Here’s Bill Maher’s latest comedy-and-politics bit from “Real Time,” called “New Rule: The Banishing Act.” It is part of a series he’s made asking for comity between people on opposite ends of the American political spectrum. This time, he argues, banishing people from your life if they voted for Trump, or are even anti-Trump Republicans, is not going to help anybody, much less the Democratic Party.
In fact I know several such people who won’t talk to Republicans, and that would make for some unpleasant holiday dinners. (My dad, for example, voted for Nixon—an earlier and less malign version of Trump—but I accepted it and moved on.)
At any rate, Maher notes, correctly, that liberals engage more in this form of ghosting than do conservatives, and Maher shows some of the articles written by liberal discussing it. (Litt’s article in the NYT is here, and, fortunately, his answer is “no”. In contrast, Sarah Jones’s piece says it’s okay to go “no contact with your MAGA relatives”; it’s archived here.) Maher’s point is that this form of ghosting, accompanied with arrogant pronouncements, can only hurt Democrats. As he says, “Ultimatums don’t make people rethink your politics; they make them rethink you.” (Note that Maher mentions some prominent “wokeisms”, but also blames Republicans for their own missteps.
Note that at 5:50 Maher refers to the social media pile-on he experienced when he related that he had with Trump dinner at the White House—and Trump was actually nice and civil. For that Maher was excoriated by many people with Trump Derangement Syndrome. How dare he say anything good about Trump? That excoriating was especially stupid because, during the dinner, Maher criticized Trump and his policies to his face. Maher still seems to be defensive about that pushback, but in fact he was right.
Do I have to add that I don’t think Trump is a good person, but admit that in a social situation he could be friendly and civil? Larry David’s NYT piece making the same point, is archived here and is mentioned by Maher.
In the end, I agree with Maher: “Can we please try to remember—especially at this time of year—that ghosting anyone who disagrees with you politically is not the way to fix what’s wrong with the country?”
The guests on the show are said to be “veteran political strategist Donna Brazile and Michael Render,” as well as Neil deGrasse Tyson and Andrew Sullivan, but the only ones I see are Brazile and Render.
Ghosting anyone who disagrees with you politically is not the issue. The problem is the constant lies and the narcissism at the top.
No, ghosting IS the issue of Maher’s piece. Also demonizing of all Republicans.
Look, I have said repeatedly that Trump is a deranged narcissist. But I am not going to ignore everyone who voted for Trump or who is a Republican.
Who gave you the power to determine what the “issue” was in this post or Maher’s piece.
+1
Excellent piece!
The Daily Show had a skit about how to handle political discussion during Thanksgiving. It does go after the left side at the end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kyRNRZBB4M
Absolutely
Divide and Conquer
There’s a reason for that expression.
And the opposite of “Divide” is not “Unity”
I don’t think we need to hear who implemented “Unity” as a political strategy it was Mao Zedong oops
And every leader of every party, ever. Particularly when cracks are starting to show.
“This democratic method of resolving contradictions among the people was epitomized in 1942 in the formula “unity, criticism, unity”. To elaborate, it means starting from the desire for unity, resolving contradictions through criticism or struggle and arriving at a new unity on a new basis. In our experience this is the correct method of resolving contradictions among the people.”
On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People
February 27, 1957
1st pocket ed., p. 12
The political positions of individuals stem from their individual psychologies, and sometimes follow a curious arc. Our host notes that his father voted for Nixon. One of my aunts was a Communist in youth, stayed a conventional “progressive” left-winger for years afterward, but became an admirer of Richard Nixon in her old age.
Hell, I would vote for Nixon in 2028—I’m just not sure he would welcome the campaign trail after all the peaceful years underground.
Hiding from the law, is he?
But that’s just the natural progression. If one isn’t a socialist at 20 he has no heart. If one is still a socialist at 40 he has no brains.
–attributed to so many people I can’t be arsed to look it up.
In the no brains category, with many well past 40, Canada has provided the Peace and Justice Network. 4 months after Russia invaded Ukraine from 3 sides, the network favored us with this pronouncement: “We urge people across Canada to join us to protest the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and demand an end to the war in Ukraine between June 24 to June 30. We will be holding “Stop the Weapons, Stop the War, Stop NATO” rallies across Canada to coincide with NATO’s Summit in Madrid, Spain.” This sort of thing goes beyond Left/Right patterns into
the realm of the surreal.
Wow Jon (and Leslie). The picture you guys paint of politics in our esteemed northern neighbor is often… pretty grim. Seems to be similar – though I watch only from a distance – in my original Aussie homeland. Again with my theory that the further one is from the culture producing metropole… the larger and more extreme the trends.
I better find my passport and start travelling again!
D.A.
NYC
Thought of you, PCC(E), when I saw this. There’s a space in our world for people with broadly left-ish, secular, data informed ethics.. that has been blown away by woke.
Michael Shellenberger calls us “Leftugees”.
Times change and many people are kinda stranded between Trump horrors and corruption and woke nonsense.
Egs are Sam Harris, Shermer, Andrew Doyle, JKR, Elon M., you, me and many commenters here. The system will re-align I think – it is actually doing that. If we have the first amm’dt, and can still vote, the system can cure the direction towards sanity. Fingers crossed.
D.A.
NYC
Hopefully. But the less-sane also have the first amendment, and tend to be louder. When the lunatics reach a critical mass there can be very rapid growth — the new normal. Are we there yet?
To quote former Justice Stephen Breyer: “Find someone you believe is intelligent and entirely disagree with. And talk to them. And really listen.” A good message for Thanksgiving; I’m still working on the listening part.