Meh…it was another episode of Maher continuing to express his borderline manic hate of Muslims, and taking offense at everyone who disagreed with him…including the young boy at the beginning for saying 60 year olds put 16 year olds to sleep with they start pontificating about political issues. Maher took great umbrage at that because…he is 60…and what do you mean I am not totally in touch with all you little ankle biters??
It was one of those episodes where, if Bill had shut up or walked off the set, it would have been a pretty interesting watch, given the mix of people he had on. But he stayed and kept interrupting, so it wasn’t a good watch.
“They feel left behind, they feel spat upon, they feel neglected, they feel cheated,” said Steele, stopping himself before he said "by the GOP. Boy have we fooled them for 30 years now, they are too stupid to catch on.’
I am so thoroughly tired of Bill. There are a number of things he does that I find very counterproductive. One is his stupid stance on Islam, one is his elitist stance on the stupidity of Americans (who didn’t go to Cornell - if you went to Cornell you aren’t stupid - but everyone else is,) and his very damaging insistence that our instiiutions are moribund and our system broken.
I find every one of those positions he takes and holds to be narrow minded, shallow and counterproductive.
Like Stephen King said. We all laughed at Trump when he declared and laughed and him all the way through the primaries.
We’re not laughing anymore.
I’m sorry, but if we ignore if and what university you went to (which IMHO has nothing to do with how smart or stupid you are) you don’t think most American voters are either stupid or act stupid (I’m not sure if the distinction matters)? When working class people keep voting against their own self interest what do you call that?
Brexit does not mean we get Trump. The UK had austerity. We had President Obama and at least a little help in recovering from Republican economic disaster. The result is our economy recovered enough to leave people with some sense of hope, while the Brits were given foreigners to blame for the loss of their economic future.
And yes, Maher could really use the two ears: one mouth rule.
At best, that is ignorance. I’ve met so many people over the years who aren’t stupid, but once the truth has been made clear to them–and it’s clear they actually comprehend it–many of them, for various reasons, either hate being (or being proven) wrong … so they’ll deliberately lie. That is active stupidity.
Good point. But when people choose to be willfully ignorants (entire Fox audience, Trump supporters, some Bernie supporters) what is the distinction to stupid? At least stupid doesn’t know better?
Stupid is as stupid does. Forrest Gump
You can’t fix stupid. Ron White
I would say that anyone who is willfully ignorant is almost always just as equally chosenly stupid.
ETA: Ignorance is just someone being ignorant of either a fact or a better way (of learning, of life, etc.). Once someone is made aware of a better way (even though they may not fully understand it in full, but still realize it to be better) and chose to either ignore or not to at least explore, then that person is willfully ignorant. That kind of willful ignorance is chosen stupidity. IMHO.
Misinformed.
Misinformed implies a willingness to know the facts, but somehow can’t find them. In this day and age of instant information access misinformed is a choice.
That’s not Maher’s position, however. He has gotten extremely arrogant and ego centric in almost all of his views in the past few years, and not just on politics. If someone doesn’t laugh at his jokes, those people are stupid. He regularly engages in bashing “liberals” for disagreeing with any position he has, no matter how slight…and he does so in sweeping generalization terms.
For example…last night he made the statement that 75% of muslims in England think homosexuality should be outlawed, and Paul Begley quipped back “How many republicans think homosexuality should be outlawed?”…a fair counterpoint. Maher’s answer? Yeah, but those people don’t have any actual power.
Nevermind that the Muslims in England don’t hold any actual power…what about a clerk in Kentucky refusing to issue marriage licenses? Or the entire state of Alabama ignoring the SCOTUS and refusing to issue licenses? You know…those republicans hating gays using ACTUAL POWER against them?
Or the repeated claims, which he made again last week, that only Mulsims are engaging in terrorism…nevermind Christians bombing and shooting up Planned Parenthood clinics…or gunning down doctors on the very steps of a church. Or sitting in an all black church before gunning down everyone in attendance?
If and when these things are brought up…Maher just sneers and dismisses them.
Bill is becoming the caricature of the bitter old lonely white guy who desperately wants everyone to think is cool, but really isn’t, and the bigger that gap between what he wants and what reality is grows, the angrier he becomes.
And don’t even get me started on his continued calls for Hillary or Obama to come on his show, saying they are afraid of him, after he gave Bernie a virtual blowjob in his interview.
I think it comes down to how you define “self interest”.
Most people define that monetarily. As in one’s financial interest.
But I find many people get as exercised as much, if not more so, by social, cultural, and/or religious issues, i.e. “tribal” issues. And, for these people, they’ll complain about jobs, but it’s less ego-dystonic to vote based on their social views.
It’s so fascinating to listen to two people argue about a subject about which they are close to completely ignorant. Were it not for Game of Thrones, I could cancel my HBO subscription and hear this sort of “intellectual dialogue”, between a couple of old geezers, for free at my Townhouse Association clubhouse.
Ok fine - but y’all can’t have it both ways. Either, as loads of people complain about daily, our MSM is failing our democracy and the GOP and Fox news are lying about things, or people are just too stupid to see the truth.
Michael Steele thinks he can get away with this bullshit because Reince Priebus is making him look as wise as Marcus Aurelius.
I agree with your assessment.
He isn’t as funny nor does he have the quick wit and the subtle mind of Jon Stewart, for example.
The tic Maher has where he pauses for a beat and mugs at the camera after a punchline - seemingly pleading for a laugh - is annoying.
That’s true. It also helps that Steele actually has a personality and can be a pretty funny guy when he wants.
And without a doubt, he is relishing every painful moment of the wreck that is Priebus’s reign as RNC.
EDIT: I will also say I am glad that Steele is out at the RNC, because he is not a stupid partisan hack…he is a fairly intelligent partisan hack. And when the republicans have fairly intelligent people on their side instead of stupid ones…we should all be worried.