The Stepford Child Generation
Bill Maher was fired from Politically Incorrect for being...politically incorrect after 9/11, and warns, in a brilliant and biting LA Times commentary, Kids Say The Darndest, Most Stalinist Things, that there's more of that to come:
A new survey found that a majority of high schoolers think newspapers should not be allowed to publish without government approval. And almost one in five said that Americans should be prohibited from expressing unpopular opinions.Lemme tell you little darlings something: This is my livelihood you're messing with, so either learn the Bill of Rights or you don't deserve Social Security.
Now, to those of you who think I'm overreacting: Yes, I understand that when you're in high school you're still very young and that no one really cares what kids say anyway — it's not like priests are dating them for their brains.
But the younger generation is supposed to rage against the machine, not for it; they're supposed to question authority, not question those who question authority.
And what's so frightening is that we're seeing the beginnings of the first post-9/11 generation — the kids who first became aware of the news under an "Americans need to watch what they say" administration, the kids who've been told that dissent is un-American and therefore justifiably punished by a fine, imprisonment — or the loss of your show on ABC.
President Bush once asked, "Is our children learning?" No — they isn't. A more appropriate question might be, "Is our teachers teaching?" In four years, you can teach a gorilla sign language. Is it too much to ask that in the same amount of time a kid be taught what those crazy hippies who founded this country had in mind?
"Bill Maher was fired from Politically Incorrect for being...politically incorrect after 9/11"
I thought the show was cancelled? Nine months later? Or... that's what they WANT us to think!
Jim Treacher at February 18, 2005 9:42 AM
My bad. The show was canceled because of a remark he made that was politically incorrect.
Amy Alkon at February 18, 2005 10:23 AM
Naw, if the advertisers wanted his numbers, he'd still be on the air. If he wasn't getting the ratings, then a mouthy remark is as good a reason to cancel him as any. And it's not like he's lost a way to feed his kids or anything. Y'know, Byron Allen is still on the air too. The fact that these guys are not working at their dream venues does not mean speech is squelched. It probably means they're not delivering economically.
Every now and then someone commissions a study in which Joe Sixpack is assaulted with a clipboard at the door of a 7/11. The interviewing agent is a college student who doesn't really have any interest in the job, but he needs the money for Phish tickets, and he knows he needs to get a particular range and number of responses in oder to get paid.
"Do you believe in the constitution? Do you believe in free speech? Do you believe in the elliptical orbits of the planets about the sun? Goddamit, ANSWER ME!!!"
Meanwhile, the case of Bud Light under Joe's elbow is sweating in the late afteroon sun, and Joe's had a shitty day at work. The Timberwolves tip off in twenty minutes, and he's got to make it through the parkway traffic to get to his TV. So he's all, like, whatever.
"AHA!!" screams the pollster. The response, no matter how ill-considered, fits within the acceptable wording of the sample as data, even if it contains no meaning. His boss gets to package the thing and sell it to the LA Times, they get to cluck around in editorials, and their readers have to pretend it means something about the Decline of Whatnot in 21st Century America.
It's all frogwash.
Cridland at February 18, 2005 10:50 AM
Great last line about Fox news.
I am not surpised about the high schoolers not supporting free speech, but that is really nothing new. Free speech has always been defended by a minority- often a hated organization like the ACLU.
The schools today are in a hysterical form of prison lockdown, where common sense if thrown out for the illusion of security. Stories of 3rd graders being handcuffed and led away for violent stick figure drawings, keychain Swiss army knives treated like deadly weapons- what are the impressionable supposed to think?
Our generation survived and thrived on sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, but panic when todays kids experiment with these great institutions. Maybe this is what Pete Townsend meant by "I hope I die before I get old".
eric at February 18, 2005 10:52 AM
I want some of what Crid and eric are smokin. No, Bill probably has better dope.
Advertisers and network executives shouldn't be allowed to curtail anyone's right to free speach.
Sheryl at February 18, 2005 5:25 PM
I'm surprised to see that Maher is actually a better writer than he is a comedian - which isn't saying much, but still...
cro-magnon man at February 18, 2005 7:25 PM
Bill is great- on cable. Working for Disney his show was bland.
And Sheryl- Idaho is the land of BC Bud- it makes you dance naked under the northern lights whether they are there or not...
eric at February 19, 2005 4:10 PM
Advertisers and network executives shouldn't be allowed to curtail anyone's right to free speach.
No one curtailed Bill Maher's right to free speech. He is as free now to say what he likes as he ever was - he is not entitled, however, to a network television platform from which to say it.
One of the tricky things about free speech is that you have to deal with the consequences of people exercising their right to disagree with you. All these years later, Bill Maher is still trying to figure that one out. I wouldn't ever call him 'brilliant'.
Jackie D at February 21, 2005 6:54 AM
You're right, of course, Jackie -- the right to free speech doesn't mean you're entitled to keep a job speaking your mind. But, what about what Bill wrote was do you find so...dumb?
Amy Alkon at February 21, 2005 7:20 AM
Maher's Finest Moment: Standup on Letterman, circa '88. The joke recounts Dad's response to a tearful young Billy, who's come seeking comfort following some childhood hurt. "Son, life is a swirling, sucking eddy of despair. The only illumination in our ever-blackening universe is from fleeting glimpses of false hope."
Cridland at February 21, 2005 10:43 AM
It's not his writing that I find so objectionable, Amy, but the sense of entitlement. I also detect a very tired sense of martyrdom. He's no hero, but I suspect he believes otherwise.
Jackie at February 21, 2005 2:16 PM
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Sosron at March 8, 2006 4:56 PM
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