Isn’t Maher the one who called the 9/11 highjackers heroes and courageous freedom fighters?
[quote]kristopherts wrote:
Isn’t Maher the one who called the 9/11 highjackers heroes and courageous freedom fighters?[/quote]
I dunno, he’s said a lot of wierd things. Strong words had a Neitzsche quote up the other day, who’s philosophies Hitler manipulated to create Mein Kampf. Maybe the editors are trying to represent both the far right and the far left. Kind of like the fish stick Lisa cooks in the Simpsons which is burnt outside and frozen in the middle, so on average its cooked.
[quote]JohnGullick wrote:
I dunno, he’s said a lot of wierd things. Strong words had a Neitzsche quote up the other day, who’s philosophies Hitler manipulated to create Mein Kampf. Maybe the editors are trying to represent both the far right and the far left. Kind of like the fish stick Lisa cooks in the Simpsons which is burnt outside and frozen in the middle, so on average its cooked.[/quote]
The fact that Nietzsche’s works were at all associated with Hitler is due almost entirely to his sister and her husband, who were ardent anti-semites. Throughout his letters and notes Nietzsche expresses nothing but contempt for the rise of anti-semitism and the German Nationalist movement.
Next time I’d appreciate it if you would refrain from staining the name of one of the most intelligent men of the 19th century with your ignorance. Thanks.
[quote]kristopherts wrote:
Isn’t Maher the one who called the 9/11 highjackers heroes and courageous freedom fighters?[/quote]
Yes.
[quote]hedo wrote:
kristopherts wrote:
Isn’t Maher the one who called the 9/11 highjackers heroes and courageous freedom fighters?
Yes.
[/quote]
Would you mind providing the specific quote because I would love to see this in context. We have already seen how some spread the word falsley of what was actually stated. The only quotes I have found of his relating are:
[quote] “It’s not a mystery to me what happened with 9/11. . . . These guys are out there. We knew they were out there. It was a failure of will on our part to address the situation 10 years before. . . . There is no big mystery about it.”
“But isn’t there something wrong when I’m the ONLY guy in the country that got fired for 9/11?”
“George Bush says, ‘Gore’s book needs a lot of explaining.’ Of course, Bush says that about every book.”
“We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.”
“To me a real patriot is like a real friend. Who’s your real friend? It’s the person who tells you the truth. That’s who my real friends are. So, you know, I think as far as our country goes, we need more people who will do that.”
[/quote]
Needless to say, it looks like someone (I won’t say who) took his words out of context and then tried to pass on the false interpretation. Please…don’t do that.
Further, just to show how off some of you are on this one, here are some more quotes from him:
[quote]So when I say we had been the cowards, yes, that’s what I meant, we as a society. And that’s everybody, including myself. I had been screaming about the drug war and this war and other wars. I should have been more on terrorism, too. So should you, so should everybody."
“This has been a learning experience for me. I also thought that privacy was something we were granted in the Constitution. I have learned from this when in fact the word privacy does not appear in the Constitution.”
“In no way was I intending to say, nor have I ever thought, that the men and women who defend our nation in uniform are anything but courageous and valiant, and I offer my apologies to anyone who took it wrong.”
“Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them.”
"If you were on a sinking ship and yelled, "Women and children first!" how much feminist opposition do you think you'd get? . . . Women want to fight men for equal pay, but how often do they fight a man for the check? . . . And any man who questions a woman's physical capabilities gets branded a sexist -- but who do they call when there's a spider to be killed? Convenient feminism -- crackpot theory or dangerous lunacy?"
“. . . remember, guns don’t kill people – unless you practice real hard.”
[/quote]
I would love to know where you all heard that he said something as unpatriotic as the way it was presented by the first poster in this thread. They have web sites with nearly every major quote he ever stated on his show…so who were you listening to that told you otherwise? O’Reilly?
The professor is correct. During the show for which he was fired he did not call the terrorists freedom fighters.
I have highlighted the statement in question that got him fired, made 6 days after 9/11 on his talk show “Politically Incorrect”.
Draw your own conclusions. Maher has stated he was not referring to the military, who actually fire those missles he mentioned, but to the collective “we”, as in US citizens. Keep in mind the WTC were still smoldering on 9/17.
On Monday, September 17th, Maher and his guests were discussing the attack on the World Trade Center – primarily, what could be done to prevent further attacks.
Part of this discussion included the following exchange between Maher and conservative writer/commentator Dinesh D’Souza:
Dinesh: Bill, there’s another piece of political correctness I want to mention. And, although I think Bush has been doing a great job, one of the themes we hear constantly is that the people who did this are cowards.
Bill: Not true.
Dinesh: Not true. Look at what they did. First of all, you have a whole bunch of guys who are willing to give their life. None of 'em backed out. All of them slammed themselves into pieces of concrete.
Bill: Exactly.
Dinesh: These are warriors. And we have to realize that the principles of our way of life are in conflict with people in the world. And so – I mean, I’m all for understanding the sociological causes of this, but we should not blame the victim. Americans shouldn’t blame themselves because other people want to bomb them.
“Bill: But also, we should – we have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly. You’re right”
So, was it the “liberal media” that got him fired for something that would have to be twisted to even be “unpatriotic”?
I don’t know what the liberal media thought of him.
Rush Limbaugh went to his defense as did Ariana Huffington.
I wouldn’t take his statement to be patriotic. Perhaps misguided and certainly not very sensitive to the folks who just got murdered. I don’t know if it qualifies as unpatriotic.
To who do you think he was referring to when he spoke of being cowardly?
Sounds like he stated his opinion and his audience stated theirs. In the end not enough thought his statment was appropriate and many thought it offensive, including his employer and he got canned.
[quote]hedo wrote:
I don’t know what the liberal media thought of him.
Rush Limbaugh went to his defense as did Ariana Huffington.
I wouldn’t take his statement to be patriotic. Perhaps misguided and certainly not very sensitive to the folks who just got murdered. I don’t know if it qualifies as unpatriotic.
To who do you think he was referring to when he spoke of being cowardly?
Sounds like he stated his opinion and his audience stated theirs. In the end not enough thought his statment was appropriate and many thought it offensive, including his employer and he got canned.[/quote]
I think he meant, “[quote]So when I say we had been the cowards, yes, that’s what I meant, we as a society. And that’s everybody, including myself. I had been screaming about the drug war and this war and other wars. I should have been more on terrorism, too. So should you, so should everybody.[/quote]”
I watched him enough back then to know what he was talking about (and still catch him when I can on HBO). Only some right wing nut who is looking for a cause to fight would take it any other way. Could he have been more “politically correct”? Yes, but isn’t that what Republicans are constantly bitching that we have too much of? You can’t have it both ways…but apparently, many want it that way.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
hedo wrote:
I don’t know what the liberal media thought of him.
Rush Limbaugh went to his defense as did Ariana Huffington.
I wouldn’t take his statement to be patriotic. Perhaps misguided and certainly not very sensitive to the folks who just got murdered. I don’t know if it qualifies as unpatriotic.
To who do you think he was referring to when he spoke of being cowardly?
Sounds like he stated his opinion and his audience stated theirs. In the end not enough thought his statment was appropriate and many thought it offensive, including his employer and he got canned.
I think he meant, “So when I say we had been the cowards, yes, that’s what I meant, we as a society. And that’s everybody, including myself. I had been screaming about the drug war and this war and other wars. I should have been more on terrorism, too. So should you, so should everybody.”
I watched him enough back then to know what he was talking about (and still catch him when I can on HBO). Only some right wing nut who is looking for a cause to fight would take it any other way. Could he have been more “politically correct”? Yes, but isn’t that what Republicans are constantly bitching that we have too much of? You can’t have it both ways…but apparently, many want it that way.[/quote]
It seems like he spoke his mind and gave his opinion. He also had an opportunity to further clarify his statements. When all that was said and done his audience and his employer thought his statement crossed over the line of good taste.
I got an entirely different opinion of Bill after reading up on this event today. I think the guy excercised his opinion. Enough people were offended by it that he lost his job. I respect the man for sticking to his opinion. I think it’s wrong and I think it showed an utter lack of respect to a great deal of people. If more people agreed with him maybe he would have a larger audience and have his job back.
The right wingers didn’t fire him. His audience did.
[quote]CaptainLogic wrote:
Next time I’d appreciate it if you would refrain from staining the name of one of the most intelligent men of the 19th century with your ignorance. Thanks.[/quote]
Thanks, CaptainLogic. I got all riled up by JohnGullick’s comments, but you put down the facts.
[quote]kristopherts wrote:
Isn’t Maher the one who called the 9/11 highjackers heroes and courageous freedom fighters?[/quote]
No. He said they were not cowards. That is all. Look past the damn propaganda please, and see what the guy really said.
Look at the first post on the thread and see how far things got twisted. I think his point was solid, that we need to respect the commitment of our adversary. To twist that into him supporting them is a bit ludicrous. One of the biggest mistakes one can make is to underestimate either the means or in this case the will of an opponent. One can argue that the statement was in poor taste, but I think there needs to be a certain will to misinterpret it a certain way to get much more out of it.
He’s more entertaining on HBO anyway.
[quote]hedo wrote:
It seems like he spoke his mind and gave his opinion. He also had an opportunity to further clarify his statements. When all that was said and done his audience and his employer thought his statement crossed over the line of good taste.
I got an entirely different opinion of Bill after reading up on this event today. I think the guy excercised his opinion. Enough people were offended by it that he lost his job. I respect the man for sticking to his opinion. I think it’s wrong and I think it showed an utter lack of respect to a great deal of people. If more people agreed with him maybe he would have a larger audience and have his job back.
The right wingers didn’t fire him. His audience did.
[/quote]
Actually, I had no idea he was fired until he popped up on HBO speaking on it. I watched him as regularly as I could while he was on tv (since I was in school at the time). He isn’t afraid to say what he means and it is in absence of the bullshit that O’reilly seems to spew at every given opportunity. Again, I think the ONLY reason he possibly lost his job is because some people in very powerful positions took this as their chance to “stand for something”, even though it made no sense to stand for it. In poor taste? Not to me.
His audience didn’t fire him. His network did, thus why he is on HBO now and apparently doing well.
It’s interesting to contrast his political views before 9/11 and after.
Maher went from having a pretty libertarian view to being a left wing, bitter hack for about two years after he was fired. Lately he’s slowly moving back to the middle. Still, 90% of his shows have him, two liberals talking over the one Republican allowed on the show that week.
[quote]nephorm wrote:
CaptainLogic wrote:
Next time I’d appreciate it if you would refrain from staining the name of one of the most intelligent men of the 19th century with your ignorance. Thanks.
Thanks, CaptainLogic. I got all riled up by JohnGullick’s comments, but you put down the facts.[/quote]
You’re welcome. I’m sure you’re as tired as I am of Nietzsche being associated with that Nazi piece of filth by people who have clearly never picked up one of his books.
Whatever happened to freedom of speech in the US?
It isn’t worth much when you can get fired for speaking your mind, is it?
[quote]Wreckless wrote:
Whatever happened to freedom of speech in the US?
It isn’t worth much when you can get fired for speaking your mind, is it?[/quote]
I told my boss he was a dickwad, and he fired me. I was just speaking my mind!!
[quote]Wreckless wrote:
Whatever happened to freedom of speech in the US?
It isn’t worth much when you can get fired for speaking your mind, is it?[/quote]
When all you are is being fired, freedom of speech is doing just fine…
It?s not “freedom of speech and feeling comfortable while doing so” it?s just “freedom of speech”…