Bill Maher: Stop Being So Offended, America
In America, taking offense has become something of an unspoken right. If you see something, anything, that strikes you as unsavory, take it as personally as possible and sound off as loudly as you can. Controversial comedian Bill Maher says no more! Grow a thicker hide, lose the fake outrage, lighten up, and for God’s sake… STOP apologizing.
After David Axelrod called Mitt Romney’s as push in Illinois a “Mittzkrieg” earlier this week, it netted him a nasty response by the Republican Jewish Coalition who demanded that Axelrod be rebuked by the DNC, “Because the message of ‘Mittzkrieg’ was clear: Kill all the Jews,” says Maher, tongue-in-cheek, in an op-ed for the New York Times. Maher shared a handful of other such incidents, including Robert De Niro’s recent comments regarding First Lady Michelle Obama, and even seems to defend controversial statements made by those on the other side of, well, everything from himself, including Kirk Cameron, Don Imus, and even Rush Limbaugh.
Seemingly standing with everyone (and no one), Maher’s op-ed is directed at the culture of offense, saying plainly that he’s sick and tired of the American outrage that inevitably follows any even remotely objectionable statement or opinion. “When did we get it in our heads that we have the right to never hear anything we don’t like?”
“Let’s have amnesty—from the left and the right—on every made-up, fake, totally insincere, playacted hurt, insult, slight and affront.” Maher suggests. Reacting to something you don’t like on TV is as simple as changing the channel, and if you hate Rush Limbaugh, don’t listen to him. “If we sand down our rough edges and drain all the color, emotion and spontaneity out of our discourse” we’ll end up with empty-suits and hollow-heads instead of real leaders. “In other words, we’ll get Mitt Romney.”
So this is what it feels like to agree with Maher 100% with 0% reservation.
Do you think Bill Maher has a point? Do we need to stop apologizing?
