Bill Maher Didn't Change. He's Always Been a Cringe Centrist. (Dailybeast)
Bill Maher’s recent conflation of anti-capitalism with “wokeness” certainly fits Brooks’ description of what the IDW {Intellectual Dark Web (Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro et al)} is all about. So does an analogy I remember him using years ago on Real Time. The economy needs to be regulated, Maher said, the same way a river might need a wall to prevent flooding. But trying to change the basic structure of our economic system would be like trying to make the river run backwards.
The IDW brand was always about being anti-Left (while disingenuously clinging to the label of “liberal”) and basically hostile to social change, without ever quite being identified with the Trumpist side of the culture war.
Even Ben Shapiro, by far the most old-school ideological conservative in the group, was initially something of a Never Trumper—and there was never the slightest doubt that Sam Harris would vote for Joe Biden. The ideological point was broader than red vs. blue partisan politics. And in that sense Bill Maher fits in perfectly—and he always has.
I have no particular interest in canceling Maher as an individual. I think he’s a pretty dim bulb, but if he pivots to the left again as he briefly did during the 2016 election, I’ll welcome him with open arms. What I am interested in is understanding what Maher’s trajectory tells us about American political culture. And I take heart from the fact that people who want edgy humor mixed into their political commentary in 2022 can go to places like the wildly popular socialist podcast Chapo Trap House…while Maher increasingly looks like a relic. [...]
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bill-maher-didnt-change-hes-always-been-a-cringe-centrist?ref=home
= new reply since forum marked as read
... he needs ink. He thrives on the attention he gets from saying outrageous things. It's part of his act.
... the "snark" is part of his act. It's the wiggle in his walk. It's the Ram in his Rama Lama Ding Dong. It's money in the bank.
But nothing like stepping on another's celebrity shoulders to elevate yourself!
That's just the dirty business of money & media with politics as the theme of the day.
➡️"Celebrity Socialist Show calls progressive Libertarian Maher a Centrist"
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Oh ya, & Quora's run by a bunch of Republicans!!
Last edited Tue Mar 22, 2022, 10:29 AM - Edit history (1)
You didnt cite Maher, you just grabbed text from an online site, Probably not noticing it was on a Republicans.quora.com subdomain.
I know it’s a little embarrassing but it’s no big deal.
