Is bill maher a genius or what??



PERSPECTIVES: GUEST COLUMN

Traveler's Security Blanket

By: Bill Maher

After 9/11, there was a lot of talk in this country about a "nation transformed" and a "sleeping giant awakened" and "everyone pitching in." But in the end, what did we really do?

We put a flag on our car. (Half of which were manufactured in Germany, Japan or Sweden.) Or two flags, if we were really mad! Big ones, up front, so we could feel like Rommel in his staff car, speeding to meet the Fuehrer. For months in the fall of 2001, our highways looked like a country fair on wheels. "Look out, Al Qaeda --- patriot on board!" I once saw a guy with five flags tell a guy with four flags to go back to Afghanistan.

Now, is there anything wrong with flags? Of course not. I like the flags plenty, but I never forget it's only a symbol, a reminder of what we stand for, not a replacement for actually standing for it. Brave Americans in past wars didn't die for the actual flag --- they died for the freedom it represents, including the freedom to burn it. Too many in America lead with their emotions when it comes to the flag, becoming illogically protective. Hell, the British treat their national symbol, the Royal Family, way worse, and they're people!

The problem with the flag at this moment in our history is we've become masters at fooling ourselves into thinking there is a way to get everything with very little effort. It's ridiculous we even need to be reminded of this, but just displaying a flag doesn't actually do anything, anymore than "tying a yellow ribbon" brings home a hostage or AIDS ribbons cure. If we think we've done something because we went to Kmart and bought a flag, then the flag is actually hurting, not helping us.

True patriotism is doing something for your country. If our car flags had to be earned with real contributions ---purchased with deeds, not dollars --- if each one we saw meant someone had given blood or volunteered their time or donated money or written their congressman or saved a gallon of gas, perhaps then we'd really be bucked up at the sight of them.


...This esay and illustration are excerpted from Bill Maher's book, When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden, due in November by New Millennium Press and Audio.


Copyright 2002 Reed Elsevier Inc.

Bill is the bomb..Id fuck him just for his sensibility, ideology, and for general purposes.

I have quite the love/hate relationship with Bill Maher. He's usually right. But he's such a jerkoff.

me too, I am not attracted to him physically but after getting to know his views he is just so brilliant I COULD MARRY HIM! he is hot

rdhull said:

uhh...did i miss a confession somewhere?

rdhull said:

Maher has lots of credibility because he truly understands the real meaning of political correctnes. This expression was always a loaded one, because what is considered correct keeps changing.. so that the political correctness of the past can become the anti-establishment position, given enough time.

Unlike many other people who have used the anti-PC tag, Bill Maher has managed to stay true to the label by exercising his right to remain critical of dogmatic rethoric from any side of the political spectrum.

Aerogram said:

I am Bill Mahr..in that I mean I feel damn near the same way he feels about 911 and other things. If I had a televison show as he did (which is my dream) I would have said what he said and not blinked or aoppologized either--and several situations in my life have equalled that situation..sure he may have an arrogance about the way he says things etc but thats just his nature and I feel he doesnt mean the arrogance part--he is just passionate about his opinions and feelings--as I am. He is willing to go the distance and accept any consequence for his views. He is my doppleganger and Id fuck him because I wonder what it would be like to fuck myself. Edit feature, dont fails me now!
[This message was edited Sat Sep 28 13:58:34 PDT 2002 by rdhull]

IsayWhatever said:

This is SOOO true. The blind patriotism that was displayed by America literally caused me to get an ill feeling every time I saw an American flag. It almost generated as much disgust as the Confederate flag for me, which says a lot. I agree wholeheartedly with the whole premise.

Moonbeam said:

that's like getting ill when you see a crucifix because there are a lot of Christians who misrepresent Christianity

AaronForever said:

Indeed it is! It's no fault of the flag, though, just as it is no fault of the cross. The whole idea of "waving that flag and being a good American" was so comical because it came in conjunction with so many hate crimes against anyone who even resembled someone from the Middle East. "We stand United..." Whatever!

Moonbeam said:

"so many hate crimes" ... got any stats on that?

I think what Moonbeam's saying is that it was popular to rally around the president and you were made to feel wrong or different if you didn't line up exactly with his stance on everything. I know I was given the 3rd degree by my own mother for not supporting everything Bush said and did and for thinking there was more to it than the media would let on.

AaronForever said:

Nothing that I can dig up, but I recall hearing on CNN that there were over 200 in the first week. On a personal note, I had many Arab friends at Valparaiso, and several of them had their cars keyed and got threatening phone calls afterward.

TRON said:

There's that too! I haven't supported Bush since day 1, and he seems more like a war-monger and a bumbling, fence-sitting idiot than ever right now. Mom DID get mad!

two days after the events...a coworker of mine (who is afghan) had a cousin get beat-up in SF..the guy ended up in intensive care...


and these are the people we were protecting...duh!!

Moonbeam said:

from what you've told me before, i sincerely hope that Valpo can't be considered a microcosm of American society in general

TRON said:

ick. yes, Bush sucks. but I didn't get the sense that people thought others were un-American or whatever if they disagreed with Bush. I got that sense from Attorney General Ashcroft, but not from real people.

AaronForever said:

I would certainly hope not, as it was nearly bought by the KKK in the 20s and was voted the most homophobic campus in the country in 1998. However, the fact remains that America was filled with double standards, waving those flags while simultaneously excluding OTHER AMERICANS, jumping on the "I love Bush" bandwagon having loathed him a week before, etc. etc. etc.

AaronForever said:


Try living in my family.

TRON said:

some day

rdhull said:

You're right, you are like Bill Maher. You should start your own webradio and rant weekly in your inimitable style.

rdhull said:

Smetimes words just fail me.

BartVanHemelen said:

And when they do, we finally realize that there IS a god.


Atheist no longer...
[This message was edited Sat Sep 28 14:51:26 PDT 2002 by AaronForever]

AaronForever said:

How about the US government rounding up hundreds of "Arabs" in the post-9/11 days, and incarcerating them without access to a lawyer, without even telling their families, without charging them, etc.? (Yet somehow the prime suspect in the Anthrax-case isn't touched by the police despite there being a pile of evidence pointing in his direction.)

And there's a NY organisation that specifically deals with 9/11 related hate crimes.

BartVanHemelen said:

still looking for stats. come on Mr. Google, i know you can do it.

BartVanHemelen said:

along with the letter "o"..which is in the saying:pompous prick

I cant stand him on Politically Correct, but I like him here. Good article.

Bill Maher is a Love/Hate type of Cat.but I Give Him Props for doing His thing.the Cat has spent so much time around Hugh Hefner He is starting to favor Him a bit IMHO.His Show was the only late Show I even bothered watching.His takes on Rap Lyrics were Funny as Hell to Me.for all the Chris Rock Fans in here Bill was very Instrumental in getting Chris back on track back when Maher's show was on Comedy Central during the 96 Election He had Chris as a Commentator at both Partys to Interview&Report.I enjoyed alot of P.I.N.C Episodes.

mistermaxxx said:

Oh hell yeah...one moment that sticks out to me is when Chris Rock was at the Republican convention doing reports...Maher asked how it was going and Rock said he was having trouble finding black hair care products

I always liked Bill Maher when I'd seen him on British television. However a few years back I was in the US with my work and I watched Bill Maher's show "Politically Incorrect" and I was appalled and how little he knew of the basic facts and how little he understood regarding the topic of the show that evening - the war in Kosovo) and how none of his esteemed guests knew enough to contradict him and point out his ignorance. It just reaffirmed my belief that Americans knew nothing of anything outside of America. Anyway I hope Bill has improved a bit since then.