Free Speech |
Where
does free speech end and hate speech begin? Maher and his guests tried to find
the answer on Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 339, which aired on January
16, 2015.
Free speech means free to provoke.
One
thing on Maher’s mind was Pope Francis (no more Pope Frank—the bromance is over.).
Maher announced, “You are dead to me now.”) In the monolog, Maher reported that
the Pope said that you should not provoke and then to demonstrate his point, he
made a punching motion towards his aide “just like Jesus said.”
Maher
returned to this subject in New Rules. It was personal to him because Maher
just did a commencement speech at Cal Tech and some students wanted him
disinvited because of his remarks about Islam with Ben Afleck. (See Wake
Up, America ) Maher
gave his speech any way, and in the New Rules bit, he said, “Where do I go to
protest you?”
Maher
said if liberals are throwing around terms like “bigot,” then they are “Je suis
part of the problem.” Maher said we should not advocate boycotts of Rush
Limbaugh because we don’t like what he says. Countries like France are wrong to
make it a crime to deny the Holocaust. The Ku Klux Klan should be allowed to
march. The speech is offensive to him, but if we want free speech, it must all
be permitted.
How
do I use my free speech to respond to speech that is bigoted except by calling
the person saying these things a bigot? Isn’t it my free speech right to call them
bigots?
Maher
makes jokes about The Donald looking like an orangutan and goes even further
saying Trump is the love child of his mother and an orangutan. I know Trump
finds this very offensive. (He tried to sue Maher over the jokes.) I think the
joke is funny and laugh because I don’t like Donald Trump.
I
think the movie, The Interview, that
ridicules Kim Jong Un and makes jokes about his assassination is funny because
I don’t like Kim Jong Un, but what if the North Koreans made a move about the
assassination of President Obama? I’d be angry.
Free speech? |
The
cartoons of Charlie Hebdo were very
offensive to some Muslims and nothing more than political satire to others. To
Muslims it was hate speech. They are just as offended by these cartoons as I am
by the Ku Klux Klan. (However, I don’t get a machine gun and start shooting the
people who have offended me.)
It
is really hard to support the free speech of people who don’t just disagree
with you, but disagree with you in a hateful way. Perhaps we should only draw
the line where hate speech turns into hate acts. But it is so easy to cross
that line. It happened in Nazi Germany.
So is the answer then to censor some speech? Now I am right back where I started.
The interview
Atul Gawande is
a surgeon, public-health researcher, professor, chairman of
Lifebox, (a nonprofit which aims to reduce deaths in surgery globally), and
author of several books. His most recent book is Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in
the End. He is also a very engaging guest.
Atul Gawande |
Gawande is taking on the subject of death and dying. He
reported that the time in your life when you are most likely to have surgery is
during the last week of your life. He said
that in the 1950’s most of us died at homes. Now we die in nursing homes and
hospitals where we have been put for our own safety. Gawande said, “What old people really want is
not safety, but autonomy."
Panelist Josh Barro is
a correspondent for The New York Times
self-identifies as a neoliberal and a Republican.
“Neoliberal” appears to be
another word for libertarian, and he is very calm and well-spoken for a
Republican. Unlike last week’s Republican, Carly Fiorina, he did not pound the
table, he did not spout gibberish, he did not give us smug facial expressions). He made sense.
Barro said that in the United States, unlike in Europe, Muslims
are integrated into society. In Europe there
is the legacy of colonialism complicating things. (Most European Muslims have
immigrated from countries formerly ruled over by the European country where
they now live. There is a lot of
resentment. Barro also blames high unemployment and living off of government
benefits. It’s true that being on welfare hurts one’s self-esteem, but I hope
that Barro’s solution is to address the unemployment and not just to cut off
the benefits.
Maher added “Sometimes in a melting pot, people don’t melt.”
Obama has been getting a lot of heat lately for using the
term “radical terrorism” instead of “Muslim terrorism.” Obama is right not to
inflame by implying that these terrorists are terrorists because they are
Muslim. Barro said that in Europe, only 5% of Muslims attend religious
services. He said the problem is not religion but a lack of social integration.
Mitt Romney is running for
president again. He made a speech about his intentions on a “moth-balled
aircraft carrier that had outlived his usefulness.” Do you think Romney saw any
hidden meaning in that?
Romney appears to be trying to reinvent
himself as the anti-poverty candidate, just one more reinvention in a long series
or reinventions. Earth to Romney: 1)Republicans don’t like anti-poverty
candidates. 2)You are the last person
in the world anyone would believe was sincere about anti-poverty.
Cuba
The United States is ending the
embargo with Cuba. Maher asked if the pace
of change with Cuba would go as fast as it did with gay marriage and the
legalization of pot.
Panelist Wes Moore is a businessman, U.S. Army veteran, host
of "Beyond Belief" on the Oprah Winfrey Network, author. His first book, The
Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,
became an instant New York Times bestseller. His most recent book is The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters.
Moore said that his grandmother was from Cuba and that Europeans have freely visited Cuba all along. They have some of the best beaches in the world and it is an inexpensive place to visit.
Moore said that his grandmother was from Cuba and that Europeans have freely visited Cuba all along. They have some of the best beaches in the world and it is an inexpensive place to visit.
Prison Reform
Maher mentioned that it is
ironic that U.S. embargoed Cuba while maintaining a prison, Guantanamo Bay, on
the island. This was a segue into a
discussion of prison reform. Maher pointed out that the U.S. has more people in
prison than any other country. Barro
mentioned that during the last recession, the prison population went down
because it was too expensive, but now the number of prisoners is on the rise
again.
Panelist Josh Gad, an actor best known for voicing Olaf in Frozen,
asked “Where is the
money to reform people?” Prisoners are warehoused, but most of them will eventually be released unprepared for re-entry. I agree.
Josh Gad |
money to reform people?” Prisoners are warehoused, but most of them will eventually be released unprepared for re-entry. I agree.
Maher said that he liked the idea of free college for two
years. He said, “It would get people
ready for a job, so they don’t sell pot.” So true, a year of college is much
less expensive than a new of imprisonment.
Yet there is always money for building new prisons, but not for
education (in or out of prison).
Hollywood
In the monolog, Maher joked that the best British movies
this year were about a brilliant astrophysicist (Stephan Hawking, The Theory of Everything) and a
brilliant mathematician (Alan Turing, The
Imitation Game). "In the United States the biggest movies were about a wrestler,
a drummer, and a sniper—everything a boy wants to be when he is ten."
The 25 biggest movies in recent years have all featured
superheroes, aliens, wizards, or talking animals of some sort. The only
exception was The
Titanic.
Maher talked about the new movie Selma about Martin Luther King.
Some have faulted the movie because they say President Johnson’s support
for the Voting Rights Act is not sufficiently shown. Maher said, “A biopic doesn’t tell the whole
story. When you don’t leave things out, you get 17 hours of The Hobbit. (By the way, Selma is a great
movie—go see it.)
Mid-Show Guest: Kathryn
Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow |
She told us that elephants are
the most intelligent and sensitive communal creatures on Earth (she didn’t exclude
humans), and that they could be extinct in the wild in 11 years. They are being killed or their ivory. She
claims that the profits from this illicit ivory trade are funding
terrorism.
Her film is very short, very
beautiful, and very important. Please watch
it now.
Mid-Show Comedy Segment
Politicians getting ready to
campaign for office always have a book.
Maher had fun renaming some of these books.
- Marco Rubio’s book: Hispanic But Not Too Much.
- Rand Paul: Just Like My Dad Without the Crazy Parts
- Sarah Palin: Hey Sucker. Yeah You. Give Me $29.95
- Donald Trump: Me Want Banana. Me Climb Tree. Inside the Mind of a Half-Human Half-Orangutan Billionaire
- Mitt Romney: What Do I Have to Do to Be President? Suck Your Dick? OK, I’ll Do It.
Read more on this and see the video clip here: Bill Maher: So Sue Me
More Free Speech
The last two book titles are
very offensive, but free speech means never having to say you are sorry for
being offensive.
Bill Maher’s Guests January 16, 2015.
Josh Gad: actor best known for voicing Olaf in Frozen
Atul Gawande: surgeon, public-health researcher, professor, chairman of Lifebox, (a nonprofit which aims to reduce deaths in surgery globally) and author of several books. His most recent book is Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Josh Barro: Self-identifies as a neo-liberal and a Republican, correspondent for The New York Times. (I checked the definition of neo liberal—it sounds like just another word for libertarian.)
Wes Moore: businessman, U.S. Army veteran, host of "Beyond Belief" on the Oprah Winfrey Network, author. His first book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, became an instant New York Times bestseller. His most recent book is The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters
Kathryn Bigelow: director, producer, screenwriter. Her two most recent movies are
Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker. She has started a campaign to prevent the extinction of elephants and has produced an animated/live action short/PSA called Last Days.
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