Would we accept Bill Maher's behavior from a right leaning comedian?

Last night Bill ended his show by basicly calling the Jonas Brothers gay and making fun of gay marriage at the same time. He is constantly telling sexist jokes. If this were say Stephen Baldwin, would we be OK with it? There is much to admire about Bill, but his constant sexism is a big problem. I hesitate to throw out the baby with the bath water, but at some point the baby drowns in the bath water. I worry about Bill potentially crossing the line.

He speaks for whatever makes Bill Maher the most money.

No need to discuss this further. Bill Maher speaks for Bill Maher and nobody else.

I live in a cave.

of virginity until they are married

if you can't reap the benefits?

:spray:

New and Improved!

Rock and Roll (now with chastity!)

I never expected such a thing.

:crazy:

Keith Richards needs to have a long, long, talk with them

:spray:

You are so right. They are doing it wrong, especially if they are not doing it AT ALL.

The words of HANK HILL from King of the Hill.

resonate.

They aren't like Van Halen or Bon Jovi in the "rock group" sense.

To me, they are more like the New Kids on the Block.

They are more for girls under the age of twenty (and I am giving them 2 years there because I would think under 18). They will be popular about as long as Hansan was, is my guess. Once they lose the boy look, their popularity will fade. Unless of course, they can come up with some serious music to keep them out there. JMHO

Remember them?
Thought not

That the only people who like their music are all under the age of consent, but then again they also don't have to worry too hard about anyone over the age of consent since they're going to have better taste than to jump in the sack with them.

TlalocW

How'd that work out?

even know where to begin. :wtf: Abstinence, drugs, and Rock and Roll??? I just can't get with it. :wtf:

Have studies been done on this? I'll bet it causes wrinkles among other things... spontaneous human combustion, heart problems, gas, suicide, or Republicanism. OMG, somebody kill me now.

completely fabricated nonsense for the prepubescent set. totally unlike the completely fabricated nonsense for the pubescent set. ;)

that's the target audience as far as I can tell. At that age, promise rings are fine. :)

They're aimed at tweens and play crappy music while acting like they're real musicians.

They go on her show all the time, they do that Camp Rock piece of crap together, and on and on. They're totally owned by Disney.

He's like me. Marriage is like a prison sentence, and he makes no bones about it.

Someone should remind him of his mission. :)

I share his sentiments in those regards, so.

The homophobia is tedious, but he has Dan Savage on fairly often, so that helps.

because they are forced and remote from his experience. I like his political stuff much better It doesn't have the underlying creepiness of his personal ambivalence seeping in.

You serve your prison sentence and they let you go free. To get out of a marriage you have to fight your way out, escape it and then you may never be completey free. There is a reason they use to call the spouse the "old ball and chain". You drag it with you where ever you go.

bitter old woman ;)

"If I get married again, I want a guy there with a drum to do rimshots during the vows."

"I don't worry about terrorism. I was married for two years."


Talking about married life: “Can you do me a favor? If you see me working on the yard next week and around the house? Kill me. Kill me! Are you my friends? Don’t you love me? Do you remember when I was a man and I controlled my own destiny? KILL ME


"People are going: 'Man, aren't you afraid to tell jokes like that? Don't you get just a small chill that runs through your blood when you tell a joke like that? Aren't you afraid of going to hell?' No, I'm not worried about hell. Because I WAS MARRIED FOR TWO F---ING YEARS! HELL WOULD BE LIKE CLUB MED!"

mean-spiritedness that makes me uncomfortable.

Basically, I think it's my perception of him as being a not-very-nice person which forms the filter
through which I view him.

Adult women are very scary to him. YET he has some magnificently adult women on his show.

Nevertheless the man is a douchey character.

but if comedians cross the line, especially ones who have a weekly television show, we can vote with our remotes. I watch him often, but sometimes I turn him off. A comedian who is blatant about his sexist opinions is far less dangerous than a politician who is subtly sexist...


IMHO

for being old and hard of hearing. I could see him switching sides the way dennis miller did. Maher is full of misogyny and I'm glad Janine called him on it.

I watched him for a few months and then finally quit in disgust. Can't stand him now.

He does okay on straight politics. I can't watch him either any more.

People are different. Even people you like usually have elements of their personality that you don't like. Everyone isn't going to fit in a nice neat package, but if you'd prefer to cut people out because they aren't just like yourself, you go right ahead.

There are authors and directors who hold political or religious views that I find abhorrent-- but I like their work. There are conservative writers who make arguments I disagree with on every level, but nonetheless argue coherently and are worth reading (I'm not talking about the Hannity's or Krauthammers of the world here).

And most of the time, a pretty good one (or at least one with good writers).

What kind of jokes get the most laughs? Jokes about sex, primarily. And I honestly don't know how you can tell jokes about sex without someone thinking they are sexist jokes.

He could be a lot worse.

We on the left need to loosen our girdles a little. We have gotten so defensive of everything that we then loose credence when we are offended by the really offensive things being done. That is why people complain about us complaining too much. :spank:

Have you noticed?

His idea of left is certainly different than mine but that's OK. He a comedian who brings together people who talk politics. He's going for the laugh and doesn't care which party is the punch line.

but it is show biz and he's not journalist, per se.

:hi:

they don't. Bill makes fun of damn near everything. Yes, he does trash the right more than the left, but I think a lot of that just might be because the right has been in power for what seems like FOREVER! I'm positive when the Dems get back into power, they'll get their share of hits too.

Gee, I must have missed that. Bill's a blowhard. Occasionally a blowhard can be amusing, but he's still a blowhard.

There's nothing he has to say that makes his blatant sexist excusable or tolerable. Click.

He's a complicated man! :crazy:

He said he didn't anyhow....urban legend IMO.

BUT... she was at one time a Dem before she realized there was more money in it to be a fascist Repub, so it's possible they may have dated then, if the rumors are at all true. Anyway, they do seem to be friends. :puke:

Here's a quickie from DK

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/11/13720/344

Comedy should not be held to pc standards. It's not like he's in public office.

Bill is sexist in so many ways. And he's a slut. But he still does respect smart women even as he gets a hard on thinking about them.

You have to cut comedians some slack. Most of the time the comments they make are meant to enlighten. A problem the "left" has is that it tends to lose its sense of humor over things because it wasn't pc enough for the purest of them. I have seen countless comments on this site made by people who simply don't have a sense of humor.

If Pryor continually denegrated women and gays as opposed to using his own people in his jokes he would have been viewed much differently.

Which was fine by me, as a white person.

I thought that made it even funnier, really.

who supports gay marriage like any other civil right ..I can't help it..I love Bill. He has told jokes that are aimed at my big fat over eating white american ass and I still love him.

The rw doesn't do humor...unless you count, rush and bill O and they don't mean to be funny to it doesn't count.

from Limbaugh and O'Reilly? Two of the biggest comedians that the right has. sarcasm

With one of the best shows on television.

Leaping non-existent christ where to start....

1. He's permitted an opinion-- it's his right. If he can package that opinion as entertainment and sell it to others than bravo for him. Would thousands of people pay money to hear YOU speak?
2. Many of his observations are just painful truths. For many lefty "blank -slate" types it's a genuine newsflash/ this just in situation -- men and women are inherently different-- get over it. Take two Steven Pinkers and call me in the morning. Careerists get paid not to notice this. Comedians - good ones any way- get paid to notice and exploit the differences and incongruities in life to get a laugh. And get paid.
3. Same sex marriage can -tiptoe tiptoe carefully now... -- have a... sorta kinda "interesting aesthetic"-- ... mmmmm visually. It's just really impolite to notice this. There's an incongruity to the union, especially if one of the couples is particularly butch and the other isn't. This incongruity tends to lend itself to easy mean humor and cheap shots. But like a lot of mean humor, it doesn't meant it's not funny. Or true.
4. If the Jonas brothers want to say virgins then that's their choice. I mean are you seriously judging- negatively-- their choice of abstaining from sex 'till they think they are ready for it? Wonderfully intolerant and hypocritical of anyone who does that while simultaneously belly-aching 'bout RW intolerance of sexual freedoms.

You lost me right there.

And before you even start with the evo-psych babble to justify your sexism, it's already been predicted on this bingo card. Have a nice day.

Thanks for responding. The card is a straw -man, of course. SP may be a douche bag but he is one smart spot on douche bag.

Besides, Maher is not a liberal. He's more of a libertarian. He likes his tax cuts. He scolded Roseanne Barr for wanting higher taxes on the rich, telling her that the rich pay the lion's share of taxes as it is. That may be true, Bill, but the rich have an even bigger lion's share of the WEALTH in this country.

Well, mostly anyway. Most right wingers making sexist remarks however actually do believe things like men are superior and whatnot.

Saying Maher is just about money is a generic, knee-jerk criticism. This is the man who lost his TV show because he took a stand and criticized George Bush after 9-11.

Speaking out against Bush when virtually nobody else in the MSM would was extremely brave and cost Maher a lot of money. He nearly lost his career. He worked for POS Clearchannel and bit the hand that fed. He didn't do that to make himself rich.

the Jonas brothers are lame. The fifteen year old writes all their songs and does most of the creative work. the older brothers are strictly preformers. their music is light, and that is a kind way of saying it, and will not endure unless they complicate it up a bit because the thirteen year olds will grow older and go on to other boy bands.

Maher did speak out when no one else did, and I salute and respect him for that. Him and the Dixie Chicks (whom he defended) are always going to be on my list of people who stood up to the regime.

is a comedian, your choice is to change the channel. If you don't, you get what you paid for, a comedian doing his bit. Stephen Baldwin is not a comedian.

chastity and Rock and Roll in the same category...but Bill Maher should NOT have equated that to being gay. That's just plain wrong. I've been miffed at him for years for his sexism.

Bothers me because he acts like he's presenting an insightful and intelligent position on a subject when usually he offers a knee jerk and insulting position on any issue.

Maher lost his show because in the wake of the 9/11 attacks he offered the insensitive and knee jerk opinion that the murderers who did it were courageous. That's not standing up to Bush, that's saying something just for attention.

Whatever faults the 9/11 hijackers had, and we could fill the yellow pages with them, a lack of physical and mental courage wasn't one of them. They willingly killed themselves in a quite gruesome way to complete their plan.

It was sociopathy, not courage. They sacrificed the lives of others to achieve their goals and also thought they'd be rewarded.

Especially when applied improperly.

As far as the sexism goes, here's the definition:
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on gender. Like the other "isms," sexism can be both personal and institutional.

Here's the definition for sexist:
discriminatory on the basis of sex (usually said of men's attitude toward women)

Bill doesn't have prejudice towards women nor does he discriminate against women, he's just an ass with sometimes bad jokes aimed at stupid people, who sometimes happen to be women.

Jannene Garafalo said it best last night, he's the only one that got fired for the whole Bush fuck-up. He lost his job at ABC because he was too politically incorrect. IMO, too many people in this nation have forgotten how to take a joke or take criticism on the chin. We are too fast to label every damn thing we can. Don't like what Maher says, don't watch.

:thumbsup:

doesn't mean he disrespects women. Is it disrespectful for single people to go to meat markets and hook up? I say as long as everyone knows what the plan is, then it isn't.

Women posing in mens' magazines is a whole other topic.

His panel was great last night, and he made some good points, but I said "WTF" at least four times.

Just like Matt Damon, Barbra Streisand, The Dixie Chicks, etc.
They are not leaders...they are people just like us who happen to have a higher profile.
If you don't like what he has to say then don't watch him.

is impossible to answer in the end. A right leaning comedian would not speak out in favor of gay rights such as gay marriage, as Maher often does.

Maher's comment arose because of the conspicuously close relationship of the boy band, coupled with their complete lack of heterosexual activity. Plus they suck.

I've got two words for those boys -- Johnny. Rotten.

I have no reason to take him or your sobriety check on him, seriously. Life's tough enough! I'll take the one who makes me laugh!!!

Bill Maher rocks.

Used to love to watch his original version of Politically Incorrect before it went to the network. Then I started seeing him on talk shows putting down women (not as a joke, but meaning it) and I couldn't laugh at him again.

i am more likely to listen to him on larry king if i have it on. i never go out of my way to watch him. but mostly.... i think he is politically off too much. some of his stuff is good. not enough for me to turn on my tv

Watch?

Enjoy?


Protest or not?


I watch Bill Maher because when he's funny, he's damn funny (to me, and humor is one of the most subjective things there is, mind). When he pisses me off, I either turn it off or wait until he goes onto another subject, which he always does sooner or later.

I don't even find him all that sexist: yeah, he's very anti-marriage and has made it clear he wants no part of that...but as a woman, I'm pretty skeptical about it too, so I can relate to his happily single and childfree jokes. I'm there with him for most of those, I don't find them offensive to "women" as a group at all.

:thumbsdown:

But I occasionally watch him anyway, because when he's not being an asshole, he's funny as hell.

I wonder what that says about me, that I willingly watch something that is offensive to me? When I think about it, I do it all the time. It's not just Bill Maher. Sexism is rampant on T.V. and in the movies. It's hard to avoid it.

Come on now, all he said was that the only places they could get married were California and Massachusetts.

....or haven't you heard the routine where Jerry just blathers on about how silly commercials are that show their detergent removing blood from clothing?

Jerry just blathers on about how you probably have bigger problems than laundry if you have blood on your shirt......


....all the while being completely oblivious to menstruation being the real purpose behind the detergents blood removing properties.





Just Because Maher Works Political and more "BLUE" doesn't mean he is more offensive

Is that lots of times, sacred cows get slain

There's a difference in tone between joking about a thing and ridiculing it.

know who the hell the Jonas Brothers are!

I heard about them for the first time from Bill Maher.

Don't think he's on our side just 'cuz he doesn't buy in to the neocon fascist mindset.

Who cares? Maher says what he thinks! I'm so sick of "I liked this person but now I think he's Republican trash cause he said something I disagree with!"

Diversity is good in thinking too.

Just wonderin'. I think if female or gay comedians can make not-so-fair jokes about straight people or men, then we should all feel free to vent. Political correctness is the death of comedy.

Not that I think Maher's very funny, or even very smart. He's certainly not as smart as he clearly thinks he is.