Why Bill Maher Is Both Right And Wrong About Syrian Refugees
Bill Maher never shies away from controversial statements, and when it comes to bringing Syrian refugees to the U.S. (or more specifically, liberal Western societies) he has again stumbled into his usual fire storm.
Maher has made his concerns over Islam clear. He is not a fan. And, on Friday, during his Real Time show on HBO, the topic of Islam combined with the Syrian Refugees came up, naturally, because it is a hot topic at the moment. And this resulted in a sparring match between Bill Maher and the new Trade Minister of Canada, Chrystia Freeland. To say the least, she did not agree with Bill Maher’s doom and gloom assessment of the Syrian refugees and the incompatibility between some of their beliefs and Western culture. And she was right to call Bill out on it, although her view was rather idealistic in itself.
In many ways, the show felt similar to the infamous episode where Ben Affleck got quite upset (to say the very least) with Bill Maher and “new atheist” Sam Harris over the issue of Islam, although Chrystia Freeland didn’t lose her cool to the same extent.
In the segment on Friday, Bill Maher argues that, when it comes to Islam, it isn’t compatible with modern, Western liberal culture. And, certainly, when it comes to conservative interpretations of the religion, it is fair to say that is true to a certain extent.
Syria, however, is a complex country. It has been under the Assad regime, which is a secular, socialist government (Baathists). The country can be seen as more akin to Turkey, which is, by constitution, a secular country, than ultra-conservative near-theocracy Saudi Arabia. It’s not clear that Bill Maher is aware of the differences. In Turkey, especially in large urban centers, the lifestyle it is not all that much different from Western European countries or the Americas. However, in rural areas, outside of more liberal large centers, there are definitely more conservative Muslims. So, secular, but complex, and this reflects Syria.
Bill Maher discusses the idea that a certain percentage of Syrians and of Muslims as a whole support ISIS, and the number is not insignificant. That is a fair assessment — however, it seems also fair to say that many of those who support ISIS are probably not interested in fleeing ISIS because they are happy enough with their rule.
The Syrian refugees tend to be people who are caught in the middle. They feel they can’t support the Syrian regime that is bombing its own citizens, but are not interested in living under the brutality of ISIS, either.
With some assumptions, it is fair to say that many of the refugees coming to North America will be more likely to stand shoulder to shoulder with Bill Maher in proclaiming allegiance to liberal secularism. There will be refugees who think far closer to people like Maajid Nawaz and other reformers than those who are interested in the ideology of ISIS.
But this isn’t to say that Bill Maher is completely wrong. There will also be Syrian refugees who have views or cultural practices that may not exactly fit into what liberal secular societies are all about. Among the many challenges that both refugees and countries accepting refugees will face is trying to bring cultures with different ideas together to live in harmony. But this is not an impossible task.
For the most part, this probably won’t be a huge issue, but it is still an issue, and everyone has to be aware this will be a reality. With the Syrian refugees come the good, the bad, and the ugly. The dire predictions Bill Maher is making aren’t exactly accurate, but we shouldn’t be lulled into liberal idealism that this is all going to go perfectly smooth.
Bill Maher was harsh on Friday during Real Time, as he has been known to do. And, as he often is, Maher was right, but also wrong when it came to the issue of Syrian refugees.
[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]
