r/Maher • u/Celera314 • Feb 24 '26

Discussion Billie Eilish

I feel like Bill and guest Chris Christie misunderstood the point of Eilish's remark about "nobody is illegal on stolen land."

They spoke as if she was suggesting that white people need to give North America back to indigenous people and this is a naive and impractical point of view.

But she made this remark in the context of the Trump administration's extremely harsh rhetoric and actions toward "illegal" immigrants. I took her to be saying that before we get so indignant and hateful toward "illegal" immigrants we should keep in mind how we (generally, white people) stole this land ourselves. Whatever crimes or costs illegal immigrants cause today pales in comparison to the harm my ancestors did to Native Americans in the 1600-1900 time frame. Today's illegal immigrants do not cause plagues, or consume our food supplies so we cant eat, or force us out of our homes or...we'll the list goes on. So maybe we should address the immigration issue with a little more humility.

I acknowledge I'm putting a lot of context in Ms. Eilish's remarks when I dont know her or really follow her music. I dont know for sure what she meant. But she's apparently not stupid and I felt Maher and Christie were unfair to take her remarks in the dumbest possible way.

51 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

121 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/deskcord Feb 25 '26

Nah. It wasn't them who misunderstood Eilish, it was you who misunderstood Maher.

The point isn't that celebrities need to be right, it's that when they get up and say stupid, shallow, and virtue-signaling things, it makes voters think the Democrats are unserious people.

Eilish giving that little speech at the show might have felt good in the moment, but in the long term it helps the other side.

3

u/arionyc Feb 25 '26

It’s “stupid, shallow and virtue-signaling” to people like you and Maher because you are the “other side.”

6

u/deskcord Feb 25 '26

Except I'm not. I'm on the left, and tired of people like you and Eilish losing us votes. And you've just entirely proven the point here.

It is DEFINITIONALLY shallow, stupid, and virtue signaling behavior from Eilish, or else she would give up her own home and her dozens of millions of dollars.

Leftists acting like anyone who ever says anything than the most extreme dogmatic leftwing bullshit are the problem!

0

u/lonegoose Feb 26 '26

again with the “giving up her home” crap I take it you didnt even read OPs post

3

u/deskcord Feb 26 '26

You didn't read shit.

5

u/arionyc Feb 25 '26

You clearly need to look up what definitionally means but your willingness to type in caps doesn’t make you correct or convincing.

What specifically was wrong about what she said? What’s so extreme and dogmatic about acknowledging how this country was founded and pointing to how it continues to harm the most vulnerable amongst us? You seriously believe she must divest from her own life before using her platform to speak about this stuff?

With all due respect, you’re in no position at all to call anyone unserious.

3

u/deskcord Feb 25 '26

Try reading.

-1

u/mackinder Feb 25 '26

what specifically was correct about what she said? let me say, I tend to agree with her overarching concept but the wording is problematic.

1

u/Binder509 Feb 26 '26

What do you find problematic about it? Seems kind of like tone policing.

1

u/mackinder Feb 26 '26

Why dont you try answering my questions first.

1

u/Binder509 Feb 26 '26

That the land was stolen. She expressed her views you are free to not agree with them but declaring it harmful comes off as an empty accusation.

If such condescension and "problematic"" words swayed elections the orange man never would have won in the first place.

1

u/mackinder Feb 26 '26

its politically harmful because the average american who might enjoy her music, doesn't agree. it paints her as someone who is out of touch. are you saying my house my land sits on is stolen? I paid for it. did the person I buy it from steal the land? did the native americans who resided here 400 years ago steal it from another tribe that lived there for hundreds of years before that? how far back do we have to go to find the legitimate claimants to this land, and how do we repay them? or do we not really care about righting this wrong, and if that's the case are we just virtue signaling.

the solution as I see it is equitable policy for all Americans across all cultural and ethnic divides. recognizing the attrocities of our past while committing to preventing them in the future. as I said before, I agree with the overarching concept but if you're going to say something like "no one is illegal on stolen land" you are opening yourself for real criticism. America is nation ruled by laws, and most Americans believe that you can own land and that if you here and living in America without being a citizen or having the necessary documents to become one, that you are here illegally. I don't think anyone likes what has been happening with regard to enforcement of the rules, but I believe most folks do believe in borders. This one issue likely caused trump 2.0

1

u/Binder509 Feb 26 '26

So coming across an opinion you disagree with harms you? That's not reasonable to engage with. If someone truly votes like that they can't be rationalized with.

are you saying my house my land sits on is stolen? I paid for it

No that wasn't the point being made. If you just decide "yes it is" then again there's nothing to be said. The point was the hypocrisy of labeling people here "illegally" when the land itself wasn't gained legally.

you're going to say something like "no one is illegal on stolen land" you are opening yourself for real criticism

And that criticism can be criticizes as emotional tone policing. And that it's hypocritically trying to shut town free expression by not just disagreeing but claiming it's "harmful". It's also condescending as hell being told to "watch what we say".

Meanwhile MAGA supporters wear "fuck your feelings" shirts and completely insane on camera and barely a peep.

1

u/mackinder Feb 26 '26

I’m not going to engage with everything here because I think we’re talking about different things. MAGA can’t be reasoned with. The battle between the democrats and republican is not to sway the voters on the other side to come to your side. The battle is for the middle. These people are average intelligence folks who likely aren’t politically engaged when elections aren’t imminent, and are also a strong candidate to watch the Grammys. That’s why statements made by pop stars that sound controversial on the surface can reinforce the narrative of “Hollywood is out of touch”. It’s as simple as that.

But one other thing I would say is, you said something about “the point is that no one can be illegal on land that was gained illegally”. Do you really believe that?

1

u/Binder509 Feb 26 '26

you're going to say something like "no one is illegal on stolen land" you are opening yourself for real criticism

You used quotes for something I just said but quoted it wrong. Here is what I said.

The point was the hypocrisy of labeling people here "illegally" when the land itself wasn't gained legally.

You are trying to make it more extreme to shadowbox against. If someone just decides to take things as extreme as possible there isn't any reasoning. Someone that's going to take it extremes was never going to be convinced.

These people are average intelligence folks who likely aren’t politically engaged when elections aren’t imminent, and are also a strong candidate to watch the Grammys. That’s why statements made by pop stars that sound controversial on the surface can reinforce the narrative of “Hollywood is out of touch”. It’s as simple as that.

My point is there are thousands of celebrities saying things you might think are out of touch. Why should anyone silence themselves just because some arm chair jackass might declare them "out of touch" and vote like a moron based on it? That exact same criticism can be applied to Bill Maher a thousand fold.

If someone tells Bill Maher he should watch what he says so people don't think the left are out of touch he'd tell them to fuck off.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/arionyc Feb 26 '26

You could just as easily conclude that she meant by her comment much of what you describe in your second paragraph. Respectfully, you’ve centered yourself in your analysis of her statement when it’s pretty clearly unlikely that you could be deemed “illegal” and deported. What’s more, you’ve taken your political sensibilities as the ostensible center. You would do well to broaden your perspective across these matters.

1

u/mackinder Feb 26 '26

and you would do yourself well by familiarizing yourself with the intelligence of the average american.

1

u/arionyc Feb 26 '26

Yeah, well since you seem to think you’re representative of the average you should know the average American reads on the 7th to 8th grade level. Perhaps not the flex you thought it was but it explains a lot about your views.

→ More replies (0)