I was in a really good mood (had I been in a better mood, I would have been walking around my apartment en pointe and singing “Maria” while birds twittered about my head) and thought, “Hell, poking a little fun at a pompous Hef-worshipping comedian would be a great lead-in to my stellar rant on the use of “politically incorrect” as a rhetorical strategy.” Apparently, my rhetorical strategy was, well not controversial so much as confusing. So I thought I would clarify.
He has his moments(1), but there’s no mistaking it. Bill Maher is a hack. It’s an inarguable conclusion(2)–as soon as he named a TV show “Politically Incorrect�, there was no redemption from the Annals of Hackery(3), even if forevermore(4) he wrote nothing but incisive, original jokes(5). “Politically incorrect� is possibly the most asinine slang phrase in the history of the world(6), and Scott Lemieux has found killer evidence(7) that the phrase has no relationship to reality, not that anyone here ever thought it did.(8)
1) After calling Maher a “hack” in the post title, I immediately undermine my own statement to alert the slower members of the audience that this is probably a bit of facetiousness on my part.
2) There’s no way that this could be inarguable, as is evidenced by the comments. This statement is standard-issue hyperbole.
3) Massive hyperbole.
4) Silly word to indicate that this is Teh Funny.
5) No one can be incisive and original 100% of the time. More hyperbole.
6) Hyperbole.
7) Notice that I’m moving away from the subject of Bill Maher. This might indicate I only used his TV show title as a hook to amuse the audience.
8) At this point, careful readers will notice that I’ve dropped the topic of Bill Maher altogether and have moved onto the meat of the post.
That, new visitors who will probably only return next time Atrios links me, is How to Read. Jokes, at least. And that I had to spell it out for you makes it all too clear why you think Bill Maher is the height of humor.*
*Also a joke, albeit one of those “kidding on the square” types. Maher is a pretty insufferable prick who can be funny so long as he isn’t pandering to wannabe-Hef inside and/or the dick-stroking inbreds who think he’s the height of glamorous humor. That said, the reason I said he was a hack was because the joke of political incorrectness is so alarmingly unfunny that by making it, you are doomed forever to be a hack no matter what else you do. It’s not because I think feminists are above being joked about.
However, I have learned a valuable lesson that male stand-up comedians are above being mocked.
36 Responses to “How to Read, A Primer for TV Debate Show Fans”
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…dick-stroking inbreds…
Not sure where you are going with that insult. Do you have a problem with the unfortunate souls who are the innocent victims of incest? Or is masturbation somehow a shameful thing? Maybe it is the combination that offends?
At any rate, I don’t think it is an effective rhetorical device… although the pure political incorrectness of it will probably, as a wise blogger once wrote, “provide magical protection from being criticized”.
I don’t mean to be a contrarian because I like the site and agree with the orientation. But let’s practice what we preach.
Got it. Upon further reflection, the earlier post was high-larious. ROTFLMAOLOL. Thanks for spelling it out; nothing improves a joke more than careful explication!
Hilarious! I love the fact that you have to explain yourself. I kept thinking I was missing something while reading some of the comments. I kept saying “Why are they all bent about the Bill Maher thing. He isn’t funny and she isn’t even talking about him”. But what do I know? I’m a product of a public school.
I liked it better before the apologetic qualification. Maher is a hack. He seeks to occupy that place above the fray, putting a pox on any and all houses but in the end he’s a mediocre comic. He wants to be Mort Sahl but never rises much beyond Morty Fieldmouse. In fact, he’s the Disney version of a political comic.
Political incorrectness is just another rightwing ding on left politics…and yet we’re learning that policing thought control is a rightwing specialty.
You’re such a pussy amanda, not holding to your guns* for no real reason and refusing to bow down or explain yourself to the filthy “frist!”ing hoards of humorless and oversensitive liberaldom, bah!
In future, I’d hope you remember to ask yourself “
whowhat would Dubya do?” before you consider anyone else’s feeling or misunderstandings.*you know, the non-existent ones that are a figment of other people’s imagination.
(note to other commenters: tony the pony is a liberal who some times, like now, trolls for giggles and shit)
Looking back at my previous post, I sheepishly admit that less than 50% of it dealt with the political incorrectness issue. Of course, whereas some are no doubt inclined to spend hours defending him, I only need to criticize him once before I’m ready to get on with my life.
But honestly, an argument can be made that Maher’s show, beyond its title, actually is an illustrative case of the “politically incorrect” fallacy that you rightfully call attention to. Although Maher was seldom guilty of the PI rhetorical move in its crudest form, the ongoing conceit that by watching the show we were witness to something edgy and unfettered still hung over it. And the argument that Maher was merely a humble provider of a forum doesn’t jibe with the sometimes grandiose claims he himself made on behalf of the show, if memory serves.
Well, I for one was responding more to the discussion going on in the comments rather than the post itself. The discussion seemed have strayed away from what you intended, which is okay. That’s what’s great about comment threads and message boards and whatever. An organic conversation can get going.
To me, the idea of “politically incorrect” being stupid is a given, and not really something I’d get into a discussion about. That discussion would be a bunch of people going “me too” and be kind of boring.
I hate to say, I think you might be being a *little* over sensitive on this one, Amanda.
Wow, you can blog about social or political issues all day and all night and get the same 15+/- commenters again and again, but make a throw-away crack about Bill Maher or computer programmers and all of the sudden the “Put you in your place, missy” police come out. Amanda, do you even know how to blog?* Jeez!
Suddenly I don’t feel so bad about being one of the least informed commentors on the blog.**
*Saracsm, please don’t ban me.
**More sarcasm, other commenters, please don’t flame me.
Dear Tony,
I hate to ruin it for you, but this post is a joke.
Love,
Someone Who’s Not Good at Treating Sex with 18-Year-Olds with Breast Implants with the Reverence it Deserves
Your first post was spot on. Are you going to see Maher when he comes to Austin on April 14th? Hack or not, he is pretty funny. I bet he’d have no problem understanding your posts.
None of the liberals I know use the terms “politically correct” or “politically incorrect”. They seem to take it for granted that they can think, write and speak without being assholes or inserting a caveat that allows them to excuse being an asshole. Usually they succeed.
It’s always the conservatrons that have to preface everything with:
You may not wanna hear this…
It may not be “conventional wisdom”, but…
Some people say, not me, but I heard…
What I was try’n to say is…
Some of my best friends are ______ but,…
Posting on a blog every day and trying to always be witty, incisive and original is a huge risk. When it works, it’s gold, when people don’t get it?…forget it and move on.
You could just go with the conservative model and just make shit up, never be funny and never admit mistakes even when painfully slapped down with pesky facts.
I like your style better.
Eh, plucky. I was worried about coming off that way but the joke was so good–making fun of the shitloads of guys who flipped shit that I dare joke about He Who Is Above Mockery–I couldn’t resist.
The irony, it beckons. Political correctness may be a myth, but boy, don’t mock a libertarian hero.
I don’t know, Amanda. You are being totally unfair to Bill Maher. A little misogyny never hurt anyone. Maybe you’re just jealous that you can’t get hot 18-year-old guys. Hmmmm????
/snark
I am in hysterics over here. I find Bill Maher sometimes funny, mostly puerile. He is so threatened by women and his hostility of them comes out ALL THE TIME.
Also, Bonzotex, don’t forget to add, “No offense, but…” to your wonderful list.
Nah, Bonzo. I like stand-up comedy, but it’s so expensive to go see the biggies live. I’ve seen his stuff on TV, and yeah, he’s hit or miss. Few of us have the ability to be irreverent about everything, but far too often instead of actually having a real irreverence, he makes a non-joke and smirks his way through it.
For good belly laughs, I recommend Dave Chappelle’s new movie. Everything that man touches turns to gold, lately.
I gotcha. Still disagree about Bill Maher, though. Even when I hate what people (including him) say on his show, it’s nice that there’s a place on TV where people are actually encouraged to say whatever, without fear of insulting the delicate sensibilites on either side. It’s kind of refreshing.
I guess the main thing is that I wasn’t actually making any bold proclamation. I’ve honestly never had much in the way of a very strong opinion on him, besides my irritation that he takes the Playboy Lifestyle seriously, which strikes me as a huge discredit to his intelligence. The TV show title, however, was wretched. The weird thing is that he probably didn’t even come up with it, I’d bet you money.
Yeah, you’re probably right about the title. I hardly ever watched that particular show. I really started watching him on HBO.
Wow. I left this morning expecting the fat post to have three-hundred comments on it from the “why don’t you try taking a walk” crowd, and instead it turns out that Bill Mahar (Bill Mahar!) has legions of sensitive defenders patrolling the internet looking out for the merest slight to their dick-swinging hero. Who knew?
Seriously, Bill Mahar? Hack hack hackity-hack-hack. May his balls fall off as the result of something he wouldn’t take a vaccine for.
This post is a grand example of how victorious humour is when you refrain from pre-emptive excuses like “politically incorrect�. I can’t say I had the energy to read all of the thread below (very late here in the real world) but I have to add my incredulity. Have people really taken anybody “politically incorrect� and over eighteen seriously since the late seventies.
And seriously, If Bill/David/Dennis/Lenny Cross/Maher/Bruce/Whatever needs your defence against an aside from a (however talented) blogger (and funny did I say funny, I think I implied it), how good is he? And is he worth the effort?
None of the liberals I know use the terms “politically correct� or “politically incorrect�. They seem to take it for granted that they can think, write and speak without being assholes or inserting a caveat that allows them to excuse being an asshole. Usually they succeed.
You need to get out more. I see it all the time in Left Blogistan, usually before some meolib starts whining about how white guys are so oppressed and women just can’t take a joke and minorities get all the rights nowdays and why *can’t* gays just shut up about wanting theirs, and we need to drop the PC stuff and become more like the wingers so that we can win elections…
Amanda — maybe you need to start using smiley faces — you know, aids for the humor-impaired. (Before they are patented by Cingular.)
When I reflect on the question of whether Bill Maher actually adds anything of value to political discourse, I always come up with a “no.” The man is useless.
Great post, btw, no explanation needed.
shitloads of guys who flipped shit that I dare joke about He Who Is Above Mockery–I couldn’t resist.
The irony, it beckons. Political correctness may be a myth, but boy, don’t mock a libertarian hero.
Ah, you noticed that too?
Or to paraphrase Tom Robbins, you’re safer messing with a guy’s wife than with his icons.
Maher’s a talented guy but women are only for sex in his world and he REALLY doesn’t like children.
His defense of Mary Jo LeTourneau (whatever her name is) on the grounds that the kid got lucky and true love triumphs all (and never mind the five children abandoned, among the damage caused) was downright perverse.
Ever see the picture of the woman who accused him of fathering her child (or was it some sort of marriage promise?–can’t remember but they had a sexual relationship)–can’t say its fair to judge from a picture but if that’s his type it figures.
Someone Who’s Not Good at Treating Sex with 18-Year-Olds with Breast Implants with the Reverence it Deserves
Amanda, where the hell are you gonna get an 18 year old boy with breast implants? and why?
also, for those guys to find that post, they must have been googling Maher or something. I don’t care HOW bad you wanna suck his “libertarian” (read: selfish prick) posterboy cock, there are better uses of your time than googling Maher.
Dunno, karpad, maybe *Maher* googled “Maher” and sent his legions of fans over. Malkin does it, after all…
It was actually an Atrios link. The weird thing is that Atrios got it, of course–he titled the link “Asshole Rights”. Call me naive, but I was honestly astonished at how many of his readers are so fond of Maher, when Atrios strikes me as a very down-to-earth guy, basically not like Maher in any way.
God forbid that people who like a performer object to his being called a “hack.”
He has his moments(1), but there’s no mistaking it. Bill Maher is a hack. It’s an inarguable conclusion(2)–as soon as he named a TV show “Politically Incorrect�, there was no redemption from the Annals of Hackery(3), even if forevermore(4) he wrote nothing but incisive, original jokes(5). “Politically incorrect� is possibly the most asinine slang phrase in the history of the world(6), and Scott Lemieux has found killer evidence(7) that the phrase has no relationship to reality, not that anyone here ever thought it did.(8)
1) After calling Maher a “hack� in the post title, I immediately undermine my own statement to alert the slower members of the audience that this is probably a bit of facetiousness on my part.
1a) And here I thought this was standard-issue liberal/progressive “being fair despite the undermining of my argument” an effect never seen on the Right.
2) There’s no way that this could be inarguable, as is evidenced by the comments. This statement is standard-issue hyperbole.
2a) Of course things are inarguable: the Red States’ superiority, the right of elitist right-wing mouth breathers to insist they speak for the common man, BushCo’s infallability …
3) Massive hyperbole.
3a) I thought Amazon wrote me an e-mail offering this for pre-purchase. Must be all those O’Reilly books (The tech guy, not the loofahmaniac)
4) Silly word to indicate that this is Teh Funny.
4a) This looked like one of those high-faluting literary references, maybe to Ethan Allan Poe, who cut off his ear when the laudunum ran out or something, I dunno, couldn’t stay away … yawn … in English … yawn … class … zzzzzz
5) No one can be incisive and original 100% of the time. More hyperbole.
5a) Except BushCo, and me
6) Hyperbole.
6a) C’mon, something has to be the most asinine phrase. Why not “politically incorrect”?
7) Notice that I’m moving away from the subject of Bill Maher. This might indicate I only used his TV show title as a hook to amuse the audience.
7a) Oh, yeah, we love hooks. And whips. And chains. Hurt’s so good … C’mon baby now make it hurt so good … Sometimes love don’t feel like it should
8) At this point, careful readers will notice that I’ve dropped the topic of Bill Maher altogether and have moved onto the meat of the post.
8a) Careful readers?!? LSHMSOMNACAEFITIAIOP! (Laughing so hard milk shoots out my nose and causes an eletrical fire in the inkjet all-in-one printer!) This is a blog, baby. We don’t read carefully. We read while running with scissors, into traffic without looking and with (only) unclean underwear on!
Hate to ruin it for you, Amanda, but jokes are funny.
Hey, Amanda, I don’t know if anyone’s actually stood up for Maher. I certainly am not aware (although I haven’t been following the thread closely) of anyone who’s stood up to affirm Maher’s hilarity.
I mean, if you want to argue that you’re being set upon by touchy Maher fans who just don’t get the joke (the irony of that defense, of course, is unbearable), hey, it’s your sandbox. But it’s not exactly respectable.
Hate to ruin it for you, Amanda, but jokes are funny.
…and those who cannot do, teach.
“Hey, Amanda, I don’t know if anyone’s actually stood up for Maher. I certainly am not aware (although I haven’t been following the thread closely) of anyone who’s stood up to affirm Maher’s hilarity.”
Screw it, I think the guy has his moments. His stand up usually sucks but in the round table format he rocks. Is he sexist? Yup. Egotistical? Yup. Does he have some strange allegiance to Ann Coulter that just boggles the mind? Yup. But the show makes me laugh out loud, alot of times about stuff that makes me initially want to tear my hair out, so I watch it. It’s cathartic in a way similar to John Stewart and alot of blogs, although I think the similarities end there.
I also personally think it’s rather absurd to judge people based on the TV shows they enjoy. I don’t worship at the feet of libertarians or egotistical men with Hugh Hefner fetishes, seldom if ever do I put that much thought into my television viewing habits, nor do most people I’d imagine. I have the ability to separate what entertains me from what influences my personal belief system, and I certainly hope I’m not alone in that talent.
In other words I don’t demand that every personality, comedian and/or commentator constantly adhere to my personal and political viewpoints in order to deem them worthy of performing. Last time I checked people find different things funny and seldom is it a window into their ethical system and/or intellectual aptitude. More often than not, it’s just a matter of taste.
Bill Maher does not believe in the germ theory of disease.
He may be funny as hell, but I have no problems with people mocking him for that.
Bill Maher does not believe in the germ theory of disease.
ka. blink.
yeah, I’m gonna have to ask for a quote there, skippy.
aside: someone bumped the “Juggalo gay-basher psycho” thread today, which sort of reminded me.
Bill Maher is what ICP is gonna be in another 20 years. They’re gonna have a late night “comedy talk show” called “raping bitches with bats” and have on the cream of the psycho right wing pundit crop, and anyone else they can possibly book to argue with them, no matter how low tier they are. They shall expound on the virtues of Faygo cola and how it’s totally unfair that after the “we’re sick of this crap” revolution of 2012, it’s impossible for anyone who doesn’t support universal health care and the ERA mark 2 (which includes clauses on sexuality in addition to gender) can’t get elected and how white males who wear stupid makeup are the ones who are really discriminated against.
which is why they only get low tier liberals. because high tier liberals are busy building our socialist palaces that we might live like the welfare queens of old.
It was actually an Atrios link.
Ah, that explains all the unfamiliar faces arriving by train, with so much baggage to unload.
Park Slope Prats…
After the post below about “Political Incorrectness” (and Ms.** Amanda’s update post is terrible in a “What I was misunderstood? Yeah, it was my fault, but , well you’re stupid,” kind of way) I had to post about this Political……