Update to this story. I can’t say I have any sympathy for Maher.
Via leftist rag CounterPunch:
Watching Real Time with Bill Maher is a truly painful experience. In just a few tortuous minutes of the program, its hallmarks become clear: an endless barrage of jokes made unabashedly at the expense of the oppressed, justified as critiques of “political correctedness,” is punctuated by mind-numbing expressions of ignorance, thinly veiled behind an air of bombastic righteousness and shameless self-aggrandizement, all situated squarely within a setting of diehard Democrat cheerleading. […]
A great place to begin any analysis of Maher’s numerous prejudices is the poetically-titled blog Bill Maher Sucks. Its collection of criticisms, spanning the last three years (with the bulk of the content from 2012), is unfortunately rather small, and by no means comprehensive, yet it allows one, at the least, to get a feel for the variety and the nature of bigotry we are dealing with here. Bill Maher Sucks’ author writes “Bill Maher is a vile racist, misogynist, Islamophobic, ableist, Zionist, classist idiot.” A more accurate and succinct description could hardly be made. I would add a few more qualifiers: Bill Maher is a narcissistic, vile imperialist, racist, misogynist, Islamophobic, ableist, Zionist, classist idiot millionaire Democrat-apologist, blind to any and all of his privileges. Let us look at examples, from Maher’s own show, from Maher’s own mouth.
A good amount of work has already been written about the figure’s unapologetic anti-Islam prejudice (and its closely-linked racism). This is an easy first target. It is the most overt; he practically boasts it. Yes, Maher is critical of all religions, and I myself strongly believe in the importance of having a space to publicly critique religion—albeit in a socially responsible, respectable, and equitable manner, none of which describes his approach. Maher, nonetheless, reserves particular hatred for Islam. In a peculiar break from his dogmatic liberal extolment, Maher claims the notion that all religions are equally good (or bad) is “liberal bull shit” (strange, after Maher criticized Kerry for eschewing the “L-word.”).
Maher takes great joy in consistently making inflammatory, downright ludicrous claims like “at least half of Muslims believe it is all right to kill someone who insults ‘the Prophet,” or “There’s only one faith that kills you or wants to kill you if you renounce the faith.” Completely fabricating statistics to support his position is a popular Maherian tactic. The pundit needs no citations, of course, for his positions are not based on those silly scientific “studies”; His opinions are facts merely by virtue of them being His opinions. Moments of unrepentant prejudice like these are enthusiastically lauded by far-right “news” sources and blogs, by bigots rejoicing at bipartisan anti-Islam prejudice. Claiming that Islamic extremism is more dangerous than far-right extremism nevertheless is both intellectually and statistically reprehensible. This self-professed liberal, this individual many describe as a “leftist” (a shudder goes down my spine even thinking about that), had the perfect opportunity to publicly discuss the very real threat ofrising far-right terrorism and extremism in this country vis-à-vis the relatively paltry threat of so-called “Islamic” terrorism (that is to say, “terrorism” that is never actually about Islam, and always about imperialism). Maher, though, in his trademark aversion to fact, chooses to rant and rave about what his prejudices tell him we should be afraid of.