George Takei vs. Bill Maher

[JCanete]

147. I don't particularly disagree with anything you said here. It makes sense to choose where

to put your ratings/money..etc.

Ultimately I think his show is valuable because he provides a very public forum where people can disagree with him where he's wrong. He doesn't manage it and his guest choices or interactions in the way that CNN or FOX etc. do. But again, where you can speak with your dollars, I totally respect that choice, and if you are convinced he's just a shit-head or provocateur, rather than actually attempting to come to grips with some of this material, that's reasonable.

As to a company "changing," that's not the same as a person changing. It is surface level, and all about the dollars. That totally makes sense to demand that a company embody certain values, and I guess you could say that about HBO in this context. I'm not sure that applies the same to people, or at least I don't want a place where I expect people to be candid to be a place where they end up pandering. I find it too typical that some subjects are just avoided and people button up their actual beliefs on certain subjects because they think they are dangerous to publicly air. And generally, those ideas don't change, and they just find the communities where those ideas can be spoken in an echo chamber and reified, where they still spread from like mold in a damp room that doesn't let sun in.

Even if Maher doesn't have that problem, his show does provide opportunities for people who don't typically hear these ideas get challenged, to hear them get challenged.

Anyway, its reasonable to not like him personally, and there's no question he is a dick. I'm feeling ambiguous about my initial post's point, so I'll leave it at that.