# Real Time with Bill Maher **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367 "2023-10-10T21:03:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 41
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/801 "2025-01-15T18:13:27Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > I think so. Mhmm. Sure. They’re _so nutty_ that we can’t just come out and say “yeah, that’s fucking stupid and counterproductive” > [@](#): > > But if you think this is representative of your enemy, “wokeism”, then there’s not much I can argue with you about. The people who believe this are hardly the enemy. They’re more like particularly dim yet loosely aligned allies who are entirely too friendly with illiberals, but not really an enemy themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/802 "2025-01-15T18:29:56Z")
My position is that you guys (including Maher, Musk, Trump, etc) are way too obsessed with “removing the woke mind virus”. You will always find examples of people expressing opinions on social issues that you find incomprehensible or stupid, so there will always be a “woke” element to rage against because you are defining “woke” to be opinions on social issues you find incomprehensible or stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/803 "2025-01-15T18:39:19Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > My position is that you guys (including Maher, Musk, Trump, etc) are way too obsessed with “removing the woke mind virus”. _My_ position is that if you think my position is anything like Musk’s or Trump’s then you’re a bigger idiot than the people who think that reducing the impact disabilities have on future generations is a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/804 "2025-01-15T18:47:08Z")
So you would consider it unfair to use Musk or Trump to define your anti-woke position? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/805 "2025-01-15T18:54:15Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > There’s a difference between telling deaf people they should have surgery, and having as part of your mission preventing measles, mumps, meningitis and other ailments causing deafness. No one here is suggesting telling any disabled person what they “should”: be doing. Not to belabor the obvious, but the dual role of the medical community should be to prevent illnesses and to cure them. If an illness or accident has debilitating consequences, it’s also their role to strive to reverse them. It’s certainly not the role of the medical community to deny the existence of disabilities by hiding behind flowery euphemisms. > [@Zoobi](#): > > So you would consider it unfair to use Musk or Trump to define your anti-woke position? Fuck off. Go troll some other thread. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/806 "2025-01-15T19:01:48Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > So you would consider it unfair to use Musk or Trump to define your anti-woke position? I assume you’re anti-Stalin, right? Is it fair to use Hitler’s views to define your anti-Stalin position? ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/807 "2025-01-15T19:02:46Z")
Yes I am. No, it isn’t. Nutpicking is bad. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/808 "2025-01-15T19:04:54Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > Yes I am. > > No, it isn’t. Then that should answer your question to me as well. > [@Zoobi](#): > > Nutpicking is bad. I don’t think that a significant portion of the Progressive/“Woke” Left, defined here as the people who are further left than establishment Democrats, consider the idea that the NIH is “ableist” because of their “eliminationist rhetoric” to be “nutty”. I’d _love_ to be wrong about that. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/809 "2025-01-15T19:11:13Z")
Then I guess I don’t think a significant portion of the anti-woke brigade, defined here as people who self-identify as right of what you define as the woke left, consider Trump or Musk’s rhetoric to be nutty either. It’s a silly game to play, but you love to let it infuriate you. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/810 "2025-01-15T19:12:17Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > Then I guess I don’t think a significant portion of the anti-woke brigade, defined here as people who self-identify as right of what you define as the woke left, consider Trump or Musk’s rhetoric to be nutty either. I see, you’re trolling. Cool story brah. Or you’re just so idiotic that you think establishment Dems don’t find Trump and Musk nutty. In which case you’re definitely too moronic to engage with. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/811 "2025-01-15T19:14:27Z")
You are neglecting to include the entire Republican party, which is a huge chunk of the anti-woke brigade. Probably even the majority. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/812 "2025-01-15T19:55:46Z")
The anti-woke are just not rational. They are have been whipped into a brain dead moral panic by constant anti-progressive drek. Nothing will help them except a long break from the right-wing regressive outrage bait. Touch grass and reflex. Again this is the only escape for them. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/813 "2025-01-15T19:56:29Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > You are neglecting to include the entire Republican party, which is a huge chunk of the anti-woke brigade. Probably even the majority And a huge number of the people who opposed the Soviet Union were Nazis, while a huge number of the people who opposed the Nazis were Soviets. What the fuck is your point? Do you need a diagram? Here you go: [![](https://i.ibb.co/z6rTwYL/stock-vector-horseshoe-theory-political-concept-diagram-2401303373.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/z6rTwYL/stock-vector-horseshoe-theory-political-concept-diagram-2401303373.jpg) Woke people are the blue dot. I am the cyan dot. MAGA is the red dot. Liberalism is opposed by illiberal forces from both the left and the right. The people we are describing as “woke” aren’t necessarily illiberal; they’re at times sympathetic to illiberal ideas, and sometimes they cross the line by overly prioritizing the individual’s responsibility to the community over the community’s responsibility to the individual, but they aren’t authoritarian. Trump and Elon are full on illiberal right wingers. They’re far worse than woke people. Woke people are flirting with illiberalism which is not as bad as full on embracing it but should still be called out. And if you’re confused about what liberalism is, here you go: > **[Collections: The Philosophy of Liberty – On Liberalism](https://acoup.blog/2024/07/05/collections-the-philosophy-of-liberty-on-liberalism/)** > > It is once again the week of July 4th and so, as is customary here, I am going to use this week’s post to talk about the United States or more correctly this week about the political philosop… ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/814 "2025-01-15T20:17:09Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > The anti-woke are just not rational. They are have been whipped into a brain dead moral panic by constant anti-progressive drek. Thank you. This is madness. There’s not even any suggestion that anyone complained about the previous mission statement, only that their advisory group suggested a change in wording. In a parallel thread, there was a presentation in Congress about the failing US military, and what was the #1 failing? That the use of “mom and dad” is being discouraged at the air force academy. I would hope that most here at the dope can laugh at this, but clearly republicans think this can get people frothing at the mouth and I wouldn’t bet against it. Outrage now, think about whether it’s true and/or important never. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/815 "2025-01-15T20:20:36Z")
> **[Mission and Goals](https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/mission-goals)** > > NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/816 "2025-01-15T20:58:20Z")
Is that intended as a response to me? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/817 "2025-01-15T22:27:50Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Reducing disability is a good thing. It’s an AMAZING thing. This reminds of a video I saw on TikTok a few months ago. A woman in a wheelchair tosses a coin into a fountain and someone off camera asks what she wished for. The woman in the wheelchair turns to the camera and angrily yells, “What the fuck do you think I wished for?” There are a few people I know who are against the idea that people with disabilities need to be cured. For just about every single one of them, their neurodivergency is a core part of their identity. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/818 "2025-01-15T22:30:17Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > This reminds of a video I saw on TikTok a few months ago. A woman in a wheelchair tosses a coin into a fountain and someone off camera asks what she wished for. The woman in the wheelchair turns to the camera and angrily yells, “What the fuck do you think I wished for?” Oooh, oooh, I know! That the NIH would revamp their ableist language? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/819 "2025-01-15T22:36:44Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Woke people are flirting with illiberalism which is not as bad as full on embracing it but should still be called out. Thing is, most of the points made by Maher are shown so far to be caricatures of what most of the “woke” people are talking about. The Dr Seuss books issue should had been a big clue about that. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367/820 "2025-01-15T22:49:34Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Thing is, most of the points made by Maher are shown so far to be caricatures of what most of the “woke” people are talking about. Yes, Maher could be getting a lot more praise if he confined himself to criticizing the extremists—the ones who will display vicious anger + snooty self-righteousness at anyone who uses the word ‘disabled,’ for example. Those people annoy a wide-enough swath of the population to earn Maher plenty of laughs at their expense. But he doesn’t confine himself to that; he seems compelled to paint the entire Democratic Party if not the entire “left” with the exact same brush. ‘_They’re all like that_’ is his implicit message, even if he’s usually careful not to put it that baldly. > [@wolfpup](#): > > “Is there anything more cringe-worthy than the apologies we have to listen to from people **so often** , that sound like they’re right out of a Soviet re-education camp, where you thank your accusers: “thank you for the opportunity to learn what a repulsive shit-bag I am. I will try to do better”.” Again, this is Maher speaking (wolfpup is quoting from BM’s recent special). Also, those two words were bolded by me. But this is typical of Maher. “Often,” really? He implies that millions of people on the left do this type of bullying/policing. There are too many of them, I agree. But it’s not “often” that we see this sort of thing. Most on the left have hobbies OTHER than policing people’s language and then attempting to exact groveling from them. You’d never know that to listen to Maher. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367.md?page=40) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-time-with-bill-maher/991367.md?page=42)