(no subject)

[luciazephyr]

...

I really try to like Bill Maher, and I like the idea of Bill Maher (a kind of R-rated Jon Stewart), but I sometimes find him just so smug and generalizing... His points are right, but when he phrases them the way he does, it turns even me, the lefty tree-hugging hippie, off. I mean, he and I are pretty much the same in political views to a degree that scares me, but he's such an asshole about it. D:

I adore him for coining "Sarah Barracuda, meet Joey the Shark," but otherwise? I'm glad I don't have HBO.

Also, I think Rachel is above his ilk. There, I said it. :p

-Luce

PS: Oh god, Rachel's mini-rant things (AKA: "This is what I say on my radio show", amirite?) are amazing. I love them. Rock on, lady.

JKSDhgjkfhjkgj YES YES YES

DR. RACHEL MADDOW IS, AFTER JON STEWART, THE SECOND TO MENTION THE WASILLA RAPE KIT CHARGING.

Comments

[aelora.livejournal.com]

I agree. I mean, everything he said tonight was right but what he was saying when it came to the public... you just don't say that! It doesn't gain the Democrats votes to tell people they have the intelligence of dogs. This is where "elitist" comes from. Bill Maher is an elitist, period. He offended me!

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

I really think the lack of attention Americans pay to politics needs to be talked about, but not just to say "you guys are idiots who don't understand you're screwing yourselves". We need to talk about why people don't take interest and how this can be remedied to ensure a more educated, politically aware voting populace.

[librarynoise.livejournal.com]

I absolutely feel the same way about Bill Maher.

[mercystars.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Bill needs a swift kick in the nuts sometimes.

[gundamtsubasa.livejournal.com]

While Rachel does have a lot more class than Maher does, you're right. He's pretty much spot on, he just does it in an extremely caustic way that causes political opponents to disagree with it without paying attention to the substance of it, like we do on those rare occasions when Limbaugh or O'Reilly talk sense.

As for why people don't pay attention to politics, it's because it's complicated for people who've been raised for two generations in education systems where civics and government classes aren't even breached until the very last year of high school, if they're taught at all. Up to then, social studies is nothing more than geography and history, often taught as little more than rote memorization of dates and battles instead of focusing on how political philosophies and temporal circumstances led to those battles.

In essence, people are willfully ignorant about politics because they've been educated to be willfully ignorant about politics. The "RAH RAH RAH OUR TEAM RULES YOU GUYS SUCK" kinds of political discussion is merely a symptom of this, not the cause.