Bill Maher is Out of His God Damn Mind
It’s become a regular occurrence nowadays to see a clip of Bill Maher saying something asinine, but the latest gives form to his descent.
Since Trump’s election, the comic’s show Real Time with Bill Maher has been on a long sad march in its retreat from reality.
In the process, his once acerbic wit has been diluted into impotent cordial.
And as for his new podcast ‘Club Random,’ ouff, don’t go there. The set looks like a teenage boy’s fantasy of their ideal bedroom yet somehow seedier.
But what’s to blame for this precipitous decline?
In a phrase; Brain Poisoning. Specifically, Intellectual Dark Web Brain Poisoning.
There are a group of intellectuals, and I use the word ‘intellectual’ in the loosest possible sense, who push a curious brand of politics.
They sometimes present themselves as centrist, post-left or, weaselliest of all, classical liberals.
But imbibe enough of their “wisdom,” and you’ll be weather-vaning like Maher from supporting universal healthcare to saying, “It doesn’t affect my life, I ain’t getting anyone pregnant,” when abortion rights come up.
Quite the heel turn, isn’t it?
He derails the serious conversation to talk about gay Teletubbies (the people who care about this are apparently too far gone even for him) and then whines about wanting to see an unreleased Jamie Foxx movie from 2016.
But what he’s getting mad at is not ‘The Left,’ it’s corporate co-optation of radical liberalism in the service of their bottom line. Offending people isn’t a great sales pitch now, is it?
I’ll concede his point that the ensuing censorship rubs most of us the wrong way, of course it does.
But is it worse than forcing raped 10 year olds to carry the baby to term or denying an abortion to a woman who’s foetus was missing its skull?
And he dismisses the potential next steps to criminalise contraception and homosexuality out of hand. Yep, they’re coming for our sodomy next.
But Why?
What he said reveals a deep selfishness. In fact, it’s selfishness raised to the level of religion.
The politically minded may have picked up that this sounds like Libertarianism. That’s right, it does!
Let the Hobbsian war of all against all rage as far as I care; it doesn’t affect my paddock. I mean, those wolves’ll never get through that fence.
It’s the end of the line, folks, we’ve finally put the ‘Greed is Good’ Neoliberalism of the ’80s in the rear-view mirror.
Wait, we just passed it and we’re still going in the same direction? Oh fuck!
Since the Market Revolution the economy has essentially been a settled issue — Spoiler alert: the right won — so in the absence of material change people have polarized along the axis of culture instead.
Maher’s turn has come from spending too much time with people who think like Ben Shapiro (Joe Rogan, listen up, this is important).
The man who self-cancelling New York Times luminary Bari Weiss dubbed the “Cool Kids’ Philosopher.”
And Jordan Peterson, who finally revealed his power level with a histrionic anti-trans diatribe on his way to join up with Shapiro’s Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire incidentally received seed funding from extremely normal billionaire fracking magnates Dan and Farris Wilks.
The Wilks brothers were brought up in a religious sect called the Assembly of Yahweh (7th Day).
They’re a harmless conservative Jews for Jesus-style congregation, led by pastor Farris, who believe abortion and homosexuality are crimes.
And they also think the Bible is, “historically and scientifically accurate in every detail.” Good Lord!
That explains a lot.
What happens then?
Sites like the Daily Wire are promoted online by a network of organisations such as Turning Point USA, which are awash in billionaire money.
Most notably, the Koch Brothers — who’re also libertarian oil billionaire brothers and political pie fingerers.
And Robert Mercer — the money behind all sorts of tawdry things. Seriously, Google him.
Top of the list is Trump, Cambridge Analytica and Breitbart. Oh, and a think tank dedicated to Climate Change denial called The Heartland Institute. Because, of course.
No wonder Shapiro is always trending on Facebook.
They’re permanently ensconced in the timeline, ready to radicalise lonely scrolling boomers and disaffected young men.
Shapiro claims these funders have never exerted editorial control over him but to paraphrase some words of wisdom from Noam Chomsky.
Ben, honey, I’m sure you believe everything you’re saying. But if you believed anything else, you wouldn’t be sitting where you’re sitting.
It makes sense the ideology would appeal to someone like Maher, by all accounts he’s equal parts out of touch and wealthy, with a net worth of $140 million.
So they sell him the idea that you don’t have to give a shit about other people.
They deserve nothing, you deserve everything, and you can stay in the soft play area of culture forever and never have to confront things that prick your conscience.
Furthermore, it’s also worth noting that when one of Maher’s erstwhile fellow travellers comes on his show, they increasingly make him look uncomfortable and foolish, which is undeniably great TV, but must wound his pride.
So he gravitates toward these sophists who pander and caress his fragile ego, luring him in with their talk of free speech and liberty, while waving the most ridiculous examples of PC overreach as a distraction.
What they fail to mention is that conception of liberty means the freedom to pollute and harm people with abandon once all environmental and safety regulations are set alight.
So with all his needs met, Maher can regress into a cosseted child stamping his little feet because he can’t see his movie.
Sir, please, you’re embarrassing yourself.
Distracting adult babies with the jangling keys of the culture war is instrumental in the thrust to take away our rights and freedoms.
Don’t fall for it.
If you enjoyed this scream into the void, maybe you’d like some of my other stuff — link below.
