When did Columbia become Kanye State? Bill Maher asked that question at the top of Friday’s Real Time on HBO, setting the tone for a show that focused on the national campus unrest and what’s behind it.
Maher attempted to answer that himself in his “New Rules” editorial, saying in a message to protesters blocking traffic in the name of a cause: “No one likes you.” He contended that protesters fail to realize that they are not bringing people around to their point of view by making them late for work or from picking up a child from day care. “You can glue your hands to the street, since your hands don’t have to do any work today,” Maher said, and claimed that for many social justice warriors, “It’s more about the warrioring than the causes.” Vis-a-vis the current wave of pro-Palestinian protests, he suggested that those who care should start with the subjugation of women in many countries, showing a women in a burka.
He also mentioned the starving in North Korea, China’s jailings, and the Burundi jihad against gays. “Are you really speaking truth to power, or do you think you look cool in a keffiyeh?” Maher said that activists should ask themselves whether the most important thing in my life is something I hadn’t heard about six months ago.” In his one-on-one interview, Maher brought out Robert F.
Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent candidate for president. Maher questioned RFK on several issues, particularly his controversial stance on vaccinations.
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