Goes to… Bill Maher.

Now, I’ve only heard of this “comedian” very recently. From seeing his stand up routines on youtube, I personally found his jokes to be mostly sub par; lots of Bush jokes (the “George Bush can’t read LULZ” variety), lots of appealing to stereotypes regarding men/women that I guess to some people might be funny. Each to their own I suppose, but not to my taste. He’s apparently relatively popular though, and has his own talk show.

But here’s what really boils my blood. Wiki states that,

‘He [Bill Maher] has expressed disdain for many of the liberal positions regarding hate crime, sexual harassment, etc. as being “things that make women nod.”‘

Assuming that the quote is accurate, that’s the most… insulting idea I’ve heard all week. Not just for women, but for EVERYONE. That idea suggests that:

  1. There are some liberal positions considered “aimed” at women;
  2. These positions are somehow less significant than other causes because they are aimed to appease a certain demographic (women) rather than existing in their own right;
  3. These causes are implicitly less important than other ones because, these causes almost seem to be meant to “entertain” women and hence if any men were to be involved, it might be implicitly emasculating;
  4. The women are not even really engaging with the causes, as implied from the very passive act of “nodding” and
  5. Other causes (presumably ones that are more “for men”) are better than the ones that “make women nod”.

I can’t get out of my head, this utterly smug and demeaning idea that in this day and age, Maher implies that issues like sexual harassment as merely select topics that women can feel “comfortable” with knowing. It’s the idea that Maher considers there are some discussions of social problems are tailored for women to mindlessly agree with as they sip tea during the commercial breaks of Oprah. That there are particular categories of human suffering or injustice (such as those stemming from hate crimes) that are merely those so generously donated as subjects by the wise and clever men in the world, for women to blunder and fumble with, or at least, to nod to.

As I said above, such idea is an insult to intelligent men AND women. It’s an insult to the men out there who don’t see certain issues, especially those that concern the suffering of other human beings, as being unimportant enough to dismiss. It’s an insult to the women out there who don’t simply “nod” at ANY issue, but can come to an independent conclusion of their own. It’s an insult to the victims of these particular social problems to have their problems, if not totally dismissed, then at least drastically diminished in importance. None of this should be the case, and I’m appalled that someone who calls himself a liberal would have such shallow and sexist take on things. What a douche!