It’s a bit disingenuous to lump Maher in with Carlson on this. Seems to me, these two are polar opposites on virtually all political and social issues. They may both have a similar perspective on this, but it seems to me they arrive at it from entirely different directions and with entirely different agendas.
In the real world, if you were an ass when you were a teenager people tend to not care. However, in the virtual world, where people can be mean and stupid and judgemental and cowardly without consequence, dumb shit you said when you were a kid can fuck with your life as an adult.
That’s not normal, it’s not how things work in the real world, and, most importantly, it’s not fair.
But Maher is helping and providing cover to Carlson and the Republicans, even if he doesn’t mean to. And thus he ought to be criticized for it, IMO. Not the end of the world, but neither is criticism.
That’s how things work in the real world right now. Best that people learn this and teach their children that the internet lasts forever, rather than whine and complain about something that they can’t change.
Do you think it’s fair?
You watched Maher for years and think he’s a funny comedian, but in the last few months or so he is an unwatchable indefensible tool of authoritarian racism?
Is it at all possible you yourself have become sensetive about stuff that really is not that remarkable, because of, say, the internet and social media, or even the current climate, and that calls of “whiny” and “snowflake” do not land well coming from this place?
***Disagreeing isn’t going to hurt you. Criticism isn’t going to hurt you. Even a little gentle mockery isn’t going to hurt you. ***
This just popped up on my YouTube recommendations.
Cancel Culture Isn’t A Thing, You Snowflakes - Some More News
No, that last part is not remotely what I said.
Do I think what’s fair? Are you talking about a single instance, or some larger phenomenon?
Do I think what happened to that kid is fair? Yes. Let’s examine. As a stunt, he held up a sign asking for beer money. Thanks to social media, he got a huge number of eyes on his request and a lot of money sent to his Venmo. He chose to take that money and give it to charity (he got corporate matching, making it even better). Also, thanks to social media, his earlier posting history was examined and he said some unfortunate things. He lost his free beer.
Social Media helped a kid playing a joke turn that into something positive. It also spanked him for being a dumb shit. Overall, he’s going to come out just fine. He handled he entire situation really well, and presumably has learned a lot. I would certainly consider him for a future hire, were he eligible. Furthermore, social media gave him the chance to demonstrate now that he has changed and matured.
So, yes, what happened to that kid is fair.
If you think social judgements never occurred before the internet, you’re wrong.
You were a regular watcher for at least 20 years, and stopped in the last months. Because Maher was too “obnoxious” for this comedy/current affairs show. Got it. You connected Tucker Carlson and Maher though as doing something similar.
I don’t know what the difference was between my prior characterization and that, but it has been corrected. I still think you have lost your bearings because of social media and the internet. I’m no exception. We all have to watch out for this. Everybody’s a little pasha ruling a perfect little world now.
No, this isn’t why I stopped (if I’m understanding this wording of yours, which is still a bit strange to me). I stopped because I found him and his views (some of them, anyway) obnoxious enough that it was taking away from my enjoyment of the show. If suddenly I lost a bunch of my other shows, maybe I’d start watching again. But I don’t have unlimited time to watch TV, and I was noticing that his show was piling up, unwatched, in my DVR as I chose other shows to watch, so I stopped recording it.
Why is this a big deal? I don’t criticize others for enjoying it. If others enjoy Bill Maher and his show, that’s fine with me. I still think he’s a funny comedian, and I still think the discussion parts are good (at least from the last episodes I watched), so I understand why some others still watch him. But I stopped watching, and that’s okay.
EDIT: I don’t think Maher is “an unwatchable indefensible tool of authoritarian racism”, or anything close to that. I’ve criticized him a lot, but criticism doesn’t necessarily equal that kind of hyperbolic nonsense.
Care to enjoy a wee bit of schadenfreude?
Can we be real? Your first sentence is in perfect agreement with my statement. Did you intend to say “NO!..(yes)”?
You are soft-selling your dislike of him in this post. But you are calling him a friend and fellow of racists like Carlson and posters here have to answer the real things you are saying. And you are pretty intolerant of the kind of needling that has been the staple of comedy for, I don’t know, centuries? If that’s for partisan reasons there is a certain amount of hypocrisy in this. I don’t think that’s good for liberalism or the country.
I just noticed this after-post edit, and I’ll just recommend backing off and taking a break. We’re just talking here. That guy’s accomplishments aren’t “canceled”, his deal with a big company was. Such are the consequences, sometimes, from saying dumb things. It’s not the end of the world for him – dumb things he said in the past bit him in the butt. Things like that happen sometimes. How he deals with it going forward will show if he’s learned from his mistakes.
Whatever; I read it differently. The “for a comedy/current affairs show” or whatever threw me off, as I couldn’t understand what that had to do with what I said.
I said he’s helping them, inadvertently, on this specific issue. That’s different than being “a friend and fellow of racists”.
What kind of “needling” am I intolerant of? I’m not sure what you’re saying here.
Social judgements never happened this way before the internet and you damn well know it. I note that the one and only salient piece of information you left out of your otherwise detailed summary was that the man (he’s not a “kid” today. He’s 24) who raised a million dollars for charity was a kid when he made the offensive tweets eight years ago.
It’s not fair for people to bring up dumb shit you did as a kid when you’re an adult. We accept this in every other area of life. That’s one reason why juvenile records are sealed, so people don’t judge you for stupid shit you did when you were too young and dumb to know better. It’s double unfair when people bring up the dumb shit you did as a kid in the context of things completely unrelated to the aforementioned dumb shit.
Also, as I said to iiandyiiii your “Meh, he’ll get over it” attitude is troubling, callous, and absolutely 100% the wrong thing to say to someone you’ve hurt (or someone hurt by something you’re trying to downplay - in this case, social media shaming).
Finally, while it’s good that social media helped this guy raise money, I’m not complaining about social media per se. I’m complaining about how some people use social media to dredge up childhood screw ups to fuck with people years later. That isn’t fair at all.
You got thrown off by the phrase “comedy/current affairs”?
You are intolerant of needling liberals on race for one very specific thing. You are posting that it’s dangerous to democracy.
OTOH you are willing to continue if you run out of other things to see?
You’re throwing me off.
Yes. My criticism of Maher has nothing to do with what type of show he does.
I don’t understand what you’re trying to say here. I’ll invite you to select very specific quotes of mine that you disagree with, since I don’t know what this is referring to.
Bravo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a blatant strawman. I mean, you flat out accuse him of really meaning something else. You’re admitting you’re arguing with something he didn’t say.
Someday I hope I’ll be “enlightened” enough to understand the purpose of these posts.