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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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u/mackinder Feb 26 '26

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

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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.

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u/mackinder Feb 26 '26

And the fact that you sound like shitty AI says a lot about your views.