Why Bill Maher Is The Most Pathetic Person On TV
Once upon a time, Bill Maher was kind of funny. His show 'Politically Incorrect' highlighted a kind of 'shock humor' where the comedian and his guests would celebrate their First Amendment rights and push back against Political Correctness by saying outrageous things to each other, things people weren't 'supposed' to say openly in public.
All that changed a few years back when Maher realized that instead of attacking Political Correctness, he could extend his career by DEFENDING it. He's done a complete 180 from his earlier days. Whereas before he would attack the idea there were ideas and political positions that need to be scrubbed from the Public Square, he set about setting himself up as a PC enforcer.
Before we go further, let's discuss exactly what Political Correctness is. In a nutshell, Political Correctness is a method by which a select few attempt to control the public discourse of the many. It's an exercise in communication control.
Adam Baldwin, actor and blogger at Big Hollywood you probably know from TV series like 'Chuck', 'Firefly' and movies such as 'My Bodyguard', 'Full Metal Jacket', etc. , did a excellent post on where the American Left got it's Political Correctness methods and ideology:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2009/11/13/The-Demands-of-Political-Correctness
What is Political Correctness?
For an exacting scholarly analyses of Political Correctness we can turn to Free Congress Foundation & William Lind’s The History of Political Correctness.
As Mr. Lind distills:
If we look at [Political Correctness] analytically, if we look at it historically, we quickly find out exactly what it is. Political Correctness is cultural Marxism. It is Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms.
Frank Ellis’ Political Correctness and the Theoretical Struggle:
...exposes the ideology behind political correctness and the role it plays in modern western society. Frank Ellis traces PC's dark history from its invention by the Russian Soviets to its migration to the western world. Ellis also demonstrates how political correctness is being used to shut down debate and marginalise opponents of any social reform by branding them with unpopular labels. PC is destroying language and culture and making it impossible to critique what is happening in society.
Listen to Adam or he'll shoot you with his finger.
Baldwin has made many thoughtful posts about the nature of PC words that are used in an attempt smear others and silence debate. Take the far overused word 'racist':
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2010/02/26/Racist-----He-cried-----A-Thought-Terminating-Clich---in-Decline
He explains how PC is used by Progressives in an attempt to keep from having to defend their positions and silence opponents:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2011/04/28/Retarded-Leftist-Projection--The-Dark-Soul-of-Collectivism
Why Leftists feel compelled to dehumanize their fellow man in order to make political hay is easily explained. They need control over others to perpetuate their anti-humanitarian ideology. An ideology whose own intellectual disability agitates for, and all too often has achieved the prior restraint of centralized population control, economic control, even thought control (i.e., Political Correctness “hate crime”).
In fact, Baldwin has been active against PC attempts to silence the free speech of others on several occasions.
Animal Mother drops another Commie!
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2011/12/28/Dont-Mess-With-Firefly--How-SciFi-Fans-Made-A-Campus-Safe-For-Free-Speech
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2010/06/11/Academia-Gate-----Cry-Wolf----Project-Is-a-Confession-of-Academic-Malpractice
It's no secret that Leftist Progressive are few in number. Most polls put the number of Liberals in the country at between 12-20% of the population.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/120857/Conservatives-Single-Largest-Ideological-Group.aspx
Rasmussen Reports has taken a look at how conservative or liberal the voters are in different aspects of their every day life. They found that 41% of the voters think of themselves as conservative when it comes to the issues of taxes, government spending and the regulation of private business while 41% consider themselves to be moderates and 12% say they are liberal.
Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states of the union, according to the Gallup Poll. At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year that they are conservative than have made that claim in any of the last four years.
In 2009, 40% percent of respondents in Gallup surveys that have interviewed more than 160,000 Americans have said that they are either “conservative” (31%) or “very conservative” (9%). That is the highest percentage in any year since 2004.
Only 21% have told Gallup they are liberal, including 16% who say they are “liberal” and 5% who say they are “very liberal.” Thirty-five percent of Americans say they are moderate.
The ones who are only kind of, sort of liberal aren't the ones that are constantly trying to use PC tactics to get others to shut up. It's only the VERY Liberal, - those on the Far Left.
And every poll puts those on the Far Left as being less than 15% of the country.
How then did Political Correctness become a problem in the American Public Square if those who practice it are in fact so heavily outnumbered?
It's because this select elite few in America have positions of influence all out of proportion to their numbers.
The Far Left in America is found heavily in 4 spheres of influence in American culture: Politics, Academia, Entertainment and Journalism. Since the 1920's radicals with an agenda of spreading their views and gaining influence have deliberately sought out positions of influence that magnify their voices.
Although it's been known for decades that most journalists are overwhelmingly Liberal, the polls were done anyway, and confirmed what anybody could see.
http://www.mediaresearch.org/biasbasics/biasbasics3.asp
The news media in America has carefully cultivated an appearance of being neutral and objective in their coverage of news. Academia in America has also claimed they are strictly neutral in allowing free expression of thought and academic freedom to explore different points of view on America's campuses.
Anyone who has researched this knows exactly how laughable both claims are. And who will say Hollywood doesn't slant to the Left? Let's see a show of hands!
Far Left Progressives know they are vastly outnumbered in American society, but they firmly believe they can keep control of the nation and 'guide' it where they want it to go in spite of this...........as long as they can control the American Public Square through their hold on the news media, academia and the entertainment industry.
A key part of their method for trying to keep control of the American Public Square is the use of Political Correctness to cow all dissenting viewpoints into silence by trying to de-legitimize them. If they ever lose that control of the American Public Square, if their PC methods fail them and they can no longer control the National Narrative on issues, they know they are doomed.
Now...........back to why Bill Maher is the most pathetic person on TV. When he thought Political Correctness in America was safe from attack and being overthrown, Maher wanted to pose as being brave by appearing to challenge it on TV.
Back in the early 1990's there was no sense of danger that Political Correctness could be challenged or toppled. So you could engage in street theater, a nice Kabuki show in which you presented yourself to the masses as a brave rebel taking a shot at the 'PC system' that many Americans were only starting to question.
All that changed with the rise of Fox News, the internet coming into it's own, and the arrival of a new generation of Conservatives who refused to be chased out of the Public Square by the usual PC methods.
Within a few short years panic set in among the Far Left as they realized their ability to control the national conversation on issues was not only being challenged - it was being SUCCESSFULLY challenged.
And nobody epitomized that panic more than Bill Maher, who instantly transformed himself from a court jester pretending to joust his King for the amusement of the audience into that King's most staunch and outrageous defender.
Political Correctness is what Bill Maher has always been about. He made a name for himself pretending to attack it when he thought it was popular even among some circles of the Left to do so; but the moment the Progressive Agenda began to be in danger because Liberals had lost control of the nation's conversation, he leaped to it's defense.
He's gone in a few short years from mocking use of PC tactics to shut people up to using those same tactics to mock people he wants to shut up and drive from the Public Square.
There's never been anything brave or cutting edge about him whatsoever. He knew back in the early days he was perfectly safe 'attacking' PC because all his liberal friends knew he didn't really mean it. Now that he's out front on the Culture War using PC to attack Conservatives, his Liberal friends approve of him more than ever.
But it doesn't matter, really. The Progressives KNOW THEY ARE LOSING THIS FIGHT. The Conservatives are winning, and Progressives know it, which is why their language grows more and more hateful, more spiteful, more over the top.
Progressivism has one serious flaw - it can't really come out and tell Americans openly what they want and where they wish to take the country. They can't really defend their views openly and honestly because they know full well most Americans - around 70% - would outright reject their agenda.
They are forced to use deception like Obama did in 2008 - run on fixing the economy and then spend the first year launching an unpopular health care reform that turned into a trillion dollar boondoggle. They tell you one thing - 'fiscal responsibility!' - and then do another - 'State control of all your healthcare, sucker!'
For decades Progressives had almost total control of the national Public Square. Any stray Conservative voice that happened to challenge them could be subjected to PC tactics and silenced, or at least marginalized.
Not any more.
They've lost control. And boy, are they pissed about it.
How pissed? Just watch Bill Maher. If you can stand to.
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