The insanity of American culture right now, be it ever-increasing wokeness or the censoring of thoughts, has repeatedly caused Bill Maher to sound like someone conservatives could have a conversation with. The liberal host on Friday night closed his show by accusing the liberal media of overreacting to the conservatives and Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, and even admitted that Republicans in states like Florida and Texas have done a better job on the issue than blue states.
Beginning his commentary at 10:49 p.m. Eastern, Maher began:
And media, well, I think we all know, if it bleeds, it leads. The more -- the more they can get you to stay inside and watch their panic porn, the higher the ratings. When researchers at Dartmouth built a database recently monitoring the COVID coverage of the major news outlets across the world, and found that, while other countries mix the good news in with the bad, the U.S. national media reported almost 90 percent bad news. Even as things were getting better, the reporting remained negative.
After taking a moment to complain that conservative media have pushed misinformation on some issues, Maher returned to admonishing the media of his own side, charging that they had misinformed the public, possibly leading Democrats to mishandle the problem in states they run:
But what about liberals? In a recent Gallup survey, Democrats did much worse than Republicans in getting the right answer to the fundamental question: What are the chances that someone who gets COVID will need to be hospitalized? The answer is between one and five percent -- 41 percent of Democrats thought it was over 50 percent. Another 28 percent put the chances at 20 to 49 (percent). So almost 70 percent of Democrats are wildly off on this key question, and also have a greatly exaggerated view of the danger of COVID to and the mortality rate among children -- all of which explains why today the states with the highest share of schools that are still closed are all blue states.
He then added: "So if the right-wing media bubble has to own things like climate change denial, shouldn't liberal media have to answer for 'How did your audience end up believing such a bunch of crap about COVID?'"
Maher went on to recall the media's tendency to try to scare people from going to beaches even though there is evidence that encouraging people to spend time outside keeps them from spending time indoors where they are more likely to contract COVID.
He then admitted that Republican-run states have turned out better than those run by Democrats, and even praised Florida Governor Ron DeSantis:
But, to many liberals, "That can't be right because Texas and beach-loving Florida have Republican governors." But life is complicated. I've read that the governor of Florida reads. I know we like to think of Florida as only middle school teachers on bath salts having sex with their students in front of an alligator. But apparently the governor is also a voracious consumer of the scientific literature, and maybe that's why he protected his most vulnerable population -- the elderly -- way better than did the governor of New York.
The liberal comedian concluded by complaining that, even though there is evidence that obesity is a big risk factor in contracting COVID, the liberal media have been too politically correct to warn obese Americans that they should try to lose weight.
Transcript follows. Click "expand" to read more.
Real Time With Bill Maher
4/16/2021
And media, well, I think we all know, if it bleeds, it leads. The more -- the more they can get you to stay inside and watch their panic porn, the higher the ratings. When researchers at Dartmouth built a database recently monitoring the COVID coverage of the major news outlets across the world, and found that, while other countries mix the good news in with the bad, the U.S. national media reported almost 90 percent bad news. Even as things were getting better, the reporting remained negative.
(takes a moment to blame right-wing media for conservatives being misinformed about some issues)
...But what about liberals? In a recent Gallup survey, Democrats did much worse than Republicans in getting the right answer to the fundamental question: What are the chances that someone who gets COVID will need to be hospitalized? The answer is between one and five percent -- 41 percent of Democrats thought it was over 50 percent. Another 28 percent put the chances at 20 to 49 (percent). So almost 70 percent of Democrats are wildly off on this key question, and also have a greatly exaggerated view of the danger of COVID to and the mortality rate among children -- all of which explains why today the states with the highest share of schools that are still closed are all blue states.
So if the right-wing media bubble has to own things like climate change denial, shouldn't liberal media have to answer for "How did your audience end up believing such a bunch of crap about COVID?" (audience applause) A new report in The Atlantic says the media won't stop putting pictures of the beach on stories about COVID even though it's increasingly looking like the beach is the best place to avoid it. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and vitamin D is the key to a robust immune system. Texas lifted its COVID restrictions recently, and their infection rates went down, in part because of people getting outside to let the sun and wind do their thing.
But, to many liberals, "That can't be right because Texas and beach-loving Florida have Republican governors." But life is complicated. I've read that the governor of Florida reads. I know we like to think of Florida as only middle school teachers on bath salts having sex with their students in front of an alligator. But apparently the governor is also a voracious consumer of the scientific literature, and maybe that's why he protected his most vulnerable population -- the elderly -- way better than did the governor of New York.
(...)
I don't want politics mixed in with my medical decisions. And now that everything is politics, that's all we do. If their side says COVID is nothing, our side has to say it's everything. Trump said it would (switches to Trump voice) "go away like a miracle," And we said it was World War Z.
(...)
I think a lot of people died because of Trump's incompetence, and I think a lot of people died because talking about obesity had become a third rail in America. I know you've heard me pound this fried drumstick before, but since I last mentioned it, a stunning statistic was reported -- 78 percent of those hospitalized, ventilated or dead from COVID had been overweight. It is the key piece of the puzzle -- by far the most pertinent factor -- but you dare not speak its name. Imagine how many lives could have been saved if there had been a national campaign -- a la Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program -- with the urgency of the pandemic behind it. If the media and the doctors had made a point to keep saying, "But there's something you can do," but we'll never know because they never did because the last thing you want to do is say something insensitive. We would literally rather die.
