"Yes the oil industry creates jobs. So does the kiddie porn industry."

[proud2BlibKansan]

-Bill Maher

:rofl:

[tranche]

1. I don't think I'm ready to go there.

I mean, there's a lot of people working in the oil industry. A lot of good people. He's a comedian, but I just don't think that's funny.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. He made a great point about the need for jobs

One of his better rants.

[Chulanowa]

2. Too far, and totally tasteless

Even for Maher.

Sorry, no rofl here.

[Maru Kitteh]

50. + me

[napi21]

3. You had to see & hear the context in which he said that.

He was talking abut David Vitters demanding that we keep drilling in the Gulf OFF THE COAST OF HIS STATE! Vitter said we can't stop drilling because so many people are employed in that business. Bill's response was that that is a foolish argument. Lots of people are employed in the child porn industry too, but that doesn't make it good. I know I'm paraphrasing Bill, but he's right As he said, jobs come & go. Industries soar & die, but the elimination of different species of animals is forever.

[scheming daemons]

4. unrec....

99% of the people working in the oil industry are average joes like you and me. Comparing them to an illegal and reprehensible group of people like the kiddie porn industry goes too far.


Maher should apologize.

[napi21]

7. Please read my post #3. You re assumng he was promoting child porn & he wasn't.

Bill was trying to explain to people that even if a lot of people are employed in a certain industry, that doesn't mean it's right and they should keep doing it. He could just as easily have used any business that almost all people think shouldn't exist, and child porn is the 1st one that omes to MY MIND!

[Go2Peace]

13. It's comedy. He is actually advocating that it is BAD.

[Go2Peace]

14. Delete- Post duplicated for some reason

[arcadian]

63. The people who made Zyklon B were just "average Joes" too

[daleanime]

5. Sad thing is...

people producing kiddie porn know that their scum, oil CEO's not so much.:evilgrin:

[Sebastian Doyle]

9. Oh no, the oil industry execs know damn well they are scum

They just don't give a shit. Remember BP's Tony Heyward "wants his life back". Yeah, he's every bit as vile as a kiddie diddler, in my opinion. And I'd like to see him in prison, getting the same welcome a baby raper would. :grr:

[AnArmyVeteran]

61. What people aren't getting in all this

BP executives are so soulless they would do anything to make money, even kiddie porn. Do you think thugs who could have destroyed an entire sea would have any morals that prevented them from abusing children? They are sociopaths so they couldn't care less what they do to others.

Capitalism is a sociopathic playground.

[dionysus]

6. that's not really funny at all...

[TreasonousBastard]

8. Not funny-- just a throwaway snicker from a jerk who uses the products of...

all those oil industry workers out there.

[seabeyond]

10. big time disgusting. nt

[William Z. Foster]

11. and we get oil industry propaganda in response

"Lots of good people work for the oil corporations." Interesting that they seem to take this personally...

"People who use oil products cannot criticize the oil corporations." I guess people who wore cotton could not oppose slavery, then, either.

That is pure corporate propaganda - "we are part of the community, providing jobs and making many of the wonderful products you use every day."

It is like the script from some oil corporation TV ad.

Maher did not compare the people who happen to work for the oil industry to child pornographers. He used hyperbole to show that merely because an industry employs a lot of people that does not mean we need to coddle and protect that industry, nor do we need to orient public policy around their desires.

This is more corporate extortion. "Don't mess with us or a lot of people will be out of work." We got that from Wall Street - "hand over the money, all the money, or we will wreck the economy and then you will all be sorry." And the insurance industry - "look, play ball with us or nobody gets health care. Got it?" And the mortgage bankers - "you losers are lucky we let any of you have a home. Give us everything we want or we will put you all out on the street."

[seabeyond]

12. "kiddie" porn, make it cutsey and a laugh out of it. oil is nothing close to child porn.

not 'kiddie".... oh so cute

you dont see the disgusting of the 'joke", fine. your interpretation of others reaction is wrong.

[William Z. Foster]

17. the joke is terrible

I am no fan of Maher and the joke was bad.

I have to assume that you read my post, understood the points I made, and are choosing to ignore those and instead are attempting to create a distraction. "You must be that sort of person who thinks jokes about kiddie porn are funny" paraphrases the poisonous little message you are trying to convey, I think. Pretty transparent, and quite malicious on your part. From that we know two things: you have no argument, so you must resort to attacking the messenger; you put some time and effort into thinking up attacks on people, and will stop at nothing to smear them.

[seabeyond]

23. i think it is pretty obvious what maher is saying. the joke is bad.

that is my only point. the only point. you saying "we get oil industry propaganda in response" is bullshit

[Electric Monk]

19. one kills entire ecosystems, the other doesn't

and I'm not saying either is good, before you go there

[AnArmyVeteran]

62. One kills ecosytems while the other kills spirits. And the abusers are identical.

[crikkett]

49. equally vile, children should be protected from both industries.

The oil in the gulf of mexico will sicken and after making an abject misery of their lives, kill many if not all children. If you don't think so you're not paying attention.

[seabeyond]

51. because i dont think 'kiddie" porn is funny, .... i am not paying attention to health and welfare

caused by an oil spill.

hm

that is a real rational argument you have going there

not to mention, the post you are addressing is me responding to a poster telling all of us we are oil apologists because we dont think "joke" is funny.

[crikkett]

55. you said, 'Oil is nothing close to child porn', and I explained how it was much worse.

I see that you continue to minimize the disaster in the Gulf by calling an uncontrollable extinction-level eruption a 'spill'.

I didn't address your scorn at the joke at all. I spoke to your idea that the oil industry wasn't as dangerous to children.

Again, it's much, much worse, and for the protection of all children offshore drilling must be stopped until better technology to handle disaster is developed.

On edit:
Notice how *I* avoid even using the term 'child pornography'.

If you agree that the oil industry has not shown itself capable of handling disaster, and agree that for the protection of children any offshore drilling that is allowed must be made safe, then I'll agree that the sexual exploitation of children is such a repulsive crime to me that I can't speak its name.

[William Z. Foster]

58. the fallacy there

You are implying that those who disagree with you DO think 'kiddie" porn is funny. You must know that to be false, and must know that you are trying to smear your opponents and distract readers from the topic.

No one is saying that because you don't think the joke is funny that you are therefore an oil apologist. What some may say, and I suspect to be true, is that you are an oil apologist so therefore you are trying to divert the discussion to an argument about comedy and trying to smear those who are critical of the oil companies by implying that they think 'kiddie" porn is funny.

[seabeyond]

60. hm. since i am seeing lol, and oh so funnies on this thread, i dont think i can be accused

of merely "implying" people think it is funny

your title i addressed said oil apologist on this thread, which would have to mean the people that didnt think it is funny. your place for clarification, if that is not what you meant

to say i am an oil apologist as there is not a single piece of evidence i am an oil apologist is doing exactly what you have accused me of in those two comments above.

you accuse me of being an oil apologist, prove it. link it. show me. that is bullshit and wussy arguing.

[William Z. Foster]

65. I just read the thread again

Reading your post, I thought I had misread the thread or had replied to the wrong person.

My comments stand and speak for themselves.

I said that some may suspect that those complaining about the joke might well be oil corporation apologists. If you are, you are. If you aren't, you aren't. Why be ashamed of either, and how is it an "accusation?" Not getting that.

[seabeyond]

66. i read another post of yours

on sexism. prior to that post i only listened to you on oil threads. you are much more clever than this per the sexism post. of course you get it with this subthread, dont play coy. of course you are manipulating the conversation, knowing exactly what you are doing.

i was surprised by the sexism post because it was so reasoned and rational. your oil posts that i have listened to, and that you have addressed to me, are anything but. these post are not about listening. they are about a win at all cost. they aren't about communication. they are about winning, regardless.

play your game, i am not playing.

i know it isn't all that you are, but chose to be on this issue.

[William Z. Foster]

67. thanks

Let's just say that we agree - the joke was idiotic and not funny - and make a fresh start. Sorry I was so snippy. I really don't need to win. I will argue my point aggressively (somebody has to LOL) but if shown to be wrong, that is fine.

[seabeyond]

68. i can do that

peace

[crikkett]

64. .

oops

[Go2Peace]

16. You get the point. There was nothing condoning porn in the statement

It's called "Irony".

[Dr Morbius]

21. No, it's called "snark."

Granted, he was not condoning kiddie porn. He was going for a cheap shot and he nailed it. That's what he does and who he is. Irony? Irony is made from sterner stuff.

[left is right]

20. I seldom watch Maher

but I understood what he meant and I agree. You explained it very well to the literalists that can’t see the analogy

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

33. Thank you, William. Well said.

:kick:

[primavera]

56. +1

[Withywindle]

15. Bad analogy, IMO.

Funny at the time and I laughed.

But it's really more accurate to compare the oil industry to the tobacco industry.

Long tradition. A lot of good people work there. A lot of good people (myself included) are addicts and can't stop easily. It was completely socially acceptable to use the products wantonly for all the past century because we didn't fully understand the harm.

But it's not the future and it's hurting the planet and ourselves. It's an industry that ultimately causes MUCH more harm than good and needs to be phased out, and jobs found in saner, healthier, more sustainable alternatives. Using petroleum products ought to become, gradually, socially looked down on, and help found for addicts to quit.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Laelth]

28. Well said. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[intheflow]

34. It's a good story.

The tobacco industry is a much better comparison from that point of view. But smoking is still very prevalent in open society. It doesn't carry the same level of instinctual revulsion as child pornography or photos of oil-drowned birds. I think it was that level of completely repulsive horror and sliminess that makes Mahar's comparison as apt as yours.

[Withywindle]

37. Well, yes and no, but I think you're comparing apples to oranges.

People do feel instinctual revulsion at pictures of cancer-ridden lungs, which is the tobacco-industry equivalent to the oil-drowned birds, I think. Meanwhile, people don't feel instinctual revulsion at people driving cars or using plastic bags. Child porn, unlike smoking or oil-product use, has no socially acceptable aspect at all.

I get what Maher was getting at, though.

[adamuu]

18. A better anology would be "Murder For HIre Industry" n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

24. LOL, I approve of his messages.

[scheming daemons]

25. And if all the people in the oil industry lost their jobs tomorrow, Maher would be

complaining about the unemployment rate going up.

[Fearless]

40. How so?

[crikkett]

52. No, he'd still be complaining about dead marshes, pelicans and dolphins

and later on he'd complain about cancer rates, ruined crops and oil rain.

You don't get how awful this is. This is going to kill everything in an entire region, if not the world.

[chrisa]

27. Bill Maher is mediocre.

He thinks he's much funnier than he really is. His pompous schtick is more irritating than funny, most of the time.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

29. K&R

[Catherina]

30. Rec'd. It's the fucking truth n/t

[raouldukelives]

31. Reminds of the old redwood marches

Most of the loggers back then were opposed to the protection of old growth redwoods because it meant loss of jobs. Some of us felt the redwoods deserved better than that.

[varelse]

32. Both industries harm children MORE than anyone else (nt)

[flamingdem]

35. SCORE 1 the incorrect Bill Maher. nt

[NC_Nurse]

36. I thought it was funny. But I like dark humor. And just because not all of

the people who work for BP are careless, greedy assholes, it doesn't make the company less evil.

Yeah, it's not abusing children. They're abusing nature, animals, other people who HAD jobs fishing or serving tourists. Shall we ignore that?

He put it outrageously because it was a JOKE. Not meant to be taken literally. Oh well.

[laughingliberal]

41. Dark humor works for me, too. I think nursing does that to a person. nt

[NC_Nurse]

48. LOL. So true.

[Flora]

38. Not funny

So, is he accusing those who use products made from the oil industry of the same crime of sexual child abuse? Without petroleum products, we would not even have this web page to discuss this outrage.

I am so happy the Maher has a popular topic with which to make jokes. But he needs to bring his ass down to the Gulf Coast, visit those who's living has been wiped out, pick up some dead birds from the sand, toss some turtles back into the surf, and then hopefully realize this is way more than a few moments of political humor.

Fuck you, Maher. Do something besides makes snarky type comments, we have had enough of those.

[laughingliberal]

39. I saw that. It was brilliant! nt

[pauldg0]

42. It's time.....

....to start building wind mill blades and solar panels.

[orbitalman]

43. Boy, when it hits close to home....

in its context Bill Maher is right, I believe.

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Odin2005]

45. Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark!!!

[ready504]

46. Sarcasm aside........

few know how dependent Louisiana is on the oil industry. Particulary South LA. We have made a deal with the devil, but, we cannot afford this moratorium. This state has been through enough.....

[KWMB]

47. Wow

Some people need to pull the stick out -- and lay the 'June Cleaver' attitude aside. Sometimes blunt, sharp statements and analogies are the best way to snap people to attention to say, "Wait, what? What was that?" *rewind* *review issue* Besides, many people liken child porn to rape -- I, for one, believe the oil industry is raping our environment -- the analogy was apt.

[deaniac21]

53. Another BM stupid analogy.

[Uzybone]

54. Another idiotic statement by Maher, going for cheap laughs

When 99.999% of the world (including everyone who clapped to his crap and those who recced this OP) starts using products created by kiddie porn then he will have a point.

[primavera]

57. He has a point now

Which is not that kiddie porn and oil are equal in moral value, but simply that protecting jobs isn't the be all and end all. We used to employ a lot of telegraph workers. We do so no longer and all of those people had to find new jobs. Hard on them, true, but the telegraph's day in the sun is no more, sorry, that's just life. We can't afford to be so dependent upon fossil fuels that we're willing to run the risks that we're running to get them, period, end of story. If people lose their jobs because we set aside the petroleum crack pipe, I'm sorry, but it doesn't alter the fact one jot that we need to set that pipe aside for everyone's good, including the oil workers - they need to have a planet that sustains life too, you know. Ultimately, that's more important than them having to find new careers. Life is hard, get over it.

[Canuckistanian]

69. ZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOooooommmmmmm

That was the sound of the main point going right over your head.

[TheKentuckian]

59. Very funny and 99% of those who are in a snit are just being willfully blind

to the true and massive cost of oil.

There is absolutely nothing to get twisted up about, like it or not the stuff and what it takes to get it is a foul, foul business that spreads war, causes the deaths of many innocents, is full of and creates much corruption, and is the source of much of the damage we do the habitat.

No, it sucks disgusting bad and destroys more than even something as awful as the depraved exploitation of innocent children. The scope and depth of the harm oil creates is hard to compare much else to.

Maybe accepting the damage done by actually thinking about our relationship with this resource in such jolting ways will cut through the fog of need and want enough to really and truly move our mass mentality to break away from what might be the deadliest addiction.

Too far??? Not yet even in the ballpark but it's a start toward context. Yeah, it's THAT bad and it is fair to think of it as a much greater threat.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

70. I wrote this almost two years ago...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3584766#3586137

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

71. ...and this, more recently:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8003776