On his Friday show Real Time, HBO host Bill Maher interviewed the female rapper M.I.A. (real name: Mathangi Arulpragasam) on the end of civil war in her native Sri Lanka. Maher used the interview to denounce the ignorance of Americans, a Maher staple, but then he insisted that "we" Americans think of the Buddhists and the Hindus as "more spiritual" and peaceful than we are.
Maher explained that the Tamils (the heritage of M.I.A.) are mostly Hindu, and the Sinhalese majority are mostly Buddhist. She insisted it isn't a religious war, and Maher replied:
It’s interesting because I think in America, we think of the Buddhists especially, but also the Hindus as much more spiritual than we are, people who wouldn’t engage in atrocities and things like that. Not really the case, is it?
Later, after the interview, he returned to his theme that all religions are bad. While Americans think of Hindus as "They’re the people who run my Yoga class. They couldn’t possibly be involved in death and ethnic cleansing and slaughter. But it [religion] really doesn’t stop anybody. If anything, it justifies violence more than stops it."
Maher began by insisting Sri Lanka is a place "most Americans aren’t very familiar with. Americans are navel-gazers. They’ve very self-centered. They’re narcissistic. They don’t know a lot about other countries. Half of them can’t find Europe on a map." When M.I.A. politely protested about the audience, he said "Not our audience. These people are brilliant."
But Maher, so assured of everyone else’s ignorance, tried to get the guest to explain why everyone in Sri Lanka "sounded like Mick Jagger." He wanted to note the colonial British rule. At one point, he yelled "It’s always the f—ing British!" But M.I.A. corrected him, that not everyone had a British accent, and that she learned English while living in London.
M.I.A. complained that the Tamil minority can’t get its story out in a way that’s "not biased." So why would she go on Maher’s show?
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
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Well Maher just let his
May 23, 2009 - 13:00 ET by BlazerWell Maher just let his mask slip. It's not so much that he's a devout athiest as much as he's a rabid anti-Christian.
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
Maher...YOU DON'T speak for
May 23, 2009 - 13:09 ET by bigtimerMaher...YOU DON'T speak for the majority of the American People...you narcisstic POS.
As to the last question about why would MIA go on Maher's show...I wonder why a heck of a lot of people set foot on his show that I have seen clips of here in the past.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
"to think perchance to dream"
May 23, 2009 - 13:57 ET by metaphorsbwithuHe meant, "We American liberals think ..."
I'd love to see a poll on what liberals know about the religious differences between India and Pakistan.
metaphorsbwithu
Mouse in pocket syndrome
May 23, 2009 - 14:23 ET by 10ksnookerMost liberals have a much higher opinion of their own self importance than others would assign.
How does he navigate
May 23, 2009 - 14:28 ET by katainkentwith his nose so far in the air it must be nearly impossible to navigate a sidewalk.
___________________________________________
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past - George Orwell - 1984
Oh Brother
May 23, 2009 - 14:53 ET by GothampcI think the term he is searching for is "mystical".
Is this the same Bill Maher that put out a hateful documentary called "Religulous"?
Evangelical Christians are spiritual, but haters like Maher are only interested in using Christianity as a punching bag. When they aren't blaming Christians for all the hate in the world or for ruining the Republican Party, they are claiming how stupid they are for believing in life and purity and family values.
I think a better term would
May 24, 2009 - 06:41 ET by zfI think a better term would be "sitting around contemplating the universe all day and doing nothing productive to actually improve the universe."
Same goes for militant atheists like Maher.
Undoubtedly there have been
May 23, 2009 - 15:08 ET by mattmUndoubtedly there have been many religious wars and persecution. In fact, more Christian have died for their faith in the last one hundred years than in the previous 1900.
However, if you want to look at which "religion" is guilty of the most genocide and oppression, it's the Atheist - specifically the atheistic communists of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot, who are responsible for somewhere between 50 and 100 million murders.
Again, the statistic
May 23, 2009 - 15:31 ET by KC MulvilleIt's really stretching it to blame any American wars on religion. Even if you take it for granted that the war against terror is a war against Islam, you'd have to ask why we don't invade Indonesia or Saudi Arabia. And just because the people who attack us are doing so on religious grounds, that doesn't mean we retaliate against their religion - because we don't. I can make a fair argument that our religious tradition has, indeed, restrained any violence against Islam.
I proudly dropped HBO because of Maher
May 23, 2009 - 17:03 ET by jefflebowskiIt was costing too much money replacing televisions with shoes thrown through the screens when watching Maher a time or two....so I just cancelled HBO. A long time ago.
Angry White Dude
www.angrywhitedude.c...
Jeff--
May 23, 2009 - 17:08 ET by misterbillI don't have HBO, but I would gladly drop Maher, given the chance.
I don't have HBO, but I
May 23, 2009 - 17:11 ET by BlazerI don't have HBO, but I would gladly drop-kick Maher, given the chance.
There, FIFY. : )
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
mousy pundits
May 23, 2009 - 17:50 ET by pappyinpathis mauer jerk is another hate spewing foulmouth that for some strange reason is given a platform to blather from. i would not be suprised if he runs for office in the future as a very liberal commie, if there is such a thing.
Hey Bill, grab a pen
May 23, 2009 - 18:50 ET by nolotrippen"Buddhists especially, but also the Hindus as much more spiritual than
we are, people who wouldn’t engage in atrocities and things like that."
First, I love how "things like that" and "atrocities" are grouped together.
Second, let's look at some nations with a real spiritual bent who've, oh I don't know, maybe been involved in an atrocity and things like that:
Nations with largest proportion of Buddhists:
Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Japan
Move along, nothing to see here.
While Hinduism is primarily an Indian religion, it is not without its atrocities, including...hmm...some against Buddhists.
Hindu's and Budhists
May 24, 2009 - 08:25 ET by BDHindu's and Budhists are more spiritual that we are? Obviously Maher has not lived amongst them like I have.
Maher: Marxist moron
May 23, 2009 - 19:56 ET by j17ghsDoes Herr Maher think that Asians have a more sincere way of saying "Good morning," and other such greetings, than Europeans? Maher lacks in intellect and logic but his hatemongering bias is all that counts to the media, which once gave this narrow-minded, politically correct loser a show called "Politically Incorrect". In the case of Maher, Comedy Central, et al., so you long as you hate the right people and things, it's not really hate.
Okay...I got beat to the "mouse in his pocket" thing...
May 23, 2009 - 20:25 ET by Army BratSo...I'll go with this one.
Reminds me of the joke about The Lone Ranger and Tonto...
Surrounded by hostile Indians...The Lone Ranger turns to Tonto and says..."What are we going to do?" Tonto replies..."What do you mean, "we" white man?"
Maher is a coward of the first degree...worthless waste of skin.
Most religion in America today is navel-gazing
May 23, 2009 - 20:44 ET by The Smokin FrogMost religion in America today is navel-gazing. It is all about oneself, just listen to Joel Olsteen and those of his ilk. Positive thinking and self improvement is hardly Christianity. Christianity is about Christ crucified for sinners, the very thing our churches seem so bored with today. But Bill Maher is exactly the same in navel-gazing. His god is himself and his opinions are the voice of the divine. So he should know self-centeredness when he sees it. But it is a shame he doesn't see it in himself. Typical.
The Smokin' Frog
SF... Amen. Doubling down on
May 23, 2009 - 20:55 ET by bigtimerSF...
Amen.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
"Positive thinking and
May 24, 2009 - 06:37 ET by zf"Positive thinking and self improvement is hardly Christianity."
Than what is, negative thinking and self debasement? Christianity is about emporing the individual to lead a better life by INDIVIDUALLY accepting Him. Christ dying for our sins is just a part of the whole, it's not the end all of the religion. What about the beautitutudes, the parables, and that whole Old Testament? Are those just irrelevant side details? Christ told all those stories just for enterainment value, I guess, and not as instructions on how to improve ourselves?
The most important part of Christanity, accepting Jesus as your savior can only be done by "navel gazing" it cannot be accomplished by subjected yourself to others desires. It can only be done by looking deep into yourself, nobody else in involved. Christ was not against self-interest, but against too much of it.
You sound like one of those liberal Chrstians who treat the New Testament like some pseudo Marxist track. Too many of them these days.
M.I.A.?
May 23, 2009 - 21:21 ET by svh83The famale rapper M.I.A.? Are you kidding me? Who?
"I think you'd better call John, 'cause it don't look they're here to deliver...the mail". -NY
Rapper = Unskilled Vocalist
May 24, 2009 - 08:32 ET by BDRapper = Unskilled Vocalist who can use rudimentery rhyming skills.
Maher is a fool, a tool, or both!
May 23, 2009 - 21:39 ET by IamTinmanHe knows that most of the mass murders in the last century have been committed by atheists (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc,).
The only major religion that hasn't learned how to play nice with others or themselves is (Gasp) Islam! They are currently involved in virtually every conflict in the world today.
Here are some other
May 23, 2009 - 23:03 ET by Carl KolchakHere are some other atheists from the 20th Century.
Enver Hoxha who claimed to have the first atheist state in Albania and banned religion. People weren't free to leave and were prisoners in their own country. He used the Sigurimi which was his secret police to monitor his citizens.
http://www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Hoxha/Aug2001HoxhaEN.htm
Mengistu Mariam an atheist ruler from Ethiopia was found guilty of genocide while in absentia. He used a Red Terror to attack and kill political opponents.
Here's an article about him being found guilty of genocide.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6171429.stm
There was a ruler in Equatorial Guinea who was a militant atheist and many people died or fled the country under his rule. From the link below.
"Francisco Macías Nguema, was elected the first president and proceeded to turn the country into what one observer described as a concentration camp. He is believed to have murdered fifty thousand of his countrymen, especially the educated. One-third of the population fled as refugees, mostly to neighboring Cameroon and Gabon. A militant atheist, Macías Nguema also targeted Christians and closed all mission schools, effectively ending all education. In the heavily Roman Catholic country, Catholic services were banned."
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Equatorial_Guinea
Atheist Lenin and atheist Trotsky were involved with the Red Terror in Russia soon after the Russian Revolution and since these 2 were so incompetent the American Relief Agency from Capitalist USA had to come feed the Russian citizens who were starving under atheist Lenin and atheist Trotsky.
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/museum/his1g.htm
Maher is as dumb as an ass.
May 24, 2009 - 04:52 ET by NonArabOmarMaher is as dumb as an ass. Why do these activist athiests always forget that in the 20th century athiests were in charge of some of the bloodiest atrocities and acts against humanity in history.
Stalin was the Hitler that got away with it. The athiest leader of the USSR. Have they all forgotten about the atrocities committed by activist athiests? The ones who make anti-religion the state religion, such as communists and socialists?
Stalin ran death camps, ordered the slaughter of "undesirables." killed any and all who oppose his politics, killed people for their beliefs, etc.
It's okay for an athiest to kill someone of religion, eh?
Give me a break.
How many people has GODLESS COMMUNISM killed? ...
May 24, 2009 - 06:11 ET by Jayke... What's God got to do with it? Maher, you're a moron. Only Mohammedism codifies the murder of innocents.
Fascism and communism, not religion, cause violence.
May 24, 2009 - 08:10 ET by CrashApparently, Maher needs a history, as well as a political science lesson. A clue might be, though Maher is surrounded by his "religulous" fellow citizens, he's still alive and is free to say what he wishes.
"Half of them [Americans] can’t find Europe on a map."
There's a case against union/government education. Instead they teach global warming & put condoms on cucumbers. I was lucky enough to go to school pre-DOE. We (a class of 30 students) had to memorize the map and do reports on different countries and their cultures.
For the record, I happen to be atheist. Unlike Maher and his ilk, I would never be so arrogantly audacious as to dictate what another person should or should not believe.
Solid comments
May 24, 2009 - 09:27 ET by nolotrippenMe like!
Hey Billy
May 24, 2009 - 09:41 ET by jacktheripperif atheists ruled America guess who would be the 2nd peolple to be "re-educated" to the labor camps ? that's right...YOU and the other so-called journalists right behind the teahers and educated "elite"!!!!! FOOL
Re useful idiots
May 24, 2009 - 10:47 ET by slickwillie2001Absolutely, standard procedure for a left-wing coup or takeover by a totalitarian is to immediately round up the useful idiots that enabled the takeover and execute them. The leftists know that the useful idiots have power and influence and can turn on them if they are disappointed in what results, so they are the first to go.
Fidel Castro did this immediately; some of them seemed of unquestionable loyalty to him, but he didn't want to take a chance.
Inside the mind of the Great One
May 24, 2009 - 12:23 ET by danebramageBill Mao talking to himself: