In the boiling political climate that we have now, both the right and the left and anyone else on the spectrum seem to gravitate towards newscasters who present recent occurrences in a more relaxed and straightforward manner. Bill Maher, however, is no longer and was never one to look up to, especially for the left.
Maher is the one who likes to pick and choose his views about a topic, including vaccines and pedophilia. With this alone, one would think that would be enough to can him socially, but apparently not.
Even with his use of the n-word, somehow people are still shocked, as well as some who think it’s excusable (big surprise there). Some actually believe it’s just a joke. The only thing that is laughable here, is people actually believing that it was “just a joke”.
And besides, since he’s almost never been held accountable before, maybe that’s why people are so caught off guard by the comment. But the point is, they shouldn’t be.
Sure every late night political show host has their faults, hell, Maher himself had his first show ended because of a 9/11 “joke”. But it seems Mr. Bill always got the lenient hand, especially when it came to his views.
People figure, well, he still holds leftist values (some values) therefore it’s impossible for him to be a racist, or misogynist, or any other label of accountability. With that, we have a lot to learn about words and the power they hold.
Sure, Maher may have been referencing himself when he said the slur, but it was still rooted with the knowledge of slavery (where the slur originates) and, well, there really is nothing after that. But it should be crystal clear, anyone who is not black cannot use the n-word. There are no if’s, ands or buts about it.
If one wants to argue for Maher in saying his sometimes leftist views make him incapable of being this way, then riddle this…if he really is an open minded and level headed guy, then it should be common sense for him not to say the n-word in the first place. Maybe he just got overly comfortable in his cahoots with people of color.
At the same time, this could be no surprise in the sense that since he doesn’t concretely sway right or left, and therefore should never have been a “hero” to the left to begin with.
He also didn’t make it any better when on his show Friday, where he did two things that just showed how truly “out of touch” he is.
For one, he had two black guests, which just seems to emanate the whole, “I have black (guests) so I can’t be racist.” No Bill, that’s not how it goes. You could be adopted by an entirely black family, and you could still be a typical white apologist racist.
The second thing was further proof that he simply could care less about representing anyone. When rapper Ice Cube came on, he explained to Maher that what he did as in no way okay, saying that the word was black people’s word to use now.
But this of course just went over his head, and somewhat dismissed it by saying that it was already established that it was wrong, in other words, he just wanted to move on instead having an actual conversation about it. It literally was, what it was meant to be… a show, an act.
And that’s what is going on here with Bill Maher.
Yes he takes swings at both conservatives and liberals, but it should not be mistaken that he was ever a left swaying “genius” of a late night talk show. He represents the perfect mold of when a non person of color speaks for people of color, and ends up trying to tell them what they can and cannot be upset about.
Sorry, again, still doesn’t work that way. Black people have reclaimed the word for a damn good reason: to get far away from the ugly historical context of the word, which someone like Maher still benefits from.
His rhetoric and his disregard for his remarks on many issues, has and never will be acceptable. He, like his show should have been, was always cancelled.
- Gentrification won’t stop Old LA farmer’s market - December 5, 2018
- Injury plagued season forces water polo to forfeit - November 20, 2018
- PCC’s free tuition promise now more promising - April 25, 2018
