I used to be a fan of Bill Maher. His talk shows were funny; his movie was great. He dumped on religion and advocated for drug legalization. His politically-oriented comedy was always thoughtful. But not so much anymore. Having watched the last season of Real time, it is clear to me that Maher is degenerating into a partisan hack. He’s so committed more to bashing conservatives and defending democrats that he has a hard time being either smart or funny. While he usually has interesting guests, he often ruins the conversation through his constant political pandering.
A little political pandering is good when you get two member of the Tea Party on the panel. But it totally breaks down when Maher brings in people with more nuanced views. The last episode I saw featured Times columnist and legendary blogger Andrew Sullivan. Sullivan is a pretty smart guy, not obviously partisan on either side, and has clearly thought about many different issues. When he tried to point out to Maher that the debate over tax policy was not simply about ‘higher taxes or lower taxes’, but about various types of tax reform, Maher said, “stop trying to be a conservative.” End of discussion. Earlier in the year, when libertarian thinker and reason TV editor Nick Gellispie showed up to talk about his new book, he pretty much spent the whole time trying to convince Maher that he was not a Republican. When Bloomberg was on, and pointed out that government policy (through Fanny and Freddy) played a role in the financial crisis, Maher was at a loss. It’s surprising to hear this. It’s not like he’s a foaming-at-the mouth conservative, Maher remarked.
You see, that’s the problem. The world is nuanced. But the world of political parties is not. Rep’s and Dem’s are black and white. If you are too much of a hack, this prism obscures all reasonable debate. Gray area is literally non-existent. Comedy is also nuanced. Most politicians are not (intentionally) funny.
As a guy who is so dissatisfied with the American political system, it’s odd that Maher doesn’t realize that the problem is actually political polarization. When you take the view that all conservatives are idiots, and that’s the problem, then you’re really part of the problem yourself. That’s why Jon Stewart is far better. He’s not a black and white guy. He’s a democrat, but he treats many of his rivals (like O’Reilly) with a little respect. As a result, his show is a little more honest, and his comedy is a little better. That’s the sad thing here. Maher is supposed to be a comedian and an entertainer. But lately, his shit just sounds tired, I don’t learn much, and I don’t laugh.
well said!
ReplyDeletepolitical polarization is indeed a growing and frightening problem. Grass roots, smaller government would do a much better job of actually representing its constituents; opening reasonable and multi-sided debate and probably increase democratic participation.
AM: let me guess, you don't like lefties so therefore Maher sucks? Real balanced...
ReplyDeleteI concur, Real Time has gone down hill in the last little while. Maher is too much of a politician on it.
ReplyDeleteOr, perhaps he's been given far too much material from just one side and, perhaps, it is not Maher's bias that is messing up his style but your own.
ReplyDeletePerry?
Cain?
Romney?
Paul?
The list goes on; in fact I've begun to wonder whether or not this new wave of Republicans is all just one giant conspiracy to legitimize Palin.
If so, well done vile conspirators.
But back to Maher. I suppose you'd like him to invest equal time to both major parties, a sort of entertainment-oriented politically correct-ness?
Is it not fair that one side is literally hemoraging comedic nonsense?
Perhaps you could direct your complaint to the Democrats, and ask them to actually create some death panels, or maybe they could start forgetting the things they hate most about Americans, or see if they can get that stupid blow-hard Trump to run with them.
Otherwise, I'm afraid Maher is doomed to picking on just the one side.
It could be that he's biased.
Or maybe it's just that the one side has gone so far past the border of bat-shit crazy that they've become full citizens.
And to be fair, libertarians seem to share many of the same methods or solutions as do the Republicans.
ReplyDeleteAh HM, how I've missed your thought provoking comments, boy I do miss this blog. It's like you didn't even read AM's article and went straight to your trolling duties. -sigh-
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has been watching Maher for many years, I find myself shaking my head more and more. He does a great job of making fun of crazy republicans like Hermain Cain et al, but he's clearly out to lunch on the economic issues. For example, Maher is a Keynesian who believes government should be making jobs and sides with OWSers.
It's easy to dismiss the crazy tea baggers, but he also ridicules intelligent people like Andrew Sullivan. To be fair, he does criticize Obama, but given the political scene in America, he has lots of ammo to fire at the republicans.
LV: "libertarians seem to share many of the same methods or solutions as do the Republicans."
ReplyDeleteSo... how many republicans favor: drug legalization, same sex marriage, pro choice, pro euthenasia, anti capital punishment, anti-military, anti police, anti-war, anti 'subsidy' politics? Only one: Ron Paul. And as Jon Stewart likes to say: he's running for the wrong party. So libertarians share all republican ideas, expect all of the ones they don't. But its a bit silly, Republicans don't have ideas: they have talking points. Libertarians aren't usually confined by the demands of "winning" to the bad shit crazy electorate over, so you get a lot more meat out of it.
on Maher: It's not about picking on one side: he panders. I expect everyone to have bias. It's not his material, it's his agenda. His agenda gets in the way of his comedy (and thinking). I like the contrast with Jon Stewart who, in interviews says: I'm a comedian first. He doesn't go 30 seconds without a laugh. If I wanted bullshit left talk shows, i'd go to MSNBC. It's not particularly the content of talk radio or Fox news that I abhor, it's the general attitude. Maher is that, but on the left. I tune in for comedy, mostly, but also some good political discussion. Real Time no longer delivers. Maher isn't funny, and he isn't particularly insightful in his comedy either.
LV: the other day on Maher, he was asked about John Huntsman. Most people agree that he's a bit more reasonable and serious than the other clowns. Maher says: "I looked at his website, his policies are the same as all the others, he's a useless conservative too." Of course, his policies are not the same other than the fact that they are generally conservative. But for Maher that was enough. That's all he needed to know. Sullivan tried to defend him by explaining the difference between various types of tax reform, but Maher wasn't interested. Unless it's "higher taxes", Maher labels you an idiot. He doesn't know about the issue, and he doesn't care. His worldview demands that you fit into one of two categories. I mean, and this affects his comedy! he doesn't have to be an expert - but the general attitude/outlook is deeply flawed.
ReplyDeleteherbnBrew: he's a Keynsian, but he doesn't understand it. I saw when Christian Romer was on and explained how stimulus means a mix of spending and tax cuts (both of which are consistent with the theory). Maher goes on during the panel,not 15 minutes after getting a nice primer from a real expert, to say that the "tax cuts shouldn't count as part of the stimulus."
ReplyDeleteHnb: It's pretty clear that you're irrevokably wedding to your rightwing dogma
ReplyDeleteI agree with LV wholeheartedly! There is basically no difference between republicans and libertarians. It's the same narrow view of the world with some minor differences.
Also, AM: You just want maher to be less left wing. THe problem is you can't be a comedian if you're not interested in the truth. Bill Maher is pretty much right on in his conception of the truth and his show is pretty damn funny IMO.
HM: It's pretty clear you come onto this thread to add nothing of substance or value. First, you say AM doesn't like lefties, THAT'S why he doesn't like Bill Maher. Right HM. That's exactly what he said.. I know AM has enjoyed watching Maher for many years.
ReplyDeleteSecond, AM made a clear distinction between republicans and libertarians, then right after that post you say, "its the same narrow view of the world", without giving any examples as AM did, to make the distinction.
So, who is really the one irrevocably wed to their dogma?
Thanks, HerbNBrew.
ReplyDeleteHM: see above comments, also. I probably am a little bit harder on left wing hacks than right ones, but I think they can do a better job. Look at Stewart, of whom I am a fan, btw. i'd say your comments betray pure bias and also cognitive dissonance: you can't fathom a challenge to your view so you come out with these strawmen and this borderline troll commenting strategy (I know you are not trying to troll but sometimes it's hard to tell).
Can I please interject on behalf of angry left-wing commenters and just say that we had a meeting and we'd like to publicly distance ourselves from the comments of HM.
ReplyDeleteHM - which I assume stands for Hilariously
Misinformed, you seem to miss the irony of the fact that this entire post was about the annoying need for most people to reduce all issues to black and white and you've attempted to do just that in the comments section of the very same post.
It's all well and good to angrily debate to defend your political position, but when you haven't even bothered to read what your purporting to refute, you just make the people you claim to side with look stupid by association.
Besides, there's no need to attempt to wrongly pigeon-hole my friend AM into the role of "republican" when there are so very many flaws with Libertarianism you could just as easily get angry about if you bothered to read what he's writing!
Have you seen his thoughts on privatized transit? That shit is wack.
...oh god. HM is AM's mom, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteHM and I are not related, though that would explain his constant desire to bicker with me for no reason.
ReplyDelete