Bill Maher Says David Hogg is 'Bullying' Laura Ingraham with Boycott

[oberliner]

HBO host Bill Maher accused Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg of “bullying” Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham for the advertising boycott of her primetime program.

Maher said during his Real Time with Bill Maher show Friday night that he wanted to “defend” Ingraham as more than a dozen companies pulled spots from her show.

Maher challenged Hogg, a 17-year-old who has become a major voice for gun control along with other fellow classmates following the deadly mass shooting in Florida almost two months ago.

He praised Hogg and the other Parkland activists for their success in bringing the issue of gun control to the forefront of the political stage like it never has before.

http://www.newsweek.com/maher-hogg-bullying-ingraham-boycott-876299

Edit to add: Sorry for all-caps - Newsweek does their headlines that way for some reason.
Edit to add: Fixed - thank you to Exotica

[bettyellen]

1. Well its bad for their bottom line, and thats what matters to him.

[samnsara]

2. i can only take him in small amounts

[oberliner]

3. I don't like him at all

[GetRidOfThem]

8. Ditto..

He comes across as conceited to me. A little too smug and self-righteous. Even though I often have to agree with what he says. I guess it is a question of style, more than anything...

[oberliner]

9. My thoughts exactly

Well put.

[trueblue2007]

44. cant stand him.

[brush]

14. He comes up with some weird, infuriating shit sometmes, like this. And his irrational hatred of...

all Muslims.

Siding with racist, arch conservative Ingraham is really disappointing.

[EffieBlack]

18. Isn't he also buddies with Ann Coulter?

[brush]

21. That's right. You have to take with several grains of salt too often, though he did donate 1M to...

O's 2012 campaign.

Guess that contrarian streak overwhelms his rational thoughts sometimes.

[Sneederbunk]

29. And Kellyanne Conway. Go figure.

[California_Republic]

51. Hogg or Maurer?

[Wounded Bear]

4. I kind of like it...

the worst thing for a bully is to be bullied. Lord knows Ingraham deserves to be pushed around a bit. Pretty much all of the RW asshole talking heads could use a few months of being bullied.

[Kingofalldems]

5. Many use all caps, that doesn't mean you have to use them here.

Is there another reason you used all caps?

[oberliner]

6. How do you fix it?

I just cut-and-pasted the headline from Newsweek.

[NurseJackie]

11. DOESN'T BOTHER ME...

... but you'd probably have to some manual editing or retyping.

[Cha]

55. Doesn't bother me, either..

the first time I read that.. I didn't even notice they were all in caps. lol

[Exotica]

25. Simple solution

Take the all cap headline, paste it into Google hit search and you should get non all caps results that you can then copy and paste on here.

[oberliner]

41. Thank you!

Fixed it.

[Exotica]

50. cool!

[Cha]

54. What's the big deal, anyway? So they're caps..

easier to see it.

[TheDebbieDee]

26. I can't believe that an all-caps headline is even an issue...

Everybody needs to just chill-lax!

[Sherman A1]

7. Tough

She could have not opened her mouth and stuck her foot into it. She is an alleged professional and should understand that words and actions have consequences.

[NurseJackie]

10. Maher seems to be losing the plot more and more often. I won't shed a single tear...

... when HBO finally cancels his show. He's so full of himself. So smug. Even when his jokes failed and landed flat, he'd scold his audience for being too stupid, or too sensitive, to appreciate his greatness. Ugh.

We enjoy John Oliver, and my son "introduced" us to Jim Jeffries ... so we add that to our DVR lineup.

[Me.]

15. What Can You Say About A Decades Long Friend Of

Anne Coulter?

[NurseJackie]

17. Not much.

Is he really a Democrat, anyway?

[lunatica]

36. He is a Libertarian

Which explains a lot

[KitSileya]

48. And he is a raging hypocrite if that is the case.

Libertarians think that less regulations are good, because the consumers themselves impose the regulations by taking their business elsewhere if the product isn't good or the company harms the community. That's exactly what David Hogg did, for fuck's sake, he organized the consumers to make sure companies that used Ingraham's show to advertise knew the consumers wouldn't buy from them if they continued. If he's a libertarian, fucking Maher should be cheering Hogg on.

[lunatica]

49. He may be an Independent.

All I know is he’s a bit ignorant politically for someone who bases his show on politics. For example his anti Muslim rants make me nuts, because it’s obvious he just hates religion itself so he dumps all religions into the trash and insults great swaths of humanity, many of who are morally better than he is.


Just to clarify my stand, I would say I’m an atheist except I don’t know enough about the what if about life to say anything for certain, but I respect the fact that people believe in their religions.

[thegoose]

19. Vomitosa Extremus

And between insulting Geraldo last night he was giving him blowies.

Done with this asshole.

[NastyRiffraff]

12. Okay, I'm done with him.

Sometimes he's funny and on point. But then he comes out with something like this...I'm not watching any more.

[Mr. Ected]

13. I think the point went way over Maher's head

David Hogg didn't bully Laura Ingraham. In truth, she's been the bully for years, without reciprocation. She is paid to harrass and demean, and she does it without flinching. Her network encourages her and her sponsors are either oblivious or cohorts.

Hogg simply told his mass of followers to vote with their own dollars, if so inclined. They complied, en masse, and the commercial elements determined that they would prefer to withdraw support from a bully and reassert it elsewhere.

It's the American way. Democracy meeting capitalism. For once, the good guy wins.

Maher is getting old and I think the weed is slowing down his thought processes. He's not nearly as sharp or funny as he was even 3 years ago. Time to hang it up, Bill.

[thegoose]

20. Exactly!

She started the shit and the kid had the fortitude to engage instead of saying, "Ooh, ooh, ooh...I should be shouted down into submission."

That's what Pukes do -- they shriek and try to roll over us as if their opinion is the only one that is real.

Fuck them -- and fuck Maher, too.

[grumpyduck]

28. From what I'm seeing nowadays

I think he did it mostly for the shock value and the anger it would create. As I've said before, controversy = views = ads seen.

And free speech? That only applies to those who are more equal than the rest of us.

[Eliot Rosewater]

69. Who did this for shock value?

[Anon-C]

16. I generally like him but he's dead wrong on this point. Boycotts ARE free speech and a ready means

...those without much power can use to gain any sort of leverage for change.

So be it, Bill!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. Why anyone listens to anything from him is beyond me.

[Downtown Hound]

23. Hey Bill, there are times that I really like you

This however, is one of those times that I will cheerfully tell you to go lick your own ass. There is no greater bully pulpit in the world than Faux News, and if you're going to come down on their side EVER, then the rest of your opinions are pretty much worthless.

[dsc]

24. He is wrong on several counts

First, on the specifics of Ingraham. She didn't become a horrible person, she has been a horrible person. She outed gay people in college, never apologized to them (though after her brother came out she decided being gay is OK), and has over the years said horrible thing after horrible thing.

Second, on principal we have every earthly right to boycott her sponsors. She has every right to say what she wants, she doesn't have a right to sponsors or a specific platform.

[bobbieinok]

27. Honest question--Will progressives treat 'one of our own' same way we treated 'one of our enemies'

for attacking David Hogg?

Maher IMHO has long thought he can do or say anything, no matter how appalling, because he is often a 'loveable contrarian', or so he thinks.

Isn't he a strident anti-vaxxer as well as a notorious islamophobe?

[applegrove]

30. He comes at things from different angles. Sometimes he is wrong. Sometimes

Last edited Sat Apr 7, 2018, 09:55 PM - Edit history (1)

Sometimes right. If you are going to bring up novel ideas that is what happens. In this case I would say that being on the tv is a privilege dependant on advertising and the people on the tv should know there are limits to what people will put up with. And a kid had had enough and had some power. That is how goodwill works. Why goodwill is on the balence sheet. She took on Hogg who is someone who is a great representative of the very hurt, the very young and the very noble. It was not bad luck it was bad judgement on her part.

[HopeAgain]

31. Not surprised

He has to be contrary on some things. If he had normal opinions like everybody else, then how could he be smarter than everyone else? Such massive arrogance can be a burden sometimes, ya know.

[Kingofalldems]

32. We think the kid is being bullied.

So what Maher thinks is not worth reporting.

[CentralMass]

33. That's the problem with assholes..

[meadowlander]

34. Imposing consequences on people for exercising their free speech is not the same as restricting

their free speech.

This is where Maher constantly gets it wrong.

You have the right to say what you want. Other people have the right to respond, as long as the response is non-violent and legal. If you don't want to face the consequences (i.e. a boycott, loss of sponsors, being fired, being argued with and made to look foolish) maybe spend two seconds thinking about what is about to come out of your mouth before you say it. Or better yet, don't say it at all.

That's what being a grown up in a civilized society means.

Maher's position is so counterproductive because it gives a pass to anyone saying anything and then pretends that the problem is the legitimate response not the original provocation. This means the level of dialogue in society just sinks lower and lower and lower because the civilising mechanism (fear of being called out publicly on your bullshit) never kicks in.

[misanthrope]

45. Bingo

He even made allusion to his post-9/11 troubles when sponsors pulled out of "Politically Incorrect" following Maher's controversial statements. It revealed his blind spot as stemming from a very personal experience and frustration at the blowback from exercised speech. It also showed him as quite obtuse. It wasn't a good look.

[meadowlander]

47. You don't have to go all the way back to 2001.

He lost sponsors and was forced to grudgingly apologize 6 months ago for gratuitously using the N word on air. Which I'm sure is at the top of his mind as he defends Ingraham and Ann Coulter and all the other conservative bottom feeders he keeps insisting on shoving a microphone in front of.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/arts/television/bill-maher-n-word.html

I get that he thinks censorship is bad, but what he doesn't understand is that without at least some level of self-censorship in response to societal standards of decency and civility what we get is Trump and the media apparatus that enables him.

If Laura Ingraham wants to attack a teenager who lived through a school massacre she needs to be prepared to accept the consequences. There actually isn't anything big or clever or amusing about being a scumbag for ratings and corporate sponsorship. And calling a scumbag a scumbag is not and never will be bullying.

[misanthrope]

68. No one has any quibble with "censorship is bad" however

what Maher is calling censorship -- or bullying in this instance -- isn't at all. It's merely legitimate response to the exercise of free speech. No one prevented him or Laura Ingraham from going out and finding new sponsors.

[treestar]

63. +1 it is the right winger impression

that free speech includes no opposition to what you've said. At least, for their side.

[left-of-center2012]

35. Didn't Maher say ...

They are old friends (he and Laura)?

[blogslut]

37. I'm going to say this as politely as I can.

Fuck Bill Maher. He's not funny. He's not smart. His takes are not hot. He is racist, sexist and has the maturity of an eleven year-old.

[oberliner]

39. Agreed

I do not get his appeal.

[dalton99a]

64. +1

[Honeycombe8]

38. Yes, boycotting is American. That is free speech. But Maher takes it personally...

since he was hit with a boycott or public pressure once, and got fired from his very hot show with high ratings. So...he's not objective...and I'll give him that. He can't be objective about that.

[Gothmog]

40. I stopped watching this show a very long time ago

[rockfordfile]

42. What the hell is he talking about?The Fox News Nazi started on the kid.

It's about time the kids hit back at trumptrash.

[bullwinkle428]

43. I was really offended when those African-Americans bullied the Montgomery AL transit system

back in the 1950s.

[Initech]

46. That really pissed me off.

OK Laura Ingraham started it, and she deserved to get called out on her bullshit. Just like anyone else who does the same should. Fuck.

[HopeAgain]

52. Bill Maher still has a show?

What a shame.

[Heartstrings]

53. He got put in his place

as well he should have been.....he's an asshole sometimes. This was just one example of it.

[Cha]

56. Poor Propagandist, LI

The bully lost sponsors 'cause she's a bully.. and Bill Maher can't handle it.

[liberalmuse]

57. I like Bill Maher, but...

He does seem to have a fetish for the most revolting blonde female Nazi’s. He is a great voice for liberalism, but he sure steps in it big sometimes. LI is the bully here and deserves everything that’s happened to her ( and much more). Karma.

[kcr]

67. No one who defends Laura Ingram, particularly for what she's done to the Parkland shooters

is a great voice for liberalism.

[Vinnie From Indy]

58. Never liked that smarmy little prick

Only occasionally saw his show. Hated that as well.

[Clarity2]

59. No chance I will ever watch him again

and truth be told, his behavior is sort of russian actor’ish, constantly vilifying our side...since way before the election.

Arrogant a**hole.

[mountain grammy]

60. I think he's wrong on this, but it's his opinon.

I will still watch his show, one of the best, in my opinion. I don't have to always agree with him.

[Runningdawg]

61. Bill's walking a fine line - he could be next on the boycott bandwagon

[treestar]

62. Then any boycott would have to be considered "bullying"

and it is not.

[milestogo]

65. Eliot Spitzer was a guest this week, and he refuted Maher.

Its good to have both sides of an argument.

Video at link:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/04/07/bill_maher_denounces_bully_david_hogg_for_ingraham_boycott_modern_way_of_cutting_off_free_speech.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

66. All 3 guests refute him well

One aspect that no one brought up was that Ingraham was not "arguing back" as Maher had claimed. She was bringing up an irrelevant event (the universities declining him) in an attempt to make him look bad. At best, that's an ad hominem argument; at worst, it's bullying. If she'd made an on-topic point about the gun debate (as many pro-gun people have done), Hogg wouldn't have talking about the advertisers who indirectly fund her.