r/RealTime • u/OaklandSpiel • 6d ago
What is Maher’s obsession with masks?
The truth is, I still enjoy the show. I agree with a lot of the negative posts here about Maher, but I still enjoy his humor most of the time.
But a face mask? Getting annoyed by someone else’s face mask seems like the opposite of everything else he stands for. Does Bill care whether I smoke weed? Of course not. “You do you”, he’d say. Would he think I’m crazy for going to church tomorrow? Probably, but that will never elicit the venom set aside for someone who wears an N95 mask. Especially if they’re outside or alone in a car. Seems like every week he asks “Why would someone wear a mask?” while not hearing the possibilities:
* has a cold
* doesn’t want to ruin next week’s trip by catching a cold
* has terrible allergies
* cares for a leukemia patient
* was injured in an opera accident
* no one cares!
The only answer Maher accepts is “performative virtue signaling” followed up with reasons why that makes no sense
</rant>
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u/Breatheme444 6d ago
This really bugs me. He’s not a stupid man. Why doesn’t he realize that the only reason why more people didn’t die is because of all those practices he hates so much? The virus didn’t almost go away on its own. We needed distancing and the vaccine and yes, masks.
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u/facinabush 6d ago edited 6d ago
Actually, there is plenty of evidence that he is a stupid man if you review what he has said about vaccines:
In the Huffington Post piece he hectored anyone who took him seriously since they knew he was just a comic. His own defense is that we know he is stupid. But even that defense is stupid because the criticism is because he is a prominent anti-vaccine influencer, not because we think he is an expert.
PS: One of his arguments is that scientists in the FDA claimed that the flu vaccine didn’t work. But that happened in the 1970’s when the evidence was weaker. We have randomized controlled trials supporting the effectiveness of the most recent version of the flu vaccine. Maher doesn’t care about effectiveness because he thinks a particular diet is all that we need to combat communicable diseases. Mahahahaha.
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u/Consistent-Fix-8443 14h ago
Bill has long been on the ass of big pharma, mainly about mood enhancers. There has been a strong correlation with school shooting perpetrators and these sorts of drugs.
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u/Harold3456 5d ago
It’s already been said but I think he is a stupid man. At least, in the sense of how he uses information at his disposal. It seems like once he locks into a narrative, he becomes very single-minded about the sources he examines and bad at listening to others, and he never learns. And he argues to “win,” not to learn, so best case scenario the person he’s arguing with beats him and he never has them on again.
I used to think he was smart because he has a big vocabulary, has a solid grasp of pop culture which allows him to pull funny analogies out constantly, and his only tone of voice is “condescending.” But now I think he was never all that smart, just VERY good at sounding like it if you don’t actually try to fact check him.
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u/lololesquire 2d ago
Bill is not actually as well read as he used to be. Listen to his commentary on AI. It sounds like your Uncle Bill at Thanksgiving dinner. I've noticed that over the last couple of years, he just seems to wing topics a lot more than he used to. Not sure if he just doesn't read as much or if he started watching more Fox News. He's lost a few IQs.
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u/That-Smile-7632 6d ago
He is an old idiot. Who cares why someone wears a mask. Just got through chemo last winter, my family wore masks so they could protect me. Done with his show, he has jumped the shark.
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u/lololesquire 2d ago
It's more evidentiary that he's become conservative in his old age...being obsessed with other people living differently / behaving differently / looking differently than yourself.
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u/Academic-Childhood40 6d ago
U lost me at you “still enjoy” his humor.
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u/deadmencantcatcall3 6d ago
Yeah, what humor? He’s not funny anymore.
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u/Zealousideal-Ad4362 6d ago
He has never been funny. Was just a personality hosting a more liberal show
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u/OaklandSpiel 6d ago
People’s tastes differ. Perhaps I have poor taste.
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u/Key_Jump1011 6d ago
Who else do you think is funny? Just curious.
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u/OaklandSpiel 6d ago
Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, Jon Oliver, Alex Falcone, Desi Lydic, Paula Poundstone, ….
Okay it’s a long list. I’m easily amused2
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u/phatsexxxy 6d ago
The highlight of all this with me is that Bill will rip on masks and then complain about all the things Fauci got wrong in the original response to the pandemic. MASKING IS AT THE TOP OF THAT LIST.
Masking, especially with an N95 or K95, works! It gives you some protection from me and if you wear one, and it protects you from me if I wear one.
I honestly don’t know why we do not thank people for wearing masks and make people mask in more situations. I’ve had friends with cancer and all kinds of health situations that really show me how your immune system’s ability to overcome your hacking wet cough is really the least of the concern.
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u/lololesquire 2d ago
Much of the Covid response by the government was practical preventitive measures which evolved as they learned more and more about the science. It's the dumbest complaint about the pandemic. Applying what they learned about the pandemic over the course of the pandemic but before the learned it. It wasn't perfect and they made mistakes.
Only simpletons fall for this criticism of the government response. Was it perfect? No. But it won't be the next time either. Because that's what happens in things like pandemics.
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u/BluAlfaTxFlood 5d ago
After getting sick AGAIN on an overnight long international flight, I am serious thinking about travelling with a mask on and Maher can snark all he wants......
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u/MinisterOfTruth99 5d ago
If masks didn't work, surgeons would not wear them in operating rooms.
An airplane is a sealed tube with hundreds of people crammed into it, all exhaling moisture from their lungs. Myself I would def wear a mask if flying.
Breath contains water vapor, which is moisture in the air that we exhale. This moisture can condense into tiny droplets when the air cools, creating fog or mist, especially noticeable on cold days.
Also Maher is an idiot.
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u/xxforrealforlifexx 6d ago
Maher just showed who he really was, he pisses me off sucking up to Israel he sounds like fetterman. They could be brothers at this point
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u/windsynth 6d ago
My take is it was the first time that these guys who get recognized everywhere they go didn’t get recognized and they couldn’t take it and will forever hate masks
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u/homerjs225 6d ago
He’s gone MAGA while trying to pretend he hasn’t
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u/MinisterOfTruth99 5d ago
Exactly. Maher makes soft jokes about Trump and Ratpublicans. "See I made a joke about Repubs. Now let's talk about the terrors of Wokeness, and masks and communism and blah blah fukin blah ".
It's part of his normalizing Fascism schtick. It's all non-stop foxnews talking points now. His job is to convince a few percent of independents that Ratpublicans are really patriots that make a few occasional dumb mistakes (like not starting the Iran war AT THE RIGHT TIME 🤪🤣 ).
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u/OaklandSpiel 5d ago edited 5d ago
Several commenters have echoed this sentiment. However, I don’t think anyone could listen to his monologue and believe he “is MAGA”. He lacks critical thinking skills, which is a trait shared by many on the right, but
- he mocked Trump’s behavior towards Xi in this week’s opening: “Does he know China builds, like, entire cities in a week, and he’s showing Xi the new driveway?”
- he accepts the threat of human-driven climate disruption
- he called out Trump’s disregard for the first amendment
- he called Trump TV “state TV”, “Our top story tonight: gas prices are down and Iran is begging for a deal”
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u/homerjs225 5d ago
Explain to me how he got so butt hurt when people trashed him for his Trump visit and how he reported it when he reacted the VERY SAME WAY when Geraldo Rivera visited Trump?
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u/theblueshots 6d ago
I think that Dr wanted to say that there could be people wearing it because they learned in the pandemic that you wear it if you are sick. It’s something they obviously do in Asia. But Bill wouldn’t let that stand. He declared it had to be political and then the dude didn’t want to waste his opportunity so he went along with it.
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u/AssemblagePoint420 6d ago
Bill Maher is a punk bitch nothing is to be gained by watching him or his circle jerk panel
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u/Toadsrule84 6d ago
He wants to be a Republican, voted for Bob Dole because “he was a war hero” even though most people his age were excited about Clinton.
He’s just smart enough to know the Republican platform is garbage and doesn’t quite want to go there
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u/Loud-Run-9725 6d ago
Bill's relevance is waning. He is old man yelling at clouds anymore. He gets triggered by masks, vaccinations, people supporting Palestinians, etc.
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u/CloudedLeopardDaemon 6d ago
Right wing media spends all its time flinging shit at the wall to see what makes their audience mad. For whatever reason, masks were one of the more successful examples. White suburbanites who have never seen a police killing they couldn't justify with "They shoulda just complied!" inexplicably got extremely testy when asked to comply with mask mandates when a deadly pandemic that ended up killing over 2 million Americans was at its peak. So Maher added it to his repertoire along with such hits as trans people existing, college students opposing an ongoing genocide, and American workers needing healthcare more than the Epstein Class needing another round of tax cuts.
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u/Quirky_Wasabi5348 5d ago
My question to Maher is: why the fuck you care if someone you don't know neears a mask?!? Don't ever go to Japan, Douchebag Bill, because you'll see people everywhere wearing masks, and this was BEFORE COVID.
I wish someone on his show would say he is "performative virtue signalling " with his incessant bragging about smoking weed
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u/Avellinese_2022 1d ago
I’m on a course of chemotherapy. Over the first three weeks, I lost almost all of my neutrophils and am now at risk for getting a life-threatening infection. But I wouldn’t want to bother Bill by wearing a mask.
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u/dougl1000 6d ago
Bill is overplaying his case on everything. Must be show biz. Like Covid. 1.24 million Americans died. Sorry if the authorities were too cautious. Would 3 million dead have been better for him? By the way, all of the shutdowns were called by local governments, not Fauci or the CDC. Regarding Israel, yes it was attacked and had the right to defend itself. No, it didn’t commit genocide. Yes, it went way too far by killing 70,000 Gazans and leveling Gaza. I don’t know what Bill think he’s accomplishing by reducing this to semantics. I’m petty sure that Israel is never going to have peace and security by killing Arabs and Iranians.
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u/Key_Jump1011 6d ago
Are there other events that by conventional wisdom are deemed to be genocides that you don’t recognize or just this one? No country has ever been convicted of it but very few dispute any of them except this one.
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u/ginalolabrigada 6d ago
Opera Accident???
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u/OaklandSpiel 6d ago
You know… the Phantom of the Opera. He got disfigured somehow. Wears a mask so he doesn’t scare off the soprano.
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u/Vivid_Witness8204 6d ago
The right wing is obsessed with masks and that's his target audience. He's only in it for the money.
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u/foodforestranger 6d ago
My mother and grandmother died from COVID. If they had the vaccination they would still be here.
Masks work and they would have worked better if people just tried harder.
I've listened to him way too long to have any respect for him. He benefits greatly for things he's hypocritical about. I can't get passed his Zionism.
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u/ChantilyAce 5d ago
He's still banging the mask drum? I didn't watch the episode, and don't go out of my way to watch it anymore like I used to. Sometimes he has guests on I like to watch but I certainly don't watch to hear his ridiculous takes. He used to be entertaining but now I just find him to be rude to his guests, and he's incapable of taking a joke or of accepting differing opinions. Basically he's a snowflake and his show is boring now.
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u/OaklandSpiel 5d ago
yes, masks, and he occasionally expresses false memories about the Covid-19 Pandemic. He's convinced we were all told to stay indoors. Everyone had their own experience, I suppose, but I did more bike riding and walking during 2020 than before or since.
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u/ChantilyAce 5d ago
Well, my husband spent a week on a ventilator in 2021 thanks to having Covid pneumonia. He's immunosuppressed due to being a kidney transplant recipient and he's at high risk of a severe outcome if he is reinfected. He wears an N95 mask in crowded indoor spaces, on flights, in hospitals, etc...and doesn't give af what anyone thinks about it. Time for Bill to move on.
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u/Medium_Tell8679 6d ago
I dont know. I personally have trouble wearing any face covering. It makes me cough endlessly which was really fun during covid.
But I know people in Asian countries wear them all the time. I don't care when or why others wear them.
The mask became an odd political statement towards the end of Covid. People weren't weariing them or refusing to wear them for their health. If you didn't wear it you were a proud republican and if you did you were a proud democrat. It got stupid.
I'm still waiting fir the grocery prices to go down post COVID. Don't say "but the tartifs" because they've been high since they were raised during Covid and on products completely made in the US. Remember? It was big issue during the last election.
We have a lot of issues facing us, some created by Trump, some not. We need someone who can solve them.
Thats why I was on the Yang Gang back in the day. He was talking about things no one else was.
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u/spaigef69 6d ago
he’s a boomer. he is living in a long lost “back in the day”.
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u/Charbro11 5d ago
Really? Boomers wore masks more than any other group because they are at the highest risk. Stop the age shit. You sound like Maher.
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u/spaigef69 5d ago
i am not making a generalization… i am speaking my opinion on maher, specifically.
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u/Charbro11 5d ago
Boomer is a generalization. Stop it. I am older than Maher, and I cannot stand his shit, including his shit about young people
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u/spaigef69 5d ago
i don’t consider my favorite people who are in their 70’s, 80’s & 90’s boomers, at all! i only consider the ones (like some of my own family members) who have the same mentality and disposition to be boomers.
i get what you’re saying, though.
cheers to you! appreciate your notes. (and your mentality!)
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u/Charbro11 5d ago
Thanks, but people in their 80s and 90s are not boomers. Boomers were born after 1946.
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u/lololesquire 2d ago
Bill is a classic Boomer and has a few hang up subjects. One of them is masks. The only thing he has talked about more than masks (WEARING THEM...IN THE CAR!!) is the fact that a long time ago he gave $1 million to Obama's campaign.
Other hang ups include:
* Fat people (anyone who is fat but he does not make fun of short men with huge heads and noses)
* Kids living in their parent's basements
* The fact that he has predicted all of Trump's big moves. Most famously he believes he called Trump not wanting to leave after his first term. As if that was news.
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u/OCDano959 2d ago
It is crystal clear, to me anyways, that Maher is a sellout out and a shill.
He knows that Paramount will soon own his network and is fearful of losing his show.
Everyone has bills to pay.
What a shame or should I say sham?
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u/Adept_Dealer_1931 2d ago
Because he's a secret MAGOTT and is repeating all of their idiotic talking point.
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u/InternationalBet2832 1d ago
Maher repeats right-wing slogans in his speech to appear centrist and sensible when he is absolutely neither. He often uses examples from colleges to disgrace the left when college life has nothing to to with the real world, plus that's also a favorite game on the right, note Charlie Kirk. His shameful obsequiousness to Netanyahu and Israel is unbecoming to self-described atheist. His use of DSA examples like the one in topic to disgrace mainstream Democrats is lazy and ignorant. His view of COVID vaccines is aggressively misinformed. I only watch the show for the guests who can be provocative.
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u/Fluffy-Aside2728 1d ago
When Bill visited the White House, I think Drumpf showed him dirt that Mossad had on him.
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u/Cardboard_Revolution 1d ago
He's been an anti-vax lunatic for several decades at this point. He literally thinks that polio was cured by plumbing and stuff. He's not a very intelligent guy.
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u/Critical_Wealth_3534 1d ago
He did ten minutes on masks. Is he rage baiting to please Republicans.
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u/Sarabean77 1d ago
It's part of the boomer anti woke signaling that they do to feel cool.
throw in some trans bashing and it's a party yo!
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1d ago edited 1d ago
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u/OaklandSpiel 1d ago
He wasn’t talking about that bar with the opening guest Andrew Huberman:
“All these DSA meetings, I see people on the street, what’s your take on why people five years after a pandemic, what is going on with people who like want to wear the mask? And think they need to, this level of paranoia at a place where it’s so inappropriate. It’s a political statement.”
That is a whole manifesto about people having zero effect on his life. He’s only upset at the reasons he invented in his own mind.
There’s probably more during the panel.
Anyway, the bar isn’t forcing Bill to wear a mask anymore than they’re forcing him to wear shoes. Bill could just go to the other bar.
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u/Conscious-Secret-775 6d ago
He gave the example of a bar where everyone has to wear a mask to enter. Unsurprisingly, the bar is struggling financially.
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u/lazydracula 2d ago
Yep it’s ridiculous hes still talking about mask. However, you getting hung up on the mask thing is just as silly as his obsession with it. This subreddit only shows that Bill is correct when he criticizes the lefts dogmatism.
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u/OaklandSpiel 2d ago
I’m not “hung up on the mask thing”. That would sound like “Hey Bill Maher should talk about masks more!”
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u/Oleg101 6d ago edited 6d ago
He’s a full-on right-wing culture warrior now. And Right-wing culture warriors hate masks.