Liberal apologists of bill maher need to think long and hard

[GitRDun]

202. A couple thoughts for you

I've watched the show for a lot of years. I think he just misfired....I don't understand why it's a given he is a racist, islamaphobe, and sexist. Lol your thrust is if I don't accept your opinion I have a problem? Whatever happened to reasonable people can disagree?

As I watched the show, I thought the Senator's comments were a slave reference too. Maher shouldn't have used the reference he did, but I think his track record is OK. I groaned too so I can see why people were offended. Glad he apologized.

I've never seen him as sexist, but open to learning about that.

I think the Islamaphobia charge is flat out wrong. His message is that religions are responsible for plenty of violence and you cannot dismiss the role the larger religion plays as relates to extremists of that religion. Maher has the same position when it comes to Christian extremists. Yeah, the "millions of Muslims support the Charlie Hebdo attack" was hyperbole, no one knows how many did. However, it was also true that at that time in the UK 25% of Muslims supported the attack. That's not a small number.

I would offer one further point on religion. One of my best friends, probably one of the smartest people I know, was born in India, moved here as a child, served in the army as a doctor...been all over the world. He is a sikh. The kindest, most tolerant person I know. He has said some of the same things Maher has said about religions generally and Islam in particular. He's said their is a tinge of intolerance broadly that needs to be addressed if we are going to drive out the extremists, particularly in the Middle East....and this is a guy that had his kids research other religions as summer projects when they were in high school.

In the end, I understand Bill Maher is not everyone's cup of tea, but some of the firing squad posts in this thread are over the top for me. Likewise it is wrong to say anyone who disagrees with you is a racist or mysogynist. Your my way or the highway approach doesn't add to the dialogue or provide the basis for understanding on a constructive way forward.