Bill Maher: Stand up for the 70% of Americans who aren't crazy
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967-1PnTv4Q[/ame]
I don't know if non-republicans need to be assholes like republicans, but indulging in the crazy notion that they can make a difference would help a lot right now (I say this from the comfort of my computer chair of course)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967-1PnTv4Q[/ame]I don't know if non-republicans need to be assholes like republicans, but indulging in the crazy notion that they can make a difference would help a lot right now (I say this from the comfort of my computer chair of course)
Replies
So yeah I agree with mahr.
So Obama isn't taking the high road? The democrats asking the republicans for input and ideas on bills (even though they can pass anything they want with their numbers) and the republicans just 'no'ing everything liberal in front of them?
while i agree with what he is saying, democrats seem to be all talk no action, pussies,pushovers,ect.
he reinforces his point by doing the same, just talking about a problem without doing anything about it.. its an empty gesture.. when he goes on and on like this in his show, i know its just banter, his audience will cheer, people at home watching it will laugh and post a link on their blog tomorrow, but nothing will come of it..
adversely when one of the neo-con nut jobs goes off on a racist tirade, or gets all fired up about jesus, i get a sinking feeling of disgust, because i know those people will actually do some shit about it, they all own guns, i am scared of them.. i know they would hurt me or my family if it ment getting what they want.
people that tend to lean toward a liberal view love to talk and blog and say this or that and how much better things would be if they were some other way, but do nothing.. which really makes me wonder how much they believe in their own ideals..
they are all against war (not that it in it self is a bad gesture, war is horrible) but they have also admitted that when it comes right down to it they are opposed to fighting for what they believe in, so they are nothing to fear, no force to ever be reckoned with.they are unorganized, and liberal protests are glorified drum circles, sometimes they might throw a rock at a starbucks or mcdonalds.. i hate to be the one to tell them that those 2 places can afford new windows, probably even if you broke them eveyday for eternity.
what if a bunch of liberals brought guns to a protest?
what if a democrat said "you lie!" to any of the 200,000 lies bush stood up told the country even when they knew, as most people, that they were in fact lies.
so to Bill Maher all i have to say is that why don't the 70% of Americans that aren't crazy stand up for themselves?
Why force policies when they can turn that around and use it in the next election? Why not just let them continue to self destruct?
I really don't agree with the gun thing, I mean if it ever comes down to it, ok you'll need a gun, but we're talking about the political system here, not a violent revolution.
Vig; theres a different between debating with civility and having a few barbs on the end of your statement to make the point come across even sharper. This is the problem I see, again, in the real world the asshole wins, in everything.
Take for example the vice presidential speeches; that should have just been a mind blowing slaughter of Palin; instead the democrats didn't go negative even once and Joe came off as a pussy. Problem with that example is if he did run circles around her, they;d martyr her as being hurassed by him, but I think it was a chance you have to take.
I think the issue is that any time anyone says the democrats need some balls they think they should be republicans who, honestly (and no offense to republicans, but this is completely documented) out right lie and distort facts for their own point of view... and I mean balls out lie, not the funny half a truth thing all politicians are expected to do.
What the democrats could do to have balls and make their point is use their very simple facts and when a republican lies call them out on it, having Bill Mahr, Jon Stewart, Colbert, or any other comedian do it isn't going to cut it.
Usually it's so stupid you need to laugh at it, but really we need serious people using facts and information to squash froathing idiots. It's not sinking low, it's simple fighting fire with fire, and usually in the case of the democrats they get the fun experiance of using facts, proof and logic to fight with.
oh yeah, totally, but i am not saying as someone who likes the taste of the kool-aid.. i am just an observer from the outside,, i don't really line myself up with any of these groups, and their "causes", i was just noticing that he is bitching about something, but doing exactly what he was bitching about.. he isn't doing anything about it, he is just talking shit, and that was my problem with it.. i would of respected it more if he was actively taking the action to address the problems he is referring too, instead of turning the subject into a series of one liners.. seems like a horrible way to drive a point home to me, i just cant ever take him seriously, even if i agree with what he is saying.
I think I understand the ins and outs enough to see why people are going to feel one way or another about this regardless of any point that will be expressed in this thread, but for my part its been great to see the show go the direction it has, its refreshing to hear what I consider a sane voice in amongst all the crazy stuff of late.
I'm sorry, but NPR is refreshingly intellectual, even if you pick up a bias. I'd prefer an 'NPRbot' over any other news outlet bot, including blogs, diggs, and reddit bots.
and Bill Maher might be right that democrats are being pussies, but the way Republicans have been imploding on themselves day in and day out with their ridiculousness, I can't help but feel a tactical decision from the Obama camp on how offensive (or non offensive) they are right now.
@coldkodiak.. no need to be sorry, she is my wife, i married her, if it was that big of a deal to me i dont think i would of chose to spend the rest of my life with her.. and there are a few npr shows i like listening to, i really just like giving people shit, especially the ones i love. so she is my NPRbot, and i will never hold it against her or anyone else.
i just take everything i hear with a grain a salt and it seems I would be the type of person these shows would want to pull in. to me whether its maher or stewart, i just cant really take jokes as serious debate. what i see is them doing is making light of serious issues and somewhere in there it loses meaning and becomes a funny joke, nothing more.. instead of the above video making me be like"hell yeah, preach on brother" i was like, "LOL, he is funny" .. it seems to me these shows are only for people that subscribe to the message, people that have already signed up for the team.
in contrast when bill o'reilly talks about hating some minority, or sending all gay people to gas chambers, or whatever nonsense he happens to be doing on his show, it has the tone of someone who is actually being serious about his views, i might not agree with anything he says, ever, but he is not making jokes(not intentionally) he goes on trips to the south to rally up his hate brigade, visits his viewers, and comes across as someone who is actually trying to unite the uneducated and get them all on his team. to me it looks like he is a man with a mission, however evil that mission might be.
if you cant even take yourself seriously how do you expect me to?
Its just so damned interesting and just gets stranger and stranger each year. The repulicans are going bat sh*t the democrats are clamoring to finally DO SOMETHING but haven't the slightest idea how. If politics WERE football, this is like the first quarter of the superbowl and although nobody's scored yet there's already been like 2 turnovers. It's pretty intense.
You get the feeling that some new political shizit's about to go down that we've never seen before. Politics don't always directly cause change with all its red tape, but they do inspire it. You can feel it going on right now and i tend to think it's an important time to keep your eyes and ears open.
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Every person that booed him deserves to suffer at home with some kind of wasting sickness with no health care, while leaving their family saddled with debt from their initial care. It's just unbelievable to be that against your own self-interest.
or they need this
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=scientists-reverse-mental-retardation-in-mice
I recall a study that looked at public interest into sporting evens when the cultural and political aspects in society started to decay. It pretty much stated that it went up because people liked the structural rules that go mostly unbroken and were help responsible when they do.
So anyway, with that in mind it worries me that you relate politics to sports and call it trivial. It might be full of bueracratic shit and in the news with modern media it's a stage show, but I wouldn't really call it trivial.
It pains me to know that in my own country more, regular people will go out and yell their brains out at a fucking hockey match then to get out and just demonstrate in a reasonable and civil fashion to protect our rights and culture; or hey, even just frigging vote.
Instead we rather have the hippies and lunatics beat their drums at their festivles and scoff at them getting little to now attention. If your demostration is one half drum cricle other half cosplay convention you're not doing any good for your cause.
We just assume that things will get taken care of and if it gets really bad somesort of revolution will happen to magically solve the problem, but those days are over in modern society and the only way for real and true change is to get involved in the poltical system no matter how shitty it might be.
edit: that kind of came out angry sounding, lol. just wanted to point out I'm guilty for a lot of the above and it just kind of sucks thats the way things are. Also this whole thing wasn't directed at you crazyfingers, just your comparison reminded me of that study and then I took a detour afterwards, hehe.
It has nothing to do with his opinions, the topics, whatever. I just don't think he's worth the air time they give him. They do, from time to time have other speakers there who are much more fun to watch and listen to than he is, but i just cannot stand him.
Id rather watch fox news. :P (osnap)
edit: ben, wow... heh that video is nuts. I've never lived in a big enough city to witness this kind of stuff, mob mentalities unite!
I agree that it's sad that more people will watch, and get crazy over a pro sports game then get out and attempt to create awareness on some issue, or create pressure on politicians to actually enact some real change. However I think it's something that will only get worse. We live in a culture of distraction and immediate gratification. It's just too much easier to think that things will just get better on their own. Besides, most Americans don't have it that bad...yet. The problem is our 2 party governmental system seems to be locked in an adversarial paralysis making real change, or reform nearly impossible without one side threatening to impeach, and the other side threatening to secede. On top of that the interests who would be most damaged by reform, or change, the top 0.5% of the population, in terms of wealth, and corporations like Goldman Sachs hold so many of the strings, both in politics and media that they can effectively shut down any attempt at reform.
I hate to sound pessimistic, but I'm beginning to think that it's going to be a tug of war for the steering wheel of our country until we collide with the on coming brick wall of economic and cultural collapse, all while the business interests that bled our countries worth out into their Swiss bank accounts are just going to quietly step out the side door and land in international tax shelters, or one of the worlds rising capitalist democracies ready to start the cycle again. What a wonderful thing it would be if we could shake off the weights that are pulling us under, but they've just become too ingrained in the systems that run our country.
The amount of attention that one dude with the big sign got just goes to show how inactive most of us are against "the crazies". In comparison, think of how many people showed up to town halls across the nation to express their concern for death panels.
That's an interesting study, Murdoc, makes me think of Gladiator
i was watching some news channel last night, i think it was nbc nightly maybe, i dunno, and they interviewed this one lady at the healthcare march... she was wearing a fluffy uncle sam hat and bitching about "muslims moving into our country"... i told my wife that IF i was at that march and i was standing next to that lady, i would have just turned around and left... that is after i bludgered her to death for being an incompetent nut job while wearing such atrocious head gear. but it is a fine example of how looney some of these people really are... not only was she talking about something totally off the basis of the march, but how can anyone take you seriously while wearing a damn clown suit? sorry... i know this is really off topic, but my mind evaporated when i saw her 15 second interview... it was face palming 101 at its best and i could easily see her ending up on maher's show or any late night show for that matter.
"You can have it just don't make us take it."
Other than the guy with the sign i think that lady might be the only other informed person there. As that's the whole idea with that plan.
"Good. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you..."
- Emperor Palpatine
NPR is probably the best single place to get news from.
Did something change? He's not offering single payer, but I thought a key element of his plan is the public option.
Bill Mauher is pretty amazing. Other than his paranoid ideas about food, I think he's usually funny, fair, and acute.
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I lol'd.
Completely agree, I think the way America deals with the elections lately ( or at least the most recent) I was in awe of how videogame/sports it looked, it was literally Red Vs. Blue on Cnn.
*Lewis black has his own tv show and it sucks, I feel ashamed for him whenever it comes on.
cough BBC cough
I used to listen to the shit out of NPR, but rarely listen to the radio anymore. It does have a slight liberal bent, but it's far more subtle than that of most news. Also, Sarah Vowel for the win.
Yeh, I guess I should have mentioned BBC.
It's hard to be literate and not have a "slight liberal bias."
NPR really doesn't bother me. I actually did enjoy listening to it; I just try to avoid the news altogether these days.
I've thought about doing that... How's it working for you?
so upsetting to see how effective the media in the states is at brainwashing retards. what a total shame.
like who are these fucking people!? i want to make a thread -- seriously, who here doesn't actually want a government subsidized, free health care system? fucking retarded people are being lied to.
Love bill maher, for his honesty and clarity of expression. thanks for posting!
It's going to make people's current healthcare worse, that is if the companies don't drop it, and with the new system, it will be cheaper to pay the penalties than provide it for many people.
I can't even properly articulate how fucked it is.
Just read this, it's from Sept Rolling Stone:
America is fucked in the ass for at least a decade for healthcare, and there is nothing anyone can do about it but bend over.
http://www.soloflex.com/archive/20-facts-about-healthcare-in-us-that-everyone-should-know/ "funfacts"
fuck.
The real "fuck" is when dems lose the next election because of this clusterfuck and palin becomes our president.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29988909/sick_and_wrong/3
That was a really good read.
Fuck.
It wouldn't make me feel so sick, if it wasn't a possibility.
that rolling stones article is good.
Since the thread was really about health care all along...
@Nostrodomus: And when the PEOPLE elect the president and the PEOPLE elect representatives that control the MAJORITY in the house and senate then that is DEMOCRACY; so YES they should get there way because its what the PEOPLE who elected them for.
Maybe not everyone in America wants it, but not everyone wanted to go to war, roll back education, civil rights, personal liberty, economic sancations and various other laws over the last 8 years, but thats what happened and we dealt with it, so roll with this.
Anyway, I have to end my participation right now, this is about to get messy, hehe.
Wrong. The current bills are literally worse than nothing.
If we don't get healthcare reform, I really hope in the next 5 years when people are paying more then half their income for healthcare finally realize that we should've had reform a decade ago and I can say "I told you so".
BUT.. what do i care. I'm Canadian.. sooooo hah-hah-hai'm fine.
Exactly.
Social Security used to be an option too, until it was forced on the people. I think that is part of the concern.
We need to analyze why prices are rising. This was never a concern when our parents were younger. People used to be able to purchase catastrophic health insurance for $15 a year. Any other service was paid out of pocket because it was affordable. If everyone had to deal with high deductibles you'd actually see more competition and prices lowering. Kinda like Lasik eye surgery. Most insurance doesn't cover it. And as a result Lasik specialists advertise for your love consistently competing with each other. What used to be a $6,000 operation is now $600 many places.
Imagine if we all had 100% grocery insurance. Would we care if we went for steak all the time instead of burger? We don't see the cost so why would we care? Then the grocery store will charge your grocery insurance $300 for each steak instead of $3. This is why health insurance keeps going up. If employers switched everyone to an HSA plan and deposited $100 into an account every month...I guarantee you'd see prices drop quite a bit very quickly. It would force people to shop around instead of not caring about the bills your doctor sends to the insurance company.
This article might be a bit crazy. I don't exactly endorse step 4. Step 3 would scare me a bit. But I love steps 1 & 2 though here...
http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=279
That is essentially a solution with long term goals that help people who are young and healthy now...so those of us when we get to be our grandparents age don't need to go on the dole when it is our turn to have problems. As for people who need care immediately...it's hard to deny a public option for them IMO. Makes me feel selfish considering I'm healthy. I just fear the boondoggle of debt this will strap us with. It won't be paid for through higher taxes. In the end it will be paid for by the monopoly printing press fed reserve. And then we'll all wake up and wonder why gas hit a new high of $20 a gallon.
The one thing we could do is stop screwing around in Iraq and Afghanistan and come home. Stop policing the world with tons of troops in bases all over the world. 50,000 troops in germany, 50,000 in Japan. So much wasted money. That could be used to help those who can't help themselves back here at home. We spend 1 trillion per year on our military imperialism. It would be more than enough to cover those who need it while reforming the system so we are all wiser health care consumers.