In his characteristic blunt and provocative style, Bill Maher recently tackled the apparently contentious topic of Western civilization and its role in shaping modern values, during a segment on his HBO show “Real Time.”
He passive aggressively challenges the increasingly negative narrative surrounding Western culture, particularly among progressives and academics, arguing that Western civilization has been instrumental in developing liberal values:
“Western civilization is what gave the world pretty much every goddamn liberal precept that liberals are supposed to adore.”
His position – as he has repeatedly done over the past few years – is a stark contrast to the current trend, from so-called progressives, of demonizing Western history and achievements including “Individual liberty, scientific inquiry, rule of law, religious freedom, women’s rights, human rights, democracy, trial by jury, freedom of speech.”
Focusing on Israel, Maher highlighted it as an exemplar of Western values in the Middle East, suggesting that the world could benefit from more nations embracing the Western ideals that Israel represents. Sure to stir the blood of every pandering political activist, Maher calmly stated that:
“…since one can find all these concepts in today’s Israel and virtually nowhere else in the Middle East, if anything, the world would be a better place if it had more Israels.”
Maher swiftly moves on to destroy the current socio-political movements that often view Western civilization solely through the lens of oppression and colonialism, lamenting that the oversimplified categorization of nations and cultures as either “victims or victimizers”, arguing that this viewpoint ignores the positive impact of Western ideals, “so Israel is lumped in as the toxic fruit of the victimizing West.”
Challenging this binary and idiot-level reductivist narrative prevalent in today’s mainstream media and ‘protests’, Maher exclaims:
“The irony being that all marginalized people live better today because of Western ideals, not in spite of them.”
Going further back in time, Maher points out that Western Enlightenment ideals have profoundly influenced global human rights and governance, mentioning figures like Thoreau, Rousseau, and Locke, and challenges the notion that Western history is predominantly negative with a controversial example:
“The cop who murdered George Floyd got 21 years for violating his Fourth Amendment rights, an idea we got directly from John Locke, who no one in college would ever study anymore because he’s so old, and so White, and so dead.“
Finally, given the increasing refusal to recognize Western historical figures and their contributions, Maher calls for a more balanced view of Western civilization, criticizing the tendency to overlook its contributions while magnifying its flaws. He questioned the double standards in historical assessments, asking, “Why is it that every other culture gets a pass, but the West is exclusively the sum of the worst things it’s ever done?”
We suspect his calls for a more nuanced understanding of Western history, that acknowledges both its achievements and failures, will fall on deaf ears. And as he concludes, it appears he thinks so too…
“America only ever overcorrects, and so we’re at this place now where the words ‘Western Civ’ became kind of a shorthand for ‘White people ruined everything’…”
But, he pauses amid the crowd’s cheers and applause, “they didn’t ruin everything…”
“Why is it that every other culture gets a pass, but the West is exclusively the sum of the worst things it’s ever done? You think only White people colonized?”
Watch the full monologue below on X (since we would not be surprised if such blasphemy has been removed from other ‘less free’ social media platforms):
The world would be a much better place if it had more “outposts” like Israel. pic.twitter.com/w6QlVSTaVe
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) November 4, 2023
Tyler Durden
Sat, 11/11/2023 – 16:55
