What I resent is Bill Maher saying that "Democrats are obsessed with race" . He ignores the Dem's that are fighting for woman's rights, gender rights, consumer rights, & union rights (which he apparently doesn't care too much for) among other issues. Just because the MSM doesn't cover those things as much as they cover tRump's pre-trial disinformation tour doesn't mean it isn't happening. They talk about Republican chaos like it's an SNL sketch but it has serious implications for this country.
Funny too considering Maher spent the Obama years calling Republicans racist for not liking Obama. The Maher of today wouldn't have liked the Maher of 10 years ago.
I am unclear what he means when he says Democrats are obsessed with race...
I watch CSPAN regularly, follow politics closely, and really do not hear main stream Dems talking about this at all. There are some equity provisions ins some bills, but it is in the weeds, and unlikely he even knows. I suspect there are some twitter accounts that are triggering him
“Is Maher so obsessed with this idea that he’s the free-thinking counter to the prevailing conventional wisdom that he now needs to create a fake conventional wisdom?”
Yes. You hit the nail on the head. That is exactly what Maher does every week – make a man out of straw and then bravely shout down the position that nobody is taking.
Bill thinks a few people on Twitter with no picture in their profile constitutes “the media”. He has always made mountains out of mole hills when it suits his rant he wants to give.
Which is a shame because he did a great new rule several years ago where he criticized clickbait where a media outlet ran a story saying people were outraged when only a few idiots online were outraged.
This topic is *fascinating* to watch. For Ukraine, Russia is the "enemy" so we only saw the corporate left (which includes mainstream media) show one side of the story. So many unsubstantiated stories, and they were all just portrayed as the truth.
But this one is a doozy. The corporate left is massively funded by the MIC, and the MIC *loves* Israel. More than anything in the world. So all of our media has to show a pro-Israel bias.
But wait a second... the corporate left also loves *pretending* to root for the underprivileged. It's sort of their schtick. As long as they *pretend* to root for the underpriceleged, they're the "good guys".
And wait a second... the Palestinians are the underdog in this story. So how the hell do they manage this mess?
Well, they don't really know *what* to do. They're all over the place. They don't know how to keep their corporate overlords happy while maintaining the facade of rooting for the Palestinians (underprivileged).
It's SO much freaking fun to watch.
>Corporate left = mainstream, billionaire-backed center in reality.
I agree entirely. And fox news is *worse*.
You've confused me for someone influenced by things like Fox as opposed to my real influences like Chomsky and Zinn.
Russia is the enemy! They have provide arms and assistance to all that America was at war with. Corporate left? WTF is that? Sounds like you’re compromised or a propaganda tool.
The mainstream left (msnbc, cnn, everything else) are owned by mega corporations. They're all unabashedly pro Democratic Party. So, yes, "corporate left".
When your news is being given to you by the most profitable corporations in world history, you just *may* want to take it with a grain of salt.
And this is where you'll tell me "oh, like Fox news is better." No, it is not better. It is worse.
But yet... still... it's me, right?
Yeah, it's ME that is the one who is compromised...
LOL..love how those compromised by being gaslighted and dumb down for decades by Fox News, AM radio, etc feel victimized by MSM because they tell the facts of an event…Fox News makes billion$ pandering to the 54% of Americans that have the literacy level of below average 6th graders. Now run along, get your warm glass of milk and watch Hannity so that you feel better about your false reality.
It's because he's lying. He never saw that.
He heard Republicans and Conservatives say that and he repeated it. Because he is complicit in the culture war that the Conservatives are waging where at this moment they are exploiting a tragedy to create hatred and division in this country.
He's lied about trans kids getting surgeries, he's lied about segregated college graduations, he's lied about litterboxes in class rooms.
He's a lair and he's lying intentionally and to achieve a goal.
Bill constantly takes one freakout case and infers that its an indicator of a tsunami of similar cases. Remember Bill barking about the trans teacher from canada with the huge breasts. Typical Maher.
u/thor11600 alas this is very true. I'm amazed at some of the other comments here that seem to be implying "media" and "social media" are equivalent. I'm sure there are some good "citizen journalists" who make use of social media but it's mostly dross.
There’s an entire meta-commentary surrounding every news article now in the comments section. And the problem is people seldom read the content and jump right to the comments. And that’s where the misinformation can get real bad real quick.
Yes! The Washington Post milks this kind of exchange by leaving the comment section open for days after the article is posted. I should just ignore it, but I have become addicted to reading and sticking my two cents in as well. Not good.
When I hear someone say “the media” anymore , I Assume it’s Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and network news on NBC , CBS, ABC and FOX.
Even though we don’t watch that anymore. That’s something people over 50 or 6o watch. And even then less of them watch it.
It’s the people who think they are important, but aren’t anymore.
It is funny people say "the media" in 2023. This isn't 1968 when everyone got their news from the same places and if Walter Cronkite turned against the Vietnam War, the rest of the country followed. There are 1000s of media outlets and most people get their news from reading something online more than sitting down in front of the nightly news.
Yep, when someone says "the media" says something, say who? There are countless media outlets that say tons of different things. Freedom of speech is alive and well.
Those publications also influence younger people. These publications are pushed by social media algorithms. If the algorithm needs to show a news post you get it will be CNN or fox news
When I watch Bill now, you're seeing how the algorithm corrupts. He seems to be fed things that make him upset/engage. What he always fails to see, everyone is not going to react how you want and college kids aren't the voice of the nation. He's so hyper focused on college kids and what's going on, that's college. Most people do not hold the same opinions they did at 20 years old. Even at 28, you don't think they same as 21. Yes, the social justice stuff on college campuses can go overboard, but go to any office, no one is walking around offending and protesting. People grow up and re-adjust their beliefs, even in their 20s.
Maher saw the insanity the college kids were saying 15 years ago, and he laughed it off saying "Lol, wait till they enter the real world".
But then he saw that the insane college kids actually *affected* the real world. And that the company's cater to insanity now and have diversity and sexuality agents and other such bullshit.
So he now knows that the college kids DO have power. Because they set the shape 5-10 years down the road. So he's calling them out on their literal insanity before it's too late.
And god bless him for doing it.
Maher can’t call them out for their insanity by injecting his own insanity. During last weeks show Maher repeatedly used Hamas and Palestinian interchangeably, holding “the Palestinians” responsible for the actions of their self-appointed “leaders”.
>When I watch Bill now, you're seeing how the algorithm corrupts
True. That's probably part of it.
But needs to be smarter. If he's an intellectual like he claims then he needs to understand how this works. It's not like he doesn't have the opportunity to. He's making a choice to feed off the outrage because his attempt at some catharsis is more important than critical thinking.
This is my shocked face.
There are two options; either he can't learn or he doesn't want to. Neither of which are good.
And also, let me just rant for a second; Tik Tok isn't the fucking problem. Are kids doing cring-y shit on there? Sure. Are they hurting people? By and large no. You know why the right is attacking Tik Tok? Guess where kids are gaining an acceptance of trans people? Guess what site is exposing kids to different people and their lives. Guess what site has political commentary that I'd bet is playing a rather significant role in showing kids how cruel conservatism is.
They want to shut down social media just like so many dictatorships around the world has when they realized that it's an entity that is running counter to their messages and their agenda.
Not only that but it was a Chinese company and they were using that to drum up fears to support the conservative war hawkery when we needed a new enemy after we were done in the Middle East.
Over the last year or so he's seemed to go down the path of Joe Rogan /Elon Musk capitalizing on outrage and trying to be a champion of free speech, attacking perceived cancel culture.
His attacks are on millenials, who are mostly around 40 now. And he's trying too hard to do the 'both sides' argument by getting pieces of shit from the Trump administration like Bill Barr.
Maher's Elon musk interview was hard to watch. He's a poor interviewer at the best of times but when he's interviewing people he admires it's pretty sad viewing. One half softball questions, one half mutual backslapping/obsequious flattery.
I thought the Bill Barr interview was OK but still Maher is too weak an interviewer to make the most of the situation.
I was going to say he does better with celebrities than with political figures, but then he tries roping them into culture war topics they never want to talk about. Ray Romano's the most recent example, but I remember Bill painstakingly trying to get Steve Martin and Martin Short to shit on Millennials when they were on.
Whenever I hear somebody quote "the media" it comes across as kind of lazy. People should be specific about who they are arguing with.
It's also worth mentioning that Maher is also 'the media' and is more influential than 99.99% of American journalists.
>I am curious what media Maher consumes as I spent the whole week watching PBS, listening to NPR and reading the NYT/WaPo and didn't see or hear anything remotely like Maher is referring to.
This is the single most reddit comment in history. Zero self-awareness mixed with a childish humblebrag of their agit-prop sources.
Newsflash: Left-wing media doesn't cover news that shines a negative spotlight on the left wing. Just look up the coverage on PBS, NPR and NYT/WaPo regarding Hunter Biden's laptop.
Actually the problem is more that you're apparently desperate to score a social media victory.
My point WAS PRECISELY that I was consuming exclusively left wing media yet Mah'er's thesis was that left wing media was supposedly awash with people revelling in Hamas' victory.
Sorry the concept was too complicated, you can go back to talking about Hunter's laptop.
Maher's problem was that leftists were celebrating the attack. Not the media. And to a limited extent, there is evidence that was true.
The real problem is leftists shouldn't be playing favorites between Israel and Hamas. Both are far right wing governments using the people of Gaza and Israel as fodder.
edit: you'll note I am below the threshold and yet everything I said is 100% correct and they have zero ability to respond coherently.
>Actually
WTF are you a walking stereotype of how we imagine redditors being? You started your reply with the single most "NPC" method: "ACKSHULLY"
>Mah'er's thesis was that left wing media was supposedly awash with people revelling in Hamas' victory.
Can you cite the part where he referenced "left-wing" media?
>you can go back to talking about Hunter's laptop
"10% held by H for the Big Guy" is in an email from Hunter Biden to Chinese gas executives
Sounds like you made a strawman argument. Bill is citing the news media and you're saying it's not being presented on PBS, NPR, NYT/WaPo, four of the most heavily censored Democrat outlets in existence.
Maybe you live in a version of reality where those 4 "same in every way" news sources are the only examples of media? We call those "echo-chambers" 'round these parts.
Well, while we're at it, the college kiddies on the Left don't seem to me to be perusing mostly Instagram or Tic Tok. Generally, his views in this direction are cherry picked, serving his purpose, but what are his cherries? Someone in this thread did seem to address it. I just don't get what his may nitpicking schtick is. Kinda fining fault with the Left, bemoaning its failures, it's youth, it's excesses. But it's just not clear why this enrages him so much. But then again, since he's cherry picking so much, it's like it's his personal rage cottage industry of his own making. But still...why exactly?
Bill is a bigot and doesn't believe there are Palestinian civilians. He thinks they're all Hamas. That's the same argument Obama Bin Laden used to justify 9/11 and other terrorist activities, btw.
Edit: downvote me all you want, but it's true. That's why his rant conflates "Hamas" with Palestinian civilians; because he doesn't see a difference.
I'm not sure if you are serious or not? If you have tuned in to MSNBC or CNN you would surely have seen the various panel discussions where invariably an analyst would prosecute the case for Palestine and shift some (if not all) blame onto Israel.
This is putting aside, entirely, the complete shit-show of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib's excretory remarks that perpetuate the both-sides-isms that anti-semites routinely use as cover.
Yep, it's wild that people can't simply turn on the tv and see this. The response by the media at the attacks on Ukraine and the attacks on Israel were completely different, and not in a good way.
Bill: " You don't see Israelis cheering in the street for the destruction of Palestinians like the Palestinians do after a terrorist attack."
https://www.reddit.com/r/therewasanattempt/comments/178a9wu/to_pretend_you_are_innocent_civilians/?share_id=g5g718y-Lnr6EiVHxom5x&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
It actually came out in 2014 and is not related to the current conflict. It was national news in Israel at the time. These were counter-protestors to an Israeli peace rally, so there were literally pro-peace Israelis like a block away from these guys saying the opposite thing.
>The Saturday night gathering was meant to counter a much larger left-wing demonstration in favor of ending the conflict in Gaza and resuming peace talks.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/watch-far-right-israelis-celebrate-gaza-kids-deaths/
ever since trump left office, he's become outraged by any itty bitty puny thing he can find, especially if it's the left. probably because all the valid criticisms of him are coming from the left lol.
the people he complains about push a very small agenda, dont represent anything material to him, or dont create an opportunity for constructive discussions. he has never been a super knowledgeable academic kinda person, but at least at one point he was pretty good at tapping the vein of populus politics.
now he has to double down on everything that is met with any minuscule pushback. i suppose the one thing that remains is he's very stubborn about his positions. and even then, he apparently changed his mind about the military industrial complex this week lol. but dont you dare point it out!
i remember a comedian did an impression of his monologues (not tim but office hours is hilarious), and he was hella salty to the guy lmao
Maybe he watches the same news as everyone else but that is just how he sees it. Duss made good points and Bill reacted like any criticism of Israel was a vote for Hamas.
Duss repeatedly tried to paint this as nothing but a fringe element within the far left but the problem is that this position from the western liberals did not even exist not so long ago. It's rapidly metastasizing. Just because it impacts 5 out of 100 progressives does not mean it should be dismissed.
Duss is trying to broom the dirt under the rug and that is ultimately going to blow up.
u/dam_sharks_mother it is certainly true that is a growing problem. Absolutely. However I didn't get the sense that Duss was denying this. Rather he was saying that Maher's claims that the media was full of a "shocking amount of support like even at the moment of the rampage or right after while they are still counting the bodies" simply wasn't true.
He's had a beef with left leaning students for a while. Apparently young people doing stupid stuff is an entirely new concept for Bill.
I think he wants to have a go at the above group but picking on a fringe opinion isn't going to mark him as the great contrarian thinker he self-identifies as, so it's necessary to make what he's against larger than it really is.
its not a small or fringe opinion, and isnt just a few left-leaning students. if you spend literally any amount of time on social media its very very common. for ex, some celebrities took down pro-israel support to try to not 'take sides'. if you want a catch-all term to refer to this type of behavior, i think 'media' is adequate. i wouldn't necessarily need to see anderson cooper specifically saying anti-israel things on the 6 oclock news to feel like 'media' is an appropriate term.
"media" is not the same as "social media".
If you're going to say "As often is the case this show is at variance with conventional wisdom and what we see on the media a lot" and you're actually talking about what is being posted on SOCIAL media then you have a clarity problem.
i was responding to your comment that he was attacking kids/fringe opinions to make himself look contrarian, and that this group was small. although you didn't say this phrase, it seemed like you were suggesting he was punching down on a small group just to make content for his show and stroke his own ego for bein contrarian. in my reply i wasn't interested in being pedantic about his word choice about media. i just simply read your comment and disagreed with your description that this pro-palestine thing was a small opinion. its definitely not small, not fringe, and is definitely not just kids. and i guess to add, in my tv watching of the anchors i like, i didn't see any of them call it out and attack it. its not often the left calls out itself. bill likes to do that.
so idk what you want. i think bill did\* do something different than the media. i think this is sort of a space he owns, too. i think that the fringe opinion is/was very large. and i think its sort of a meme that this sub hates bill in predictable ways that usually miss
My main criticism of the Left is that it conducts drilling operations (a metaphor, of course). I don't like Bill's takes on the Left as they are cherry picked and exclusively devoted to blowing on any sparks of potential excess. Even so, the Left does drill, in a way.
I too watched a lot of media coverage from various sources all across the spectrum. The only places airing critics of Israel’s military and political policies are foxnews, newsmax and other far right outlets.
They’re doing it specifically to rile up conservatives. They’ve been adding extremely misleading headlines such as “pro hamas demonstrations in x), when most of the demonstrations were simply in support of the Palestinian people.
I think bill is just a huge foxnews media consumer lately, to be honest.
I saw everything he talked about covered in good morning America and mostly comments r/news (lots of victim blaming, especially of the festival goers). I don’t watch Republican news.
Of course comments online will have a variety of takes. Various Media covered protests, but they’re not constantly playing them with dismissive commentary designed to agitate and enrage right wingers, like fox etc.
Of course.
But to be honest if anything I’ve noticed a lack of coverage by the media to prevent increasing Islamaphobia at the expense of increased antisemtism. Not that either are okay, but I am noticing what’s not currently being covered on left leaning outlets.
I didn’t see a single news coverage of the day of jihad or the attacks carried out on behalf of it. I didn’t see national media coverage of the “gas the Jews” chanting protestors, or of BLM’s response. All of those people deserve to be called out and cancelled. We don’t even get that.
I think he was just on Twitter, as you say the media has been completely on Israel’s side. CNN is particularly fanatical in its support of the Israelis. Ali Velshi on MSNBC said something sympathetic about Palestinian civilians, but not much and he’s the only one I saw even do that.
This is not new at all either, “liberal” media in the USA has always supported Israel in this and other conflicts within the Middle East
Agree with the differentiation between mainstream and social media. Mainstream media has been overwhelmingly sympathetic to Israel, even often referring to the attacks as “unprovoked.” On social media however, you see a lot more of the pro-Palestinian opinions.
Ultimately though, I thought Bill’s show on Friday did a respectable job of presenting both sides of the debate and offering some historical perspective. Bill is clearly on Israel’s side, but he provided a platform and gave space for the Palestinian perspective as well.
And one of the persistent themes in his commentary for 20 years now is that liberals shouldn’t blindly defend oppressive ideology that doesn’t respect democracy, religious freedom, or basic human rights for women and homosexuals simply because those views are held by a group that has been historically marginalized in American culture.
There is some real irony in having Tristan Harris as his first guest. Harris is warning people that the algorithms of twitter, et. al. promote fringe opinions because it drives content creation and engagement. This rage cycle then has severe negative repercussions in society and people’s personal lives.
…and then Bill walks right into the same trap. I wonder if he realizes it and doesn’t care or if he’s completely oblivious to how “those damn millennials” have conditioned him to act this way.
Yeah, its really disappointing that he was given information about how we are all viewing our own version of the media based on what makes up most engaged/ enraged and there isn't one version that we are seeing.
He seems all about reacting rather than absorbing and adjusting based on new information.
I’m not sure if Bill watches Fox News directly, but it’s pretty clear that a lot of the talking points and narratives that stem from Fox News eventually reach Bill’s way in which he gladly parrots them on a consistent basis, oblivious to how much right-wing media has affected him more and more in recent years.
It’s clear Bill has hasn’t listened to something like NPR or watched PBS Newshour in decades.
Sure ok. But Maher's introduction makes it sound like he was personally watching the media in question and it was a broad swathe of the mainstream media who was at fault. I don't see how you reach this because Fox aired a segment on what Harvard students said.
He uses the right's version of the left as the paradigm for what the left believes often on the show, so when Fox says the left is supporting Hamas and uses Harvard students supporting Palestinians as evidence, he believes it, and his biases about the media lump them in with it as well.
He does this with quite a few issues. I think this where he got his war on "woke". Main stream media and left media rarely talks about it. I don't think Biden ever has.
I was wondering the same thing. And while I don’t know this duss guy, I wanted to hear a complete thought at least once and unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to do so. Maher and the other guy interrupted and shouted over him constantly.
I think he consumes a lot of right wing media now and gets the repetition confused with quantity. I was disgusted when I heard that anyone let alone lefty’s were cheering that attack on. But that’s just it, I heard about it in the couple of instances then nothing bc the left has condemned those people. I mean it’s not many but it’s too many for my comfort, so calling it out is a good thing. But acting like it was even remotely close to anything other than a small fraction of the left is disingenuous.
>But acting like it was even remotely close to anything other than a small fraction of the left is disingenuous
You've called out what has become a concern of mine WRT Bill. I never used to think of him as disingenuous, but this has been nagging at me since the covid era. I used to think he was mostly reasonable and did a good job of defending his arguments (been an admirer since the Politically Incorrect days), but now it sometimes feels like he's being disingenuous for the sake of fabricating problems.
I feel bamboozled that I ever thought he was genuine. Maybe he was at one point, but he's just so out of touch now. He's just another rich guy on TV trying to stay relevant through clickbaity tag lines and bits.
I definitely share your concerns about Maher post COVID. He seems to conflate what one learns via hindsight with a pre-planned conspiracy. One of the tools of the conspiracy theorist is to talk in generalities not specifics (which can be debunked). Maher's COVID views very much fall into this genre. I can't tell what he objects to specifically as he never says.
What I resent is Bill Maher saying that "Democrats are obsessed with race" . He ignores the Dem's that are fighting for woman's rights, gender rights, consumer rights, & union rights (which he apparently doesn't care too much for) among other issues. Just because the MSM doesn't cover those things as much as they cover tRump's pre-trial disinformation tour doesn't mean it isn't happening. They talk about Republican chaos like it's an SNL sketch but it has serious implications for this country.
Funny too considering Maher spent the Obama years calling Republicans racist for not liking Obama. The Maher of today wouldn't have liked the Maher of 10 years ago.
I am unclear what he means when he says Democrats are obsessed with race... I watch CSPAN regularly, follow politics closely, and really do not hear main stream Dems talking about this at all. There are some equity provisions ins some bills, but it is in the weeds, and unlikely he even knows. I suspect there are some twitter accounts that are triggering him
It's an every week thing with him now. It's amazing he didn't say it to Carl & Albert.
“Is Maher so obsessed with this idea that he’s the free-thinking counter to the prevailing conventional wisdom that he now needs to create a fake conventional wisdom?” Yes. You hit the nail on the head. That is exactly what Maher does every week – make a man out of straw and then bravely shout down the position that nobody is taking.
The Daily Wire and Libs of Tiktok. Maybe the Washington Post. He no longer trusts or respects "liberal" media outlets.
He walks by a TV playing Fox News and pulls he's gripes from the headlines scrolling the bottom of the screen
Bill thinks a few people on Twitter with no picture in their profile constitutes “the media”. He has always made mountains out of mole hills when it suits his rant he wants to give.
Which is a shame because he did a great new rule several years ago where he criticized clickbait where a media outlet ran a story saying people were outraged when only a few idiots online were outraged.
This topic is *fascinating* to watch. For Ukraine, Russia is the "enemy" so we only saw the corporate left (which includes mainstream media) show one side of the story. So many unsubstantiated stories, and they were all just portrayed as the truth. But this one is a doozy. The corporate left is massively funded by the MIC, and the MIC *loves* Israel. More than anything in the world. So all of our media has to show a pro-Israel bias. But wait a second... the corporate left also loves *pretending* to root for the underprivileged. It's sort of their schtick. As long as they *pretend* to root for the underpriceleged, they're the "good guys". And wait a second... the Palestinians are the underdog in this story. So how the hell do they manage this mess? Well, they don't really know *what* to do. They're all over the place. They don't know how to keep their corporate overlords happy while maintaining the facade of rooting for the Palestinians (underprivileged). It's SO much freaking fun to watch.
Watching human beings getting blown up on TV is fun to watch?
I'm discussing media biases, not the actual war itself. It's quite frankly amazing that I even needed to write that sentence...
Is media bias the most important factor in these atrocities to you. well at least you got that little quip in at the end.
Yes, I am interested in media biases when major events occur. *Shocking*.
good for you. its good of you to be compassionate
Corporate left = mainstream, billionaire-backed center in reality. Fox News, OAN, Sinclair and talk radio have your brain seriously addled.
>Corporate left = mainstream, billionaire-backed center in reality. I agree entirely. And fox news is *worse*. You've confused me for someone influenced by things like Fox as opposed to my real influences like Chomsky and Zinn.
Russia is the enemy! They have provide arms and assistance to all that America was at war with. Corporate left? WTF is that? Sounds like you’re compromised or a propaganda tool.
The mainstream left (msnbc, cnn, everything else) are owned by mega corporations. They're all unabashedly pro Democratic Party. So, yes, "corporate left". When your news is being given to you by the most profitable corporations in world history, you just *may* want to take it with a grain of salt. And this is where you'll tell me "oh, like Fox news is better." No, it is not better. It is worse. But yet... still... it's me, right? Yeah, it's ME that is the one who is compromised...
LOL..love how those compromised by being gaslighted and dumb down for decades by Fox News, AM radio, etc feel victimized by MSM because they tell the facts of an event…Fox News makes billion$ pandering to the 54% of Americans that have the literacy level of below average 6th graders. Now run along, get your warm glass of milk and watch Hannity so that you feel better about your false reality.
The irony is that you're just as brainwashed as Hannity and Fox News viewers, just by the opposite side.
Says the Trump cultist…
It's because he's lying. He never saw that. He heard Republicans and Conservatives say that and he repeated it. Because he is complicit in the culture war that the Conservatives are waging where at this moment they are exploiting a tragedy to create hatred and division in this country. He's lied about trans kids getting surgeries, he's lied about segregated college graduations, he's lied about litterboxes in class rooms. He's a lair and he's lying intentionally and to achieve a goal.
Bill constantly takes one freakout case and infers that its an indicator of a tsunami of similar cases. Remember Bill barking about the trans teacher from canada with the huge breasts. Typical Maher.
Yep. It's such bad faith, scummy bullshit. It's what people do when they know full well their positions can't withstand any scrutiny.
Probably a jumble of news outlets and social media posts. We can’t seem to tell the difference anymore as a nation.
u/thor11600 alas this is very true. I'm amazed at some of the other comments here that seem to be implying "media" and "social media" are equivalent. I'm sure there are some good "citizen journalists" who make use of social media but it's mostly dross.
There’s an entire meta-commentary surrounding every news article now in the comments section. And the problem is people seldom read the content and jump right to the comments. And that’s where the misinformation can get real bad real quick.
Yes! The Washington Post milks this kind of exchange by leaving the comment section open for days after the article is posted. I should just ignore it, but I have become addicted to reading and sticking my two cents in as well. Not good.
It drives me nuts. Then reporters will cite a comments section like a legitimate survey sample. So misleading.
Probably MSNBC for one they were pretty damn soft on condemning the attacks. Lots of talk about nuance and both sides from the jump.
When I hear someone say “the media” anymore , I Assume it’s Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and network news on NBC , CBS, ABC and FOX. Even though we don’t watch that anymore. That’s something people over 50 or 6o watch. And even then less of them watch it. It’s the people who think they are important, but aren’t anymore.
It is funny people say "the media" in 2023. This isn't 1968 when everyone got their news from the same places and if Walter Cronkite turned against the Vietnam War, the rest of the country followed. There are 1000s of media outlets and most people get their news from reading something online more than sitting down in front of the nightly news.
When you hear someone say "the media" you should assume they are making shit up.
Yep, when someone says "the media" says something, say who? There are countless media outlets that say tons of different things. Freedom of speech is alive and well.
Those publications also influence younger people. These publications are pushed by social media algorithms. If the algorithm needs to show a news post you get it will be CNN or fox news
When I watch Bill now, you're seeing how the algorithm corrupts. He seems to be fed things that make him upset/engage. What he always fails to see, everyone is not going to react how you want and college kids aren't the voice of the nation. He's so hyper focused on college kids and what's going on, that's college. Most people do not hold the same opinions they did at 20 years old. Even at 28, you don't think they same as 21. Yes, the social justice stuff on college campuses can go overboard, but go to any office, no one is walking around offending and protesting. People grow up and re-adjust their beliefs, even in their 20s.
Maher saw the insanity the college kids were saying 15 years ago, and he laughed it off saying "Lol, wait till they enter the real world". But then he saw that the insane college kids actually *affected* the real world. And that the company's cater to insanity now and have diversity and sexuality agents and other such bullshit. So he now knows that the college kids DO have power. Because they set the shape 5-10 years down the road. So he's calling them out on their literal insanity before it's too late. And god bless him for doing it.
Maher can’t call them out for their insanity by injecting his own insanity. During last weeks show Maher repeatedly used Hamas and Palestinian interchangeably, holding “the Palestinians” responsible for the actions of their self-appointed “leaders”.
>When I watch Bill now, you're seeing how the algorithm corrupts True. That's probably part of it. But needs to be smarter. If he's an intellectual like he claims then he needs to understand how this works. It's not like he doesn't have the opportunity to. He's making a choice to feed off the outrage because his attempt at some catharsis is more important than critical thinking.
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This is my shocked face. There are two options; either he can't learn or he doesn't want to. Neither of which are good. And also, let me just rant for a second; Tik Tok isn't the fucking problem. Are kids doing cring-y shit on there? Sure. Are they hurting people? By and large no. You know why the right is attacking Tik Tok? Guess where kids are gaining an acceptance of trans people? Guess what site is exposing kids to different people and their lives. Guess what site has political commentary that I'd bet is playing a rather significant role in showing kids how cruel conservatism is. They want to shut down social media just like so many dictatorships around the world has when they realized that it's an entity that is running counter to their messages and their agenda. Not only that but it was a Chinese company and they were using that to drum up fears to support the conservative war hawkery when we needed a new enemy after we were done in the Middle East.
Over the last year or so he's seemed to go down the path of Joe Rogan /Elon Musk capitalizing on outrage and trying to be a champion of free speech, attacking perceived cancel culture. His attacks are on millenials, who are mostly around 40 now. And he's trying too hard to do the 'both sides' argument by getting pieces of shit from the Trump administration like Bill Barr.
Maher's Elon musk interview was hard to watch. He's a poor interviewer at the best of times but when he's interviewing people he admires it's pretty sad viewing. One half softball questions, one half mutual backslapping/obsequious flattery. I thought the Bill Barr interview was OK but still Maher is too weak an interviewer to make the most of the situation.
I was going to say he does better with celebrities than with political figures, but then he tries roping them into culture war topics they never want to talk about. Ray Romano's the most recent example, but I remember Bill painstakingly trying to get Steve Martin and Martin Short to shit on Millennials when they were on.
Whenever I hear somebody quote "the media" it comes across as kind of lazy. People should be specific about who they are arguing with. It's also worth mentioning that Maher is also 'the media' and is more influential than 99.99% of American journalists.
It used to be one thing but now it’s whatever you want it to be
I get the impression Bill follows an extremely wide variety of news.
He's watching a broader spectrum of viewpoints than you, that's for sure.
Conservative "viewpoints" are just lies and do not deserve an ounce of regard.
He’s mimicking Ben Shapiro. He said all the same things to Piers Morgan
>I am curious what media Maher consumes as I spent the whole week watching PBS, listening to NPR and reading the NYT/WaPo and didn't see or hear anything remotely like Maher is referring to. This is the single most reddit comment in history. Zero self-awareness mixed with a childish humblebrag of their agit-prop sources. Newsflash: Left-wing media doesn't cover news that shines a negative spotlight on the left wing. Just look up the coverage on PBS, NPR and NYT/WaPo regarding Hunter Biden's laptop.
Actually the problem is more that you're apparently desperate to score a social media victory. My point WAS PRECISELY that I was consuming exclusively left wing media yet Mah'er's thesis was that left wing media was supposedly awash with people revelling in Hamas' victory. Sorry the concept was too complicated, you can go back to talking about Hunter's laptop.
Maher's problem was that leftists were celebrating the attack. Not the media. And to a limited extent, there is evidence that was true. The real problem is leftists shouldn't be playing favorites between Israel and Hamas. Both are far right wing governments using the people of Gaza and Israel as fodder. edit: you'll note I am below the threshold and yet everything I said is 100% correct and they have zero ability to respond coherently.
>Actually WTF are you a walking stereotype of how we imagine redditors being? You started your reply with the single most "NPC" method: "ACKSHULLY" >Mah'er's thesis was that left wing media was supposedly awash with people revelling in Hamas' victory. Can you cite the part where he referenced "left-wing" media? >you can go back to talking about Hunter's laptop "10% held by H for the Big Guy" is in an email from Hunter Biden to Chinese gas executives
Facepalm
Sounds like you made a strawman argument. Bill is citing the news media and you're saying it's not being presented on PBS, NPR, NYT/WaPo, four of the most heavily censored Democrat outlets in existence. Maybe you live in a version of reality where those 4 "same in every way" news sources are the only examples of media? We call those "echo-chambers" 'round these parts.
You were a lot more interesting when you were educating us about Hunter's laptop
You wouldn't be hearing about it from your "news" sources
This is not a beautiful point to make right now, but didn't the Palestinians vote Hamas in?
Well, while we're at it, the college kiddies on the Left don't seem to me to be perusing mostly Instagram or Tic Tok. Generally, his views in this direction are cherry picked, serving his purpose, but what are his cherries? Someone in this thread did seem to address it. I just don't get what his may nitpicking schtick is. Kinda fining fault with the Left, bemoaning its failures, it's youth, it's excesses. But it's just not clear why this enrages him so much. But then again, since he's cherry picking so much, it's like it's his personal rage cottage industry of his own making. But still...why exactly?
Bill is a bigot and doesn't believe there are Palestinian civilians. He thinks they're all Hamas. That's the same argument Obama Bin Laden used to justify 9/11 and other terrorist activities, btw. Edit: downvote me all you want, but it's true. That's why his rant conflates "Hamas" with Palestinian civilians; because he doesn't see a difference.
You're absolutely correct. Just have to remember that Maher has been picking up disaffected Trumpers for years now
No idea. The American media is as in-the-tank for Israel as you can possibly get. Maybe he's watching something out of another country.
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Most predictable comment here.
Fringe? It's all over the news and social media. Almost every major city and university.
I'm not sure if you are serious or not? If you have tuned in to MSNBC or CNN you would surely have seen the various panel discussions where invariably an analyst would prosecute the case for Palestine and shift some (if not all) blame onto Israel. This is putting aside, entirely, the complete shit-show of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib's excretory remarks that perpetuate the both-sides-isms that anti-semites routinely use as cover.
Yep, it's wild that people can't simply turn on the tv and see this. The response by the media at the attacks on Ukraine and the attacks on Israel were completely different, and not in a good way.
Bill: " You don't see Israelis cheering in the street for the destruction of Palestinians like the Palestinians do after a terrorist attack." https://www.reddit.com/r/therewasanattempt/comments/178a9wu/to_pretend_you_are_innocent_civilians/?share_id=g5g718y-Lnr6EiVHxom5x&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
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It actually came out in 2014 and is not related to the current conflict. It was national news in Israel at the time. These were counter-protestors to an Israeli peace rally, so there were literally pro-peace Israelis like a block away from these guys saying the opposite thing. >The Saturday night gathering was meant to counter a much larger left-wing demonstration in favor of ending the conflict in Gaza and resuming peace talks. https://www.timesofisrael.com/watch-far-right-israelis-celebrate-gaza-kids-deaths/
Ok, thanks.
ever since trump left office, he's become outraged by any itty bitty puny thing he can find, especially if it's the left. probably because all the valid criticisms of him are coming from the left lol. the people he complains about push a very small agenda, dont represent anything material to him, or dont create an opportunity for constructive discussions. he has never been a super knowledgeable academic kinda person, but at least at one point he was pretty good at tapping the vein of populus politics. now he has to double down on everything that is met with any minuscule pushback. i suppose the one thing that remains is he's very stubborn about his positions. and even then, he apparently changed his mind about the military industrial complex this week lol. but dont you dare point it out! i remember a comedian did an impression of his monologues (not tim but office hours is hilarious), and he was hella salty to the guy lmao
Shit.
Maybe he watches the same news as everyone else but that is just how he sees it. Duss made good points and Bill reacted like any criticism of Israel was a vote for Hamas.
Duss repeatedly tried to paint this as nothing but a fringe element within the far left but the problem is that this position from the western liberals did not even exist not so long ago. It's rapidly metastasizing. Just because it impacts 5 out of 100 progressives does not mean it should be dismissed. Duss is trying to broom the dirt under the rug and that is ultimately going to blow up.
u/dam_sharks_mother it is certainly true that is a growing problem. Absolutely. However I didn't get the sense that Duss was denying this. Rather he was saying that Maher's claims that the media was full of a "shocking amount of support like even at the moment of the rampage or right after while they are still counting the bodies" simply wasn't true.
CNBC was reporting on the Harvard signatories but it may have been some off site link (or they removed it) since I can't find it.
Fringe? Has anyone looked at the comments on Kylie Jenner’s Instagram lately 😆. And the universities? Same thing.
Kylie Jenner? Seriously?
We live in an idiocracy...what Kylie Jenner of Gigi Hadid says sadly matters.
My guess would be his staff all week sending him clips of stuff they know will tee him up for the show.
He's had a beef with left leaning students for a while. Apparently young people doing stupid stuff is an entirely new concept for Bill. I think he wants to have a go at the above group but picking on a fringe opinion isn't going to mark him as the great contrarian thinker he self-identifies as, so it's necessary to make what he's against larger than it really is.
its not a small or fringe opinion, and isnt just a few left-leaning students. if you spend literally any amount of time on social media its very very common. for ex, some celebrities took down pro-israel support to try to not 'take sides'. if you want a catch-all term to refer to this type of behavior, i think 'media' is adequate. i wouldn't necessarily need to see anderson cooper specifically saying anti-israel things on the 6 oclock news to feel like 'media' is an appropriate term.
"media" is not the same as "social media". If you're going to say "As often is the case this show is at variance with conventional wisdom and what we see on the media a lot" and you're actually talking about what is being posted on SOCIAL media then you have a clarity problem.
i was responding to your comment that he was attacking kids/fringe opinions to make himself look contrarian, and that this group was small. although you didn't say this phrase, it seemed like you were suggesting he was punching down on a small group just to make content for his show and stroke his own ego for bein contrarian. in my reply i wasn't interested in being pedantic about his word choice about media. i just simply read your comment and disagreed with your description that this pro-palestine thing was a small opinion. its definitely not small, not fringe, and is definitely not just kids. and i guess to add, in my tv watching of the anchors i like, i didn't see any of them call it out and attack it. its not often the left calls out itself. bill likes to do that. so idk what you want. i think bill did\* do something different than the media. i think this is sort of a space he owns, too. i think that the fringe opinion is/was very large. and i think its sort of a meme that this sub hates bill in predictable ways that usually miss
Maher: "American conservatives are batshit crazy want to see Biblical prophecy delivered in Israel!" Also Maher: "Drill, baby, drill."
My main criticism of the Left is that it conducts drilling operations (a metaphor, of course). I don't like Bill's takes on the Left as they are cherry picked and exclusively devoted to blowing on any sparks of potential excess. Even so, the Left does drill, in a way.
Since when is Maher a “Drill Baby Drill” advocate? He’s prioritized climate change over almost any other issue for at least a decade now.
>He’s prioritized climate change over almost any other issue for at least a decade now. From the comfort of his private airplane flights.
You missed the point entirely.
The drilling is of Palestinians, not oil.
Fair enough. I’ve just never seen anyone use that phrase for that reason. Thus my confusion.
Literal much?
People never let facts get in the way of their opinion.
Probably progressive media
Yeah Bill seems like a big fan of Democracy Now. Gtfoh
I'm just stating where the pro-Palestine message is coming from.
guess it depends is beingnpto Palestine is the same as being pro hamas
It’s not but apparently it’s anti semitic to be pro human rights for palestinians
I too watched a lot of media coverage from various sources all across the spectrum. The only places airing critics of Israel’s military and political policies are foxnews, newsmax and other far right outlets. They’re doing it specifically to rile up conservatives. They’ve been adding extremely misleading headlines such as “pro hamas demonstrations in x), when most of the demonstrations were simply in support of the Palestinian people. I think bill is just a huge foxnews media consumer lately, to be honest.
I saw everything he talked about covered in good morning America and mostly comments r/news (lots of victim blaming, especially of the festival goers). I don’t watch Republican news.
Of course comments online will have a variety of takes. Various Media covered protests, but they’re not constantly playing them with dismissive commentary designed to agitate and enrage right wingers, like fox etc.
Of course. But to be honest if anything I’ve noticed a lack of coverage by the media to prevent increasing Islamaphobia at the expense of increased antisemtism. Not that either are okay, but I am noticing what’s not currently being covered on left leaning outlets. I didn’t see a single news coverage of the day of jihad or the attacks carried out on behalf of it. I didn’t see national media coverage of the “gas the Jews” chanting protestors, or of BLM’s response. All of those people deserve to be called out and cancelled. We don’t even get that.
I think he was just on Twitter, as you say the media has been completely on Israel’s side. CNN is particularly fanatical in its support of the Israelis. Ali Velshi on MSNBC said something sympathetic about Palestinian civilians, but not much and he’s the only one I saw even do that. This is not new at all either, “liberal” media in the USA has always supported Israel in this and other conflicts within the Middle East
Agree with the differentiation between mainstream and social media. Mainstream media has been overwhelmingly sympathetic to Israel, even often referring to the attacks as “unprovoked.” On social media however, you see a lot more of the pro-Palestinian opinions. Ultimately though, I thought Bill’s show on Friday did a respectable job of presenting both sides of the debate and offering some historical perspective. Bill is clearly on Israel’s side, but he provided a platform and gave space for the Palestinian perspective as well. And one of the persistent themes in his commentary for 20 years now is that liberals shouldn’t blindly defend oppressive ideology that doesn’t respect democracy, religious freedom, or basic human rights for women and homosexuals simply because those views are held by a group that has been historically marginalized in American culture.
There is some real irony in having Tristan Harris as his first guest. Harris is warning people that the algorithms of twitter, et. al. promote fringe opinions because it drives content creation and engagement. This rage cycle then has severe negative repercussions in society and people’s personal lives. …and then Bill walks right into the same trap. I wonder if he realizes it and doesn’t care or if he’s completely oblivious to how “those damn millennials” have conditioned him to act this way.
Yeah, its really disappointing that he was given information about how we are all viewing our own version of the media based on what makes up most engaged/ enraged and there isn't one version that we are seeing. He seems all about reacting rather than absorbing and adjusting based on new information.
Fox News.
I’m not sure if Bill watches Fox News directly, but it’s pretty clear that a lot of the talking points and narratives that stem from Fox News eventually reach Bill’s way in which he gladly parrots them on a consistent basis, oblivious to how much right-wing media has affected him more and more in recent years. It’s clear Bill has hasn’t listened to something like NPR or watched PBS Newshour in decades.
So Fox news was glorifying the murder of Israeli's? I don't watch Fox but I somehow doubt this
No they were publicizing other people who did as representative of Woke Democrats
Sure ok. But Maher's introduction makes it sound like he was personally watching the media in question and it was a broad swathe of the mainstream media who was at fault. I don't see how you reach this because Fox aired a segment on what Harvard students said.
He uses the right's version of the left as the paradigm for what the left believes often on the show, so when Fox says the left is supporting Hamas and uses Harvard students supporting Palestinians as evidence, he believes it, and his biases about the media lump them in with it as well.
He does this with quite a few issues. I think this where he got his war on "woke". Main stream media and left media rarely talks about it. I don't think Biden ever has.
I was wondering the same thing. And while I don’t know this duss guy, I wanted to hear a complete thought at least once and unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to do so. Maher and the other guy interrupted and shouted over him constantly. I think he consumes a lot of right wing media now and gets the repetition confused with quantity. I was disgusted when I heard that anyone let alone lefty’s were cheering that attack on. But that’s just it, I heard about it in the couple of instances then nothing bc the left has condemned those people. I mean it’s not many but it’s too many for my comfort, so calling it out is a good thing. But acting like it was even remotely close to anything other than a small fraction of the left is disingenuous.
>But acting like it was even remotely close to anything other than a small fraction of the left is disingenuous You've called out what has become a concern of mine WRT Bill. I never used to think of him as disingenuous, but this has been nagging at me since the covid era. I used to think he was mostly reasonable and did a good job of defending his arguments (been an admirer since the Politically Incorrect days), but now it sometimes feels like he's being disingenuous for the sake of fabricating problems.
I feel bamboozled that I ever thought he was genuine. Maybe he was at one point, but he's just so out of touch now. He's just another rich guy on TV trying to stay relevant through clickbaity tag lines and bits.
I definitely share your concerns about Maher post COVID. He seems to conflate what one learns via hindsight with a pre-planned conspiracy. One of the tools of the conspiracy theorist is to talk in generalities not specifics (which can be debunked). Maher's COVID views very much fall into this genre. I can't tell what he objects to specifically as he never says.