Salon: Magazize: Gabriel Arana: ‘Bill Maher’s Islam Silence: Why Canceling His Berkeley Speech is a Mistake’

Source:Salon Magazine- Real Time With Bill Maher.

“Talk-show host Bill Maher’s recent comments about Islam have set off a chorus of condemnations among activists and scholars on the left. Now they have students at liberal bastion University of California at Berkeley calling for an upcoming appearance by the comedian at the school to be canceled.

For those of you who usually tune out Maher like I do, here’s the back story: In an exchange a few weeks ago with Ben Affleck, who was on Maher’s show promoting his new movie, the discussion turned to Islam. “Islam is the only religion that acts like the mafia, that will fucking kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture or write the wrong book,” Maher said. Affleck challenged the comedian, calling his comments “gross” and “racist.” “You’re saying that the idea that someone should be killed if they leave the Islamic religion is just a few bad apples?” Maher replied.

In my personal view, Maher is kind of a jerk (he was even a jackass in his recent interview with Salon). As a fellow liberal, I agree with many of his views, but his shtick — loudmouthed, overgrown frat boy — starts to grate on my nerves if I have to listen to him for longer than a two-minute YouTube clip. He hacks at ideas like a blindfolded person wielding a meat cleaver — there’s little room for nuance.”

From Salon Magazine 

“I remember during the Bush years doing segment after segment on the way Republicans would support Bush no matter what he did. Whether it was sending troops to die in Iraq, or his plan to privatize Social Security, Republicans believed that it was their duty to agree with everything Bush did. They didn’t have the ability to disagree with him on a single issue. For Bush Republicans, it was all or nothing.

Sadly, Democrats today have fallen into the same mindset. To them, there are only two settings: Either someone is always right, or someone is always wrong. They can’t have an opinion that is different from someone without discounting everything that person has done for the entire Democratic movement.

Bill Maher is a great example. And the loudest criticism comes from UC Berkeley of all places as if they somehow have the high ground to criticize Bill Maher about controversial comments – while they are paying full professor salary to John Yoo, a vile murderous political Cheney thug who created the law that triggered the brutal murder and torture of Gitmo prisoners for a decade.”

Source:The Ring of Fire- Real Time With Bill Maher.

From Mike Papantonio 

I’m going to give you a prefect example of what right-wingers are talking about when they say what conservative writer Jonah Goldberg titled in his book back in I believe 2008, what he called Liberal Fascism. Even though the title Liberal Fascism is a bogus title. I mean you can’t be both a Liberal and a fascist, you know it is one or the other. Just like you can’t be both a Socialist and a corporatist. You can’t be anti-corporate, which is what Socialists are and be a pro-corporate, which is what corporatists are.

Berkeley University (which is what I call California University) has or a group of their left-wing ill-liberal students have decided that they not only do not agree with comedian, left-wing comedian, by the way Bill Maher’s views on Islam, but that they do not want him speaking at their university. So the school has canceled the Maher speech there. Now here’s a couple of reasons why that is a big mistake. One is practical, because Berkeley is a public university and part of the California State Government. So Maher’s free speech rights to me (at least as a non-lawyer) are being violated.

But the other issue gets to a philosophical one. Banning someone or canceling on someone because you not only disagree with your views, but you are offended by them: “Don’t allow that guy to speak because we disagree with him and he would be saying things that we don’t want our people to hear”. is Fascism 101. And why right-wingers call some on the Left “liberal fascists” even though again there’s nothing liberal about fascism, because the main value of liberalism is free speech and the right for one to speak freely regardless of what others may think about what they have to say.

I mean you are so offended or believe what someone is saying is no wrong and just utter garbage (or something else), let the person speak and then show people how wrong they are. That is what liberal democracy and free speech are about: the right to be heard and to be able to make your case. Knowing that you are not the only person in that country with that right. And that may include people you make disagree with. Which is something that people who are on the far-left in America (people who I call leftist fascists) who are addicted political correctness, do not understand. 

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