Here’s the comedy bit from a recent edition of Bill Maher’s “Real Time” (there are two; I’ll put up the other one tomorrow). The title is “New Rule: Retake the Flag!
He first gives examples of politicians using profanity, something they never did in previous decades. That bit is pretty funny.
Maher’s guests are Democrat Donna Brazile and Republican Mike Lawler, and after his bit on profanity, Maher, citing statistics on how few Democrats say they’re proud to be American, goes on to extol the USA in an unusual burst of patriotic fervor. He says, for example, “The U.S is leagues ahead of the rest of the world on most of the progressive issues that are important to young people,” citing statistics about gay freedom, a rise in diversity, women and black people increasingly owning businesses, and contrasting the U.S. with third-world countries (and the Middle East). He goes on to deplore what is especially odious: the fact that young people often appear to regard Hamas as a role model (here I agree with him 100%). He adds, “If the thought leaders in the Democratic Party keep encouraging and not rebuking the idea that America is cringe and the people who run Gaza are great, the Democrats are doomed. . . the Democrats’ problem is the energy of the party is with the young, and the young are with the terrorists. That’s not good!” His comment on the AOC/Bernie Sanders rally is quite apposite, but watch to see it.
He finishes by extolling all the technical advances that came from America, like smartphones and Grubhub, presumably to show the kids that they’re living an American-buttressed life.
This is a bit too jingoistic for me, though I agree with Maher’s view that young Democrats often wrongly admire terrorists, and I laughed at the profanity bit. But other countries are at least as progressive as America in some ways, and more progressive in others. Think of Canada or Europe, especially Scandinavia. In many of those countries the penal system is more rational and humane than America’s, and there is more paternity/maternity leave, help for old people, and free medical care for all.
I will not attribute this to Maher’s demonized Dinner with Trump, but he does have a point that America is a good country to live in (or was until January), and countries ruled by terrorists are not ones we should admire. I think he just decided to extol what is good about America. Unfortunately, we’re not unique in many of the ways he extols.
I wonder if Bill knows the last time someone from the UK was bankrupted by diabetes. Or Germany, Italy, Sweden . . . . and so on. We are different.
I bet he does. I bet he also knows that if you publicly misgender someone or call Islam a religious excuse for terrorism, you can get into trouble with the law in the UK, or Germany, Italy, Sweden. We ARE different.
That was his point.
Politicians swearing is just another reminder that the movie Idiocracy was prophetic. By 2030 there will be jet skis in the reflecting pools of the national mall. Time to start socking up on electrolytes.
Now you’ve got me wondering what the fine is for jet skiing in the reflecting pool. Could be worth it….
We agree with “take back the flag”.
I grew tired of the rightwingers “owning” the flag. We began flying the US flag in 2016 — right alongside the rainbow flag (the original rainbow flag).
Yes, there are other countries that are at least as progressive as the U.S., but I don’t think that fact weakens Maher’s thesis about the insanity of our progressive youth. College students have long called for “revolution,” during the Vietnam War for example. It was a rite of passage. But calling for the victory of terrorists and murderers who would turn around and throw them off of buildings is no rite of passage. It’s perverse.
Maher’s commentary is a powerful piece.
The famous philosopher Richard Rorty (who had always been a lefty himself) wrote the following about the antipatriotic attitude of woke US intellectuals:
“Those who find [Michel] Foucault and [Martin] Heidegger convincing often view the United States of America as [Leslie Marmon] Silko does: as something we must hope will be replaced, as soon as possible, by something utterly different.
Such people find pride in American citizenship impossible, and vigorous participation in electoral politics pointless. They associate American patriotism with an endorsement of atrocities: the importation of African slaves, the slaughter of Native Americans, the rape of ancient forests, and the Vietnam War. Many of them think of national pride as appropriate only for chauvinists: for the sort of American who rejoices that America can still orchestrate something like the Gulf War, can still bring deadly force to bear whenever and wherever it chooses. When young intellectuals watch John Wayne war movies after reading Heidegger, Foucault, Stephenson, or Silko, they often become convinced that they live in a violent, inhuman, corrupt country. They begin to think of themselves as a saving remnant—as the happy few who have the insight to see through nationalist rhetoric to the ghastly reality of contemporary America. But this insight does not move them to formulate a legislative program, to join a political movement, or to share in a national hope.”
“[O]ne of the essential transformations which the cultural Left will have to undergo is the shedding of its semiconscious anti-Americanism, which it carried over from the rage of the late Sixties. This Left will have to stop thinking up ever more abstract and abusive names for “the system” and start trying to construct inspiring images of the country. Only by doing so can it begin to form alliances with people outside the academy—and, specifically, with the labor unions. Outside the academy, Americans still want to feel patriotic. They still want to feel part of a nation which can take control of its destiny and make itself a better place.”
(Rorty, Richard. Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. pp. 7-8+98-9)
The thought that occurs to me is that these college and similar protest have too much life breathed into them by media coverage.
No Notoriety / Media Suppression Effect would be useful I think. Like how they stopped streaking on sports fields in the 90s…
Kids and certain segments of the Democratic Party loving terrorists is so dumb it shouldn’t be paid any attention. I agree whole heartedly with what Bill says about these topics in all his work. In fact, if I look inwardly I take pleasure in him dunking on these people (and this explains his popularity, as I think most viewers take similar pleasure).
But I think this all might be perpetuating an unhealthy cycle: social media allows for broadcasting of extreme dumb views; small but loud group rallies around it; media boosts it because people love to shake their heads at the silliness; some weird distortion happens where we all think that’s what’s really going on in America, Bill and sensible people smack it down and it feels great. And we’re all left thinking we’re a divided crazy country. Cycle continues.
I might be ranting, but that’s what seems to be happening. But I’m still gunna watch Real Time every weekend, cause I love it haha 🙂
Agreed, we are all outrageously lucky to be living in the post-war west. You can argue over which country or which decade is preferable, but anyone asked the question “where would you most like to live in all of history?” who doesn’t answer “the post-war west” has not read enough history or taken enough notice of overseas news.
(OK, you might choose postwar Japan or similar. Picky.)