Bill Maher Says What Others Wont

Bill Maher is one of those commentators I don't always agree with, which is precisely why I find him worth listening to.

He remains broadly liberal, but he has an admirable habit of challenging his own side when he thinks it has lost its way. His latest New Rule, “Clash of Civilizations”, is a particularly good example.

Marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Maher asks how much Western attitudes have changed since that terrible day.

His argument is worth ten minutes of your time.

Remember When We Called Terrorists Terrorists?

Maher begins with 9/11 and a surprisingly contemporary question: why have parts of the media become reluctant even to use the word terrorist?

Twenty-five years ago, there was little ambiguity about what had happened. Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked civilian aircraft and deliberately murdered almost 3,000 people.

Maher's point is not that there is a clash between Muslims and Christians. He explicitly rejects that idea.

The clash, he argues, is between radical Islamism and Western liberalism.

On one side are values such as freedom of religion, equality for women, tolerance of homosexuality and freedom of expression. On the other is an ideology that rejects many of those principles.

What troubles Maher is that sections of the Western Left now seem reluctant to defend their own liberal values against people who openly oppose them.

That is an uncomfortable observation.

It is also difficult to dismiss.

Then Maher Turns to Gaza

The second half of the segment is, to my mind, even more important.

Maher turns to Israel's war against Hamas and attacks the increasingly casual use of one of the most serious words in our vocabulary:

Genocide.

Maher's position is unequivocal. He argues that describing the Gaza war as genocide is false and points to Israel's conduct — including humanitarian aid and medical evacuations — as evidence inconsistent with an intention to destroy the Palestinian people.

The word genocide should not simply become another political slogan.

It describes one of humanity's most terrible crimes. If we casually attach it to warfare involving tragic civilian casualties, we risk stripping the word of its meaning.

More importantly, accusations have consequences.

From “Genocide” to Antisemitism

This is where Maher makes perhaps his sharpest observation.

If people are repeatedly told that Israel is deliberately committing genocide against Palestinians — and come to believe that as an established fact — then hostility towards Israel becomes not merely understandable but morally righteous.

And from there, the line between hatred of Israel and hatred of Jews can become dangerously thin.

Maher argues that this helps explain the extraordinary rise in antisemitism throughout the Western world since October 7.

That does not mean every critic of Israel is antisemitic. Nor does criticism of Israeli government policy become antisemitism merely because it is strongly expressed.

But accusing the Jewish state of deliberately exterminating a people has become a political tool to demonise Israel and indirectly all Jews. 

“Genocide” has become a chant on streets, university campuses and social media — often presented not as an allegation to be proved, but as an established fact.

We have seen the consequences.

As I discussed recently in Never Again Starts Here, antisemitism has grown to the point where Australia has established a Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Jewish Australians have found themselves facing intimidation and hostility over the actions of a foreign government. grappyssoapbox.com

That should concern everyone, whatever their view of the Gaza war.

Watch Maher Make the Case

Maher's presentation is short, funny in places, provocative and characteristically blunt.

You may not agree with every argument he makes. I don't think that matters.

His larger questions are worth considering.

Have we become so uncomfortable calling terrorism by its name that we obscure what it represents?

Have sections of the Western Left forgotten the liberal values they once defended?

And have we allowed one of the most terrible words in human history — genocide — to become so casually politicised that an allegation is now routinely treated as a proven fact?

Maher has his answers.

Watch the video below and make up your own mind.

Previous Posts on Israel and Antisemitism

Never Again Starts Here — Why Australia's Royal Commission into Antisemitism matters and what Australia might learn from other Western democracies. grappyssoapbox.com

Israel IS Following Rules of War — An earlier examination of Israel's conduct in Gaza and the laws governing warfare. This links to the November 2023 archive containing the article. grappyssoapbox.com

Kisin Responds to Criticism of His Israel Video — Konstantin Kisin's response to criticism of his arguments supporting Israel after October 7. grappyssoapbox.com

Bill Maher Drops Truth Bombs on the Left

For years the political Left has portrayed itself as the defender of reason, tolerance, and enlightenment. Anyone who questioned its dogmas was dismissed as ignorant, reactionary, or worse. But lately something interesting has been happening: some of the most devastating critiques of the modern Left are coming not from conservatives, but from people who have spent most of their careers inside the liberal camp.

One of them is Bill Maher.

Maher is hardly a conservative. In fact, for decades he has been a reliably liberal voice on American television. But unlike many on the contemporary Left, Maher has retained something increasingly rare in modern political discourse: the willingness to say uncomfortable truths.

In the short clip below, Maher delivers what can only be described as a one-minute demolition of several fashionable progressive narratives.

His starting point is the growing hostility toward Western civilization now fashionable in universities and activist circles. As Maher bluntly observes, many young people have been taught to think that “Western” simply means “white” and therefore automatically “bad.”

That caricature ignores reality.

Maher reminds his audience that brutality, conquest and oppression are hardly unique to Europeans. History is filled with examples across every culture and continent—from imperial Japan to Genghis Khan’s Mongol empire. The darker chapters of history are part of the human story, not the property of one race or civilisation.

But what critics of the West conveniently forget is the other side of the ledger.

The same civilisation now casually dismissed as irredeemably oppressive also gave the world many of the principles that make modern life possible: the rule of law, democratic government, minority rights, and scientific inquiry.

Those ideas did not emerge by accident. They grew out of centuries of philosophical, legal and cultural development in the Western world.

Maher’s critique becomes even sharper when he turns to a troubling trend among younger activists: a reflexive embarrassment about their own country. Surveys show large numbers of young Americans saying they are ashamed of the United States, despite living in one of the most prosperous and free societies in human history.

Maher’s response is simple: perspective matters.

No country is perfect. America certainly isn’t. But compared with most of the world—especially on the progressive issues young activists claim to care about—it remains far ahead of many societies.

Women own millions of businesses. Gay citizens can marry and build lives openly. People from every background can start companies, buy property, and express dissent under the protection of the law.

And that leads to Maher’s central question: how does a generation raised in extraordinary freedom and prosperity become so hostile to the very system that created it?

It’s a question worth asking.

Because when a civilisation begins teaching its young people that their own society is uniquely evil, something has gone badly wrong in the education system.

And when activists cheer symbols of movements that would happily extinguish the freedoms they enjoy, the problem is no longer merely academic—it becomes cultural and political.

Maher’s point is not that America—or the West—is perfect. His point is something far more basic: before you tear something down, you should at least understand what it is you are destroying.

That simple truth, delivered in less than a minute, is enough to leave much of the modern Left looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Watch the clip below.

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If you'd like, I can also give you 5–8 punchy title ideas for this post (your blog titles tend to be sharp and provocative).

BIll Maher throwing Truth Grenades!

 Avowed Democrat Bill Maher is , once again , throwing truth grenades against the Democrat party. This is a must see short video. He could not have said it better had he been a Republican! In just 2 minutes Maher destroys the madness ' of the Left wing of the Democrat Party.

Has Bill Maher Already Left The Democrat Party?

Earlier this week, I was speculating about Bill Maher's allegiance to the Democrats following his Trump dinner (see Maher telling it straight). 

Obviously, I was either prophetic or already too late, as I came across this video where he claims he was "never a Democrat". Go figure. He certainly sounded like one for a very long time. Admittedly, many people who claimed to be Democrats a decade ago do not recognise what has become of the party. I often reflect on how organisations and individuals can transform gradually into something so unrelated to their former selves. They seem to have intense and passionate views both before and after their transformation, yet these views are now the opposite. If you think I am talking only about Democrats, you would be wrong. I find Tucker Carlson has undergone a significant transformation from his Fox News days into a bloviating isolationist. And don't get me started on Candace Owens. But I digress....

Here is the latest Maher video.

https://youtu.be/ToRsSdpBpuo?si=nTk918TWo40WL3JT 

Maher telling it straight!

Liberal comedian Bill Maher has been a favourite of the Democrats for many years. His caustic humour can tear apart many Republican policies, and when targeting an individual, it is at its best. After all poking fun at your enemies is a powerful weapon. How can anyone respect a politician who has been totally ridiculed? Indeed, for many years, Donald Trump has been the target of Maher's barbed humour. But not all is well in Liberal land. Maher is an old-fashioned liberal of the type that has been dying out with the capture of the Democrats by Wokism. So Maher has transgressed on occasions, pointing his barbs at Woke extremists. It was tolerated, firstly because he is always funny, but more so, because it was balanced by at least as many strikes on the Republicans, and of course, Trump.

Then Trump did the unexpected! He extended an invitation to Bill Maher to the White House for a dinner with a group of commentators and naysayers. Maher, true to his independent spirit, accepted the invitation. His summary of the evening revealed that Trump had made an impression on him, not completely, but significantly.

Judge it from this piece that Maher presented after the dinner.

 

Subsequently, Maher's stance has shifted. He appears to have softened towards Trump, a change he attributes to his own consistency. However, his increasing criticism of the Woke extremists suggests a more complex evolution.

Again, here is a sample.

The Democratic party's shift to the left has led many traditional liberals to reconsider their allegiance.  The list of defectors is long, stretching back decades and including names like Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Dave Rubin, Alan Dershowitz, and Joe Rogan. Could Bill Maher be the next to leave the Democrats?