Bill has made some terrible arguments about the problems of Islam, mostly because he fails to reemphasize how terrible the ideas of Sharia thought really are, but it's deeply disingenuous to call him an Islamophobe when he's talking about serious issues within that theology, and how a great deal of its views and values fight western democracy, which again is primarily the canon of Sharia law that fights the western society we have. That's frequently what happens when the Islamophobe card is used, for there's some failure to grasp what's being pointed to and spoken about, and I can at least concede this is a two-way street and Bill is not the person I even go to when it comes to listening to issues about Islam.
The card is too quickly thrown however, for it's thrown at people simply being critical of Islam. For fucks sake, Maajid Nawaz is considered to be an Islamophobe by some, and he's still a Muslim!
There's a distinction for you because you're not black.
The word means nothing to you, you get to be completely divorced from any negativity surrounding the word.
Well maybe not all negativity. You might get push back from saying it... but hey, you'll probably get people caping for you, trying to explain your "intent" and making the distinction between you and worse white people.
plagiarize
Banned
It doesn't work.
No one is going to perceive racist intent in a white guy asking another white guy to come and work the fields.
Firstly because there was none.
Replace Maher with Dave Chapelle and the response would be 100% justified, because it would be massively inappropriate to say that to a black guy. But it wasn't said to a black guy. At best it would have been horrendously tone deaf and people would have no problem with Chapelle or whoever pointing that out in a confrontational way.
I'd still find the response inappropriate though less so if Maher had used different language.
The slaves weren't invited to work the fields.
plagiarize
Banned
Saying terrorism is exclusively a Muslim thing is wholly untrue. If that isn't islamophobia I'm not sure what is.
Speaking of Dave Chappelle, where's all the outrage and indignation for his joking about a rapist superhero? Or does being black make it ok to tell rape jokes too?
Maher has never said terrorism is exclusively a Muslim thing. What he has said is that today, in 2017, there are no terrorist armies or states being established in the name of any other religion.
Maher has never said terrorism is exclusively a Muslim thing. What he has said is that today, in 2017, there are no terrorist armies or states being established in the name of any other religion.
plagiarize
Banned
I see outrage right here, completely off topic. I'm sure a mirror is not the only place you can find it.
You should make a thread and express the issues you have with a black person making a joke about rape.
excelsiorlef
Member
People think he's leftist or liberal when in fact Maher is not of the left.
"He's a pot-smoking, right-libertarian who backs Dems bc he hates social cons."
Did he just compliment Barry Goldwater?
go see the thread about his recent standups and you'll see the "outrage".
Yeah the maher hate is usually fueled mostly by his statements on Islam. But his attacks are usually consistent, and more about the concepts at play that fuel its radicalized use. It enrages some of the left because he hates on it so openly, but it's more about being anti religion than racist
He hangs around Chris Rock all the time, so he probably says the N-word frequently, just like Chris Rock does.
Lord Frieza
Member
Speaking of Dave Chapelle, when no has brought him up lol
Yeah, that whole statement is something else. Wow.
Yeah, that whole statement is something else. Wow.
plagiarize
Banned
I brought him up just to highlight that you can't complain about a black person saying the same thing, because if a black person had just been invited to work the fields, such a response would have been *measured*.
But yeah it was nothing to do with him and his specific comedy.
Someone brought him up, but my overarching point is that this entire "controversy" comes down to people's preconceived opinion of Maher. If you already thought he was a bigot, this was just confirmation. If you didn't, then it was at worst a really shitty joke. His skin color or relative wealth are secondary considerations for most of the people chiming in.
plagiarize
Banned
It's a racist joke. Just say it.
DontBeThatGuy
Member
It's hard to say if he feels the same way these days, considering his advocacy for universal healthcare, and defending other policies that would give an actual libertarian a coronary.
No, you brought him up so you could complain about black people getting "special treatment".
You're not fooling anyone.
plagiarize
Banned
I brought him up in passing. But I agree with you. Just wanting to keep the facts in order.
excelsiorlef
Member
Chapelle was taken severly to task, by pretty much the same people taking Maher to task, especially for Chappelle's transphobic jokes.
lightskintwin
Banned
I know, I wasn't saying no one else brought him up. I was saying his "I only brought him up because other people did." excuse was bullshit.
excelsiorlef
Member
Barry Goldwater ran on opposition to the civil rights act... god Maher's an idiot
Then why did Sasse, a Republican Senator from Nebraska (let's not forget the role the Kansas-Nebraska act played in the lead up to the civil war), who went to Yale and I bet has never spent a single day in his life working in the fields, say that to Maher? Nebraska is like number 16 in terms of states with the most farms in America. Is it because of the corn?
I'm honestly not trying to be facetious or excuse Maher. At the time it struck me as a strange thing for Sasse to say, that's all. Is it possible that Maher's response took what he thought might be a surreptitious implication of racism underpinning Sasse's comment and ramped it to 11 in a misguided attempt to "out" Sasse.
Of course none of that changes the fact that it's likely Maher off camera throws the N word around like a Tarantino movie.
While we're talking about reality here, remember that the argument in the past that field work was done via choice and want. This totally overlaps with the current neoliberal OS our culture has, where everyone has true freedom and isolationism that the sheer assertion that there's ideas of coercion via sufferange and power plays are argued as shams. Remember, our secular deity is the free market, and it always works morally and justly. No one is shackled or oppressed, apparently.
If he said it was just only in the domain of Muslim actions, he's dead wrong. We have Christian shooters in this country this decade alone, but of course, as a Christian nation, there's always the scapegoating to the usual issues of isolationism, which again, loops with that neoliberal bit. Most Muslim countries don't have neoliberalism nor Christianity as their main systems, and thus are seen as a "all together" type of clumping. It's the usual hypocrisies of praising and blaming perceived ingroups and outgroups. Look at just the topic of race and how quick the white majority looks at whites as isolated beings, but blacks as clumps and units. It's the same game. It's also done to subtly talk about people who "play" the game correctly or incorrectly, though this is another arena to normalize inequality and persecution, but I am likely pivoting away from the central point here.
I do believe Bill's points focus on the lack of reformist pushes that have led to a lot of blind acceptance of very toxic, very violent ideas, and this is hard to refute. What's particularly bad when it comes to attacking a belief, be it a religious or a worshipped belief, is that criticism is seen as combat. You criticize Islamic beliefs and you apparently hate all Muslims, which is as if criticizing Capitalism means you're a damn dirty commie. Our culture makes these quick jumps nearly any time examples like this arise, and of late, they arise weekly.
There's also the unfortunate factor that many today driven to violence via religious belief that hits the news are Muslims, which can help create the idea it's only Muslims. After all, what happened with that Christian who shot up an abortion clinic, or more recently the self-proclaimed "Patriot" who killed two people defending Muslims on a train? They're coincidentally seen as standalone isolated events and not a damning view on a body of thought. Funny how that works in a white, Christian nation that likes to see itself as disconnected enough that you can't get the same levels of groupthink they proclaim radical Islam to have.
I'm clearly fooling you but that doesn't seem terribly difficult to me.
excelsiorlef
Member
Sasse literally just meant come be blue collar like us folksy folk...
He was playing up a salt of the earth character.
And Maher decided to be a moron and give him cheap pr to boot.
Aren't you precious.
You should get started on your black privilege thread, it's clear your hatred is eating you up inside.
No you.
lightskintwin
Banned
See, here's the problem that I think some liberal White guys can't see like Bill Maher. Being Anti Religious is fine. I'm an Atheist, and Anti Religious. The problem is recognizing you're not arguing in a vaccum, but in the context of America and Western countries in general being predominately religiously or culturally Christian. So being Anti Christian really doesn't do much negatively when the majority is Christian. Christians are represented in all diverse ways of various races in diverse fields on media . Islamic Extremist Terrorism that affects Western countries are reported and replayed over and over and provides sympathy for the western victims.
Muslims aren't represented barely, if at all, in Western media, There aren't diverse portrayals of Muslims or Arab looking, Brown people in Western media, and when they are they're playing Terrorists or only showing news reports from Terrorism. Islamic Extremist Terrorism has by far killed more Muslims than any other group, but you wouldn't be able to tell through Western Media. Apparently Muslims aren't doing enough except being the biggest victims of such terrorism. America and other Western countries foreign policy have been invading and bombing Arab looking, Brown folk for decades with a lot of innocent casualties along the way, but like Black folk before them they must grin and bear it.
They're political parties in Western countries that spend every waking day wanting to demonize all Muslims, some such as the President wants to ban them for travel. ALL OF THIS has an effect on the day to day lives of regular Muslims who just want to live their lives in peace, and when there's an echo chamber of hate, you need to be careful as a "liberal intellectual" on what you're saying to disrupt this or add to it, and unfortunately Bill Maher and Sam Harris have been adding to and giving a voice of reason to this echo chamber of hate, whether they intended to or not.
I find your open racism refreshing in a twisted way.
old manatee
Banned
What are you even talking about. gaf tore Chappelle a new a-hole because of his shitty transgender bit.
fixed (I'm bad at posting from my phone)
excelsiorlef
Member
Umm did you quote the right post?
plagiarize is saying Chapelle telling this Maher joke would be different.
D
Deleted member 1159
Unconfirmed Member
I mean, I think there are various degrees of immorality. I think that's true I regardless of the color of my skin or the topic at hand. That's not to say immorality should be tolerated, but some forms are more tolerable than others. Drunk driving is wrong, but premeditated murder is worse. That's not a crazy concept right?
Also, people kept bringing up Louis CK earlier and the comparative lack of outrage his bit on "nigger" got, forgetting the fact that it's obvious he's targeting white people's fascination with trying to find ways to say it and subsequently their internalized racism, including his own (seriously, CK makes himself the butt of his own joke as a white person).
Praytell what point was Maher making?
Praytell what point was Maher making?
Tore a new a-hole? Just like they've done to Maher? Let's test this theory.
Yup, totally the same.
old manatee
Banned
So you didn't actually read the threads and you are just babbling complete nonsense. Got it. Good job using the search engine though!
You're welcome?
excelsiorlef
Member
Chapelle's issues came up in one set of comedy specials
Maher's issues come up in his basically weekly series.
Foffy has done a good job in this thread parsing down Mahers points. His points aren't based on stereotypes or demonization, but basically that there is a very open and loud interpretation of Islam seen in countries and radical groups that emphasize a culture of lack of equality of men and women amongst other things. He voices that liberals by nature should be against this, but aren't because they are sensitive to respecting other cultures. He thinks there should be a global revolution against this interpretation, but he doesn't think there is, citing polls of Muslim opinion as evidence
Since his Schtick is extreme anti religion, he cares not for being sensitive for peaceful muslims and their lives because he thinks it's all horseshit in the end. Moreover he wants more people vocally oppose the problematic interpretation that not only fuels radicalization, but human rights issues currently practiced in some Muslim nations
excelsiorlef
Member
I hope this post isn't intended as a defense for Maher.
Let me summarize this nonsense.
You think Gaf, a hivemind apparently, did not do enough to call out Chapelle's sexism because he is black.
You furthermore only use the perceived lack of calling out sexism to deflect from racism, calling out members of Gaf(=hivemind).
Are you just trying to look like a racist who doesn't actually care about sexism, or what is your goal here?
The accusation of a witch hunt will never not be a selfrevealing moment.
excelsiorlef
Member
You used neogaf searches to defend your argument... now you're talking about something from 17 years ago?
Also lol your edit
Drunk driving and premeditated murder are universal. Anyone can be victims of these things, can the same be said about nigger?
You may have worried about a drunk driver or someone murdering you but have you ever worried about being called a nigger or any of the negativity associated with word?
You making distinctions between the types of white people using it is kind of irrelevant.