This was from a Twitter thread about Bill Maher and it turned into one of saddest things ever

[YorkRd]

Link to tweet

?s=21

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. Yes, SO sad... also makes me SO angry!!

[Loki Liesmith]

2. Lost me when she decided his race and sex were relevant.

[kcr]

3. That mean you're an anti-vaccer now?

[YorkRd]

5. The second part about healthcare people on suicide hotlines was devastating

[wnylib]

60. I heard a discussion on NPR about

long covid suicides because they can't deal with the physical pain and total loss of their former lives, with no hope of improvement.

[bhikkhu]

62. Even just loss of the sense of smell has been implicated in suicides

That was something that had been studied long before covid.

I know a couple of guys who are still dealing with that months after getting it. It can be a cause of depression, basically. Which is just one more thing after the brain fog, physical pains, and debt. It's all worse here in the US, of course, the way our health care system works.

[susanr516]

67. It's really depressing

I got a mild case of Covid right before Thanksgiving 2020, before the first vaccines were available. Over a year later, my sense of smell is still mostly gone. There are moments when my sense of smell returns, but only for several seconds. Then, basically nothing. I've lost 8 lbs. since then, because I don't have much of an appetite. Fortunately, I needed to lose about 35 lbs, but it's kind of depressing when nothing tastes right. I still have issues with brain fog, too. I find the brain fog way more depressing than losing my sense of smell.

[oldsoftie]

8. Some people will force it into a weather discussion. Its a "thing", dontcha know!

But its only allowable with one segment of society

[Hortensis]

9. :) Here's something to the point, Loki:

From a writer at Forbes:

Maher went on to to complain, “it’s ridiculous. You don’t want to live in your paranoid world anymore, your masked paranoid world.”

Was he referring to the “paranoid world” where the U.S. had 3,866 reported Covid-19-related deaths on January 21 alone and has been averaging over 2,100 Covid-19-related deaths a day for the past seven days, according to data assembled by the New York Times?

Or was he referring to the world where potentially a quarter to a half of those who have had Covid-19 will continue to experience long Covid symptoms, as researchers at Penn State have found?

Maybe to a nation where over 900,000 Americans have died dreadful, unnecessary deaths.

Agree being a white male is not a crime. I do believe Maher should be whipped out of town for his contribution to this holocaust. Only figuratively by people stopping rewarding this behavior by tuning in for more, of course. Since the real thing's not possible.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

26. They are, when it comes to people in media who are more able to say stupid things without

consequences.

[obamanut2012]

49. lolz

[Hekate]

63. Shorthand for entitlement on top of entitlement. Twitter (a medium I despise) requires shorthand--

— as I am sure you know.

I am sure you, as a DUer, are also aware of the layers of privilege and entitlement in this society, starting with white and male, finally moving on to fabulously wealthy. Those two certainly check all the boxes. Aren’t you pretty tired of that as well?

[malaise]

4. I stopped watching. Maher years ago n/t

[mahina]

6. He's insufferable.

I can’t imagine how anybody could find it entertaining for five minutes. I want to wipe that smug smirk off his face. And then he speaks! Ugh.

[malaise]

11. I almost wrote that exact word

[mahina]

13. Yep!

[mahina]

51. Then he said

“I don't want to live in your paranoid world anymore — your masked, paranoid world,” Maher said. “You go out — it's silly now. You know you have to have your mask, you have to have a card, you have to have a booster. They scan your head like you’re a cashier and I’m a bunch of bananas,” Maher said to laughs from the audience.“

[malaise]

52. He's an asshole

That is all

[LiberalFighter]

53. Pretty much how i have felt when I heard him.

Thankfully never had HBO.

[leighbythesea2]

64. Succinct

Thank you. My thoughts.

[PJMcK]

14. Yep, me too

Maher used to be funny, in a sarcastic/urban sort-of way.

Now he's just a privileged ass.

[malaise]

15. You nailed it

[HUAJIAO]

32. I don't think he was ever funny, just a self-centered, asshole.

I haven't watched him in years.. just catch a glimpse now and again.. mostly from here at DU.. can't last more than a few seconds so I just don't click on links any more/

[Duppers]

17. Same here. nt

[SouthernDem4ever]

19. Same here.

He coddled too many right wing whackos for his own amusement and ratings all while trying to act concerned. It was just an act.

[malaise]

21. THIS

[OMGWTF]

54. One of his BFFs is Ann Coultergeist

[Alexander Of Assyria]

24. Disagree. Loved his political humour for years. AND he is not a fascist, And don't like to

comment on Twitter thread news, it’s not news.., that always leads to one place…Land of I’m Outraged!

Not worthy of direct comment, I would beseech.

[malaise]

29. I didn't call him a fascist

That said his anti-Muslim rhetoric disgusted me.

[Evolve Dammit]

35. ditto

[Tommymac]

55. I never really watched him. Would catch the occasional blurb on social media

and always wondered why anyone watched him - what he said or did was not funny.

EVER.

Mediocre B list talent from day 1.

[wryter2000]

57. Same here

His misogyny was on full display too many times. Plus, he's not funny.

[wnylib]

61. The misogyny is what irritated me first

about him.

Then the coddling of RWers, giving them a forum.

And what's a Libertarian doing with a section on his program called New RULES?

Then there is his self-centered smirk as he waits for applause and laughter like a kid being cute for his parents.

Haven't watched him for years.

[budkin]

65. Same. He's a POS

He helped me get through the Bush years but I said adios after that.

[Hortensis]

7. Me also. Maher and Whoopi are getting the sought-after attention

from their interchange and his despicable comments.

Over 900,000 Americans have died, more every day. That's the line that needs to be quoted, not his clickbait claim that peoples' heads are being scanned like they're bananas.

[oldsoftie]

10. He should remind everyone that he's been vaccinated

When he caught covid he had no symptoms & did give credit to it

[localroger]

22. This

Yes, he didn't state it best, but this is why he feels the way he does. If all the stupid HCA seekers would just get the vaccine, the pandemic would be over. The vaccines have existed and been proven safe and effective for over a year now. Other than a few very rare medical conditions or infancy, the only reason to be unvaccinated now is stupidity.

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. He feels like he does because he's a dumb, self-obsessed case of Dunning-Kruger

He's stated he's never going to get the booster. He's said it's "useless" (that proves he's dumb). He's says that people just need "a healthy lifestyle" to avoid the problems.

It’s not a rarefied or weird point of view to say that if people would up their vitamin D levels, up their zinc levels, stop eating sugar, get a proper amount of sleep, stop overeating and day drinking, which is what went on during this pandemic, they would have a much better chance. The people who didn’t do that have blood on their hands. There’s no other way to put it.

I understand that the Western medical establishment is rather cozy with the pharmaceutical industry, so I understand that their only idea about solving this is a pharmaceutical response. And I’m glad there is a vaccine because many people need a vaccine. It does stop you from dying. But shouldn’t we also have at least mentioned this other way to deal with it?
...
It’s not only useless, but this is a very, very new vaccine. Okay, I didn’t want the first vaccine. We should not treat people unfairly who want to allow their own immune system to take care of the situation. But okay, I took one for the team.

https://deadline.com/2022/01/bill-maher-donald-trump-covid-warning-interview-real-time-hbo-1234916953/

In reality, using the figures Deadline put in the article, and the CDC figures for overweight/obese in the general population, the merely overweight had (before vaccines) a 15% high chance of hospitalization than the OK/underweight. The obese had a 50% higher chance. But vaccines cut the chance of hospitalization by far, far more than that. But, because he's ignorant and self-obsessed, he thinks it was his previous good health that pulled him through, and he's spreading anti-vax propaganda now. It is indeed time for everyone to say "Fuck Bill Maher".

[Farmer-Rick]

34. Yeah, he SAID he was vaccinated

Then he claimed he got COVID. I never trusted what he said about either. He came across as unreliable. Weird that he was supposedly one of the first people to get a breakthrough case. What a coincidence for someone who doesn't care about 800,000 deaths from COVID.

Whatever, when I quit trusting what he said, I quit watching.

I did like his movie on religion though....too bad he turned into such a heartless, entitled actor.

[johnthewoodworker]

12. If your not a scientific moron, get the fucking vaccine. It 's simple.

[Person of Interest]

16. Anti-vaxxers and pandemic deniers are the only voices...

that are routinely heard. No other points of view are given as much attention and air time.

[justhanginon]

18. Maher certainly qualifies, "dumb sonofabitch".

[papa3times]

20. Maybe BM

and RFK junior will be getting together for some good old anti-vaxxen bs!

[Crowman2009]

23. Watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver instead.

Bill Mahar has been dead to me ever since he had Milo Snufalufagus on his show.

[bullwinkle428]

25. Posted without comment:

Link to tweet

[PatSeg]

33. Wow, that certainly sums things up

After Maher had to do his show from home, he changed an awful lot. He has always been a bit smug, but he could be very insightful, often saying out loud what most people were afraid to say. Now he is turning into a cranky old man who takes one issue and beats it into the ground. It feels like something got rewired in his brain and he is on repeat mode.

Besides his attitude about the pandemic, he spends a great deal of time bashing Biden and Democrats, sounding more and more like Tucker Carlson all the time.

I'm getting the feeling that a lot of people don't want to appear on his show anymore.

[suncat]

40. Bashing Democrats

I agree. I stopped watching him because I got tired of all the anger he has towards Democrats. I endured it for a while, because I understood his frustrations with the slowness of the system. It just began to get to me. It seemed he crossed over some threshold and it began to feel like more than frustration.

[PatSeg]

46. Yes, more than frustration

Like many people, I think he was addicted to being outraged and contrary. I suppose it became his brand. When things started to look better, he was stuck in contrary gear, bashing a competent and experienced president and treating Democrats like the enemy.

Meanwhile, we are fighting to save our democracy and he is stuck on COVID restrictions and woke millennials.

Welcome to DU!

[bullwinkle428]

42. Almost as if he feels completely emotionally deprived, if he doesn't have a

room full of people enthusiastically applauding him.

Kind of like someone else, who just had to whip up some applause at the Mar-A-Lago dining room.

[PatSeg]

47. That is how it seems

He has to have that audience and all those months of doing the show from home and later an empty studio deprived him of that immediate feedback.

You know, it was rather odd last Friday. That crowd seemed to applaud and cheer loudly at anything and everything. Seemed rather artificial.

[AngryOldDem]

37. So, apparently like Fox, he's part of the problem too.

SMDH.

[NoMoreRepugs]

27. Maher believes he's the smartest guy in any room. That

Joe Rogan/Aaron Rogers syndrome seems to infect mostly buttwipes.

[oldsoftie]

39. That's a common problem with famous people/politicians.

Ego is a HUGE factor for the majority. And the fawning of the "average citizen" only encourages it

[tetedur]

30. I loved the part where he praised the Covid policies in Florida

I guess Desantis is his hero.

The 4 states with the highest count of Covid 19 cases are the most populous also. (I don't remember if he was picking and choosing statistics about deaths and he said something like Florida was 17th. Don't quote me on that.)

According to this site:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1102807/coronavirus-covid19-cases-number-us-americans-by-state/

Florida is third. With a population of 21 million, they have had 5.3 million cases. According to my math that's about 25%.
California with 39 million has had 7.6 million cases and that's about 19%.
Texas with 29 million has had 5.9 million cases and that's about 20%.

[oldsoftie]

41. Well, looking at those figures it seems like he's not totally wrong.

I mean, CA had a strong lockdown & strict rules for quite some time. Texas did the opposite. And the only difference in cases is about 1%? FL about 6%? That hardly vindicates shutting everything down indefinitely.
I really thought the % difference would be much higher.

[richdj25]

31. Stop watching that guy

Years ago. He's just another privilege white guy, who cries at the drop of a hat.

[AngryOldDem]

36. I think he's going out of his way to piss people off.

Trying to stay relevant, I guess.

I saw him on one of the news networks late last year (I think it was Don Lemon on CNN) and he had a very smug (even for him) and IDGAF attitude. It was extremely off-putting, and I disagreed with just about everything he said.

Hey, Bill, you know what they say about opinions. Yours is no different, and as you say, GET OVER YOURSELF.

[Paladin]

38. Maher is our enemy. More and more so with every show, every season. (nt)

[jaxexpat]

44. I noticed he was being more open to just being himself about 3 years ago.

That's when I stopped watching. There is apparently someone in his regular circle of acquaintances who whispers in his ear, "you are the smartest in the room, flaunt it". He is under a lot of internal pressure to be sophisticated.

[jcgoldie]

43. Fuck Bill Maher

I used to enjoy watching his show now I can't get through 10 minutes of it. I agree with him on organized religion and thats about it. His continuous both siderism is nauseating.

[Paladin]

48. If you want funny + political, watch Stephanie Miller's show.

Weekday mornings on Free Speech TV.

Walk away from Maher's steady move to full-on fascism.

[Ligyron]

50. She did modify it by use of the adjective "selfish".

You’ll also hear the term “privileged” used on multiple occasions but in this particular case Mahr is a multi millionaire so he is kind of privileged.

He lives in entirely different world than the average citizen so I don’t think he can relate.

[Rebl2]

56. Have never

watched him. Now I am glad I didn’t.

[soldierant]

58. Years ago, he was a guest on "Finding Your Roots."

Bill O'Reilly was another guest on the same show. It turned out the two Bills are "DNA cousins - i.e., they shere a string of DNA long enough to deduce that, somewhere in the mists of time, they share a common ancestor.

As time goes by, I find it easier and easier to accept that. And it's not O'Reilly geting more like Maher.

[BigmanPigman]

59. I tried to watch his last show 3 times...

I gave his monologue, guests and New Rules more than "one more" chance to redeem the show and himself and found none.

I noticed his Covid position was basically related to his show losing money as well as his stand-up schedule being curtailed. It comes down to the almighty $$$. His Dem bashing and Covid vax bashing are what put the nail in his coffin as far as I am concerned. I did not miss him during his 2 month Winter break.

[kimbutgar]

66. I'm done watching him

Told my hubby if he wants to watch he can watch him on his own.I’m done with that pos a hole.