Bill Maher Needs To Spend Some Real Time Thinking About His Ass-Backwards Stance on Muslims

Bill Maher Needs To Spend Some Real Time Considering Misguided Stance Toward Muslims:

I have a lot of respect for Bill Maher and I agree with him on many points, enjoying the way he delivers his points with acerbic humor and sarcasm.  In that sense he’s a man after my own heart, but his hardline stance on the religion of Islam is as confusing to me as someone who’s pro-life but advocates war and the death penalty; a walking contradiction unto itself sitting down, making no more sense than many of the conservative policies he’s enjoyed so much commercial success poking fun of.  

For someone who’s clearly intelligent, and claims to be an atheist on top of that to suddenly begin singling out one religion as being worse than all the others is somewhat ludicrous. I mean his documentary movie “Religulous” was all about poking fun at the craziness that’s secretly all modern religions if you look hard enough or as I like to say;  each organized religion is as bat-shit crazy as the next; they just take a different flavor Kool-Aid is all.

September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City: View of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. (Image: US National Park Service ) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shifting Opinions

I feel Chris Mathews made an excellent point when he was recently on the show when Maher went on one of his anti-Muslim tirades, saying things like

“most Muslims-at least half of them, I think, around the world-think it is ok to kill someone if they insult the prophet.  And that is a big problem. That is a clash of civilizations.”

It does make him sound like he’s giving the late Osama bin Laden everything he wanted by way of inciting a damaging and costly holy war or at least the perception of one between the United States and those of the Islamic faith; too easily dismissing people of the Islamic faith as being terrorists and alienating them in the process.

Although he typically possesses more free thought, or so I thought, than he has exhibited on this subject; it would seem he chooses not to use it, blindly accepting the Obama administration and the Bush administration before its weak rationale for the reasoning behind curtailing our civil liberties, the murder of US citizens overseas as in the case of Al-Awaki, the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists as happens at Guantanamo, and the aggressive prosecuting of whistle blowers to proportions unseen before the current administration, most notably with Bradley Manning, or the recent AP incident.

Maybe it’s the fact that he donated a million dollars to his campaign this past election and has a refusal to accept that it’s been a bad investment for him.

Double Take:

When I first heard him say some blatantly anti-Muslim shit on his show, I thought to myself, surely I must have misheard, he misspoke, or I missed the punchline to his joke. Maybe my overactive imagination was at work yet again, making mountains out of mole hills.  Surely he would go on to vindicate himself through saying something to the contrary, maybe even a “gotcha”, or that it would be put into context, but this was not the case.

Nothing was to come in the form of rebuttal; strange given the fact I typically agree with nearly everything this guy says; it’s witty, it’s funny, it’s honest in making fun of our political reality in all of its absurdity; it’s butter.

On this issue however, it smacks of being off brand margarine, devoid of it’s fancy packaging, or any flavor, it’s easy for me to believe this shit’s not butter.

What most pisses me off, and gives me added cause to worry about is the likelihood his bigoted stance will encourage those already of a more hard-line persuasion that they are being moderate or reasonable even; in addition to potentially misleading others who have come to place faith in his political commentary as being relatively on point (just delivered comically), as is the case with myself.

I can hear their argument now, “see, even Bill Maher believes Muslims are the problem”; using it as a justification for their continued xenophobia, their discrimination, their hatred and their desire for persecuting the Muslim population.

By using his show to air these misguided and mistaken beliefs, he effectively joins the ranks of the Rush Limbaugh‘s and Glenn Beck’s and all those like them; a shock jock like Howard Stern and nothing more.  Just another talking head blatantly opining without any regard for accuracy, or quality in his opinion or its contents.  By choosing to spread anti Islamic hate speech, Maher only gives comfort to those who would say we truly are in the midst of a jihad.

English: Osama bin Laden interviewed for Daily Pakistan in 1997; behind him on the wall is an AK-47 carbine. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Exceptions Rather Than The Rule:

Yes, there are concrete examples of Muslims desiring to cause us harm.  Unfortunately, both 9/11 and the recent bombing of the Boston Marathon were carried out by those who professed to follow Islam.

This in and of itself does not serve to prove or to justify Mahers point as being a valid one anymore than the Westboro Baptist Church is evidence that Christianity is intolerant, or the molestation scandals involving priests would imply that all who practice Catholicism like to diddle little boys, or that it stems from their religion.

Where Maher fails, as do many of us, especially in these times of fear, is in making the effort to see the situation through the eyes of another, placing yourself in their shoes for a moment (if its possible for yourself); doing this allows us to see that deep down we aren’t so different underneath it all.

One opposing view that it would be reckless and folly for us to ignore is that of the people we have consistently rained down death upon since the year 2001.  What do you suppose it is they see when they see us?   Are we not Christians?  Is that not violence?  In terms of sheer death and destruction, the massive body count and pile of rubble we leave behind us solidify us as being the most violent and destructive society in history. period. end of point.  We are more destructive than anything that has existed on this earth before us.  How eager are we all to be judged by world or by god (if you believe in one) on the merits of actions we played no direct part in?

Honeymoon’s Over:

For the first time I could remember, I couldn’t help looking at Bill Maher like he was at least semi-retarded… The degree to which he attempted to defend Christianity against those heathens who practice Islam was baffling and sickening to witness in someone who supposedly flat-out doesn’t believe in it at all.

(Did Bill suddenly decide to eat the poison apple?)

I’m not sure who exactly he desires these brownie points for, or with, but I just hope his high ass knows that they’re not actually brownies or made of chocolate (I’m not sure that anybody has told him this, he must have the munchies).

I really still can’t get over how belligerent he insists on being in his new pastime of being an ignorant fuck…. he sounds just like most of his more conservative contestants who like an addict hide their guilty pleasure of racism from themselves; oblivious to it’s existence despite it being as plain as day for everyone else to see so clearly.

That very same fuck, or those very same fuck(s) I’ve heard him rail against time after time after time on his show; easily making them out to be just plain ignorant or dumb, and now it turns out he should be doing it into a mirror.

Casting a blanket characterization that all people of one religion, Islam, have a greater propensity towards violence than others is just plain retarded, especially for someone who loves talk about how they’re an atheist, and thinks that all religions are stupid.

This view is no less racist and no less discriminatory than those views of black people he looks down on as being backwards, and intolerant.  Why would something apply in one instance, or fit on one hand and not fit on the other?
Prejudiced, is prejudiced, hate is hate; fear is fear; backwards is backwards; right is right; and wrong is wrong, one equals the other no matter how you slice and dice it.

That is why I was especially glad Glenn Greenwald happened to be the guest on his show this last week; checking Maher hard into the boards just as he started to get out of line.

Glenn Greenwald is the only person I’ve seen really stand up to him and challenge his views when he gets on this tangent.  When it got brought up this past week or so, Bill Maher looked like he had just got owned over the entire issue having the fact he knows nothing of what he speaks laid plain before his entire audience as he got his tongue twisted and nearly had himself a little shit fit; looking notably flabbergasted from the experience.

Portrait of Glenn Greenwald -creator of Unclaimed Territory blog and contributing writer at Salon.com (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Finally Something About the Muslim Population That Makes Sense on Real Time With Bill Maher: Glenn Greenwald

I don’t know how it is that I just really became acquainted with the work of Glenn Greenwald, but I have to say he easily offers one of the best assessments of the situation we now find ourselves in; both in terms of our eroding civil liberties and congressional and judicial oversight and the continued growth of executive power  here at home as well as the increased anti-American sentiments within the Muslim world; both of which are a result of our War on Terror.

(You can follow that link to see what else I have to say on that)

If you don’t already subscribe to his RSS feed, you should and I don’t recommend that lightly.

I would like to know where you all stand on this issue; I know it’s a sensitive one which is by no means agreed upon by everyone or even most people;

So let’s get this party started and found out where everyone and their opinion is currently standing.

Nows your time to chime in if you’d like to, I know I’d like to know whether your opinions fall more in line with the host Bill Maher, or with the journalist for the Guardian, Glenn Greenwald?

Or is your take entirely your own?

Drop me a comment and lets find out!

What’s the Word?

From The Blaze;

Muslim Rage

Related articles

• Bill Maher Gets Owned by Glenn Greenwald (loonwatch.com)
• Glenn Greenwald brings facts and reason to ‘Real Time’, ruins Bill Maher’s night (mondoweiss.net)
• ‘Liberal Bull****’: Bill Maher Calls Out Prof. Claiming All Religions Are Equally Violent (theblaze.com)
• The Joke is on Bill Maher (counterpunch.org)