Thursday, November 1, 2012

Bully Bully

By Bill Maher

New Rule: Not everyone who says something you don't want to hear or who asks you to do something you don't want to do is a bully. There were two prominent cases of so-called bullying in the news recently: the obese news lady from Wisconsin who claims she was bullied because a viewer wrote in and said, as a public figure and a role model, she had a "community responsibility" to "present and promote a healthy lifestyle," and the Iowa JV football coach who got suspended for breaking the district’s anti-bullying and corporal punishment policy because he made one of his players run laps.

Now, October was Bullying Awareness Month, which means something to me because I was bullied as a child. There was a kid who would beat me up and take my super-PAC donation money. But, at the risk of making someone feel bad, and thereby becoming a bully myself, may I suggest there's been a bit of bully inflation going on?

The Village Voice and others call Michael Bloomberg's size-restriction on sugary soft drinks "soda bullying." But Mayor Bloomberg didn't instruct cops to walk through Manhattan slapping Big Gulps out of people's hands.  He simply recognized that, with one out of every three of our kids either overweight or obese, perhaps enough soda to fill a small bucket is adequate for a first helping. No one is saying you can't drink as much Mountain Dew as you can hold -- they're just saying, for ounces 17 through 32, you have to get your fat ass up out of your seat and waddle back to the concession stand.

Likewise, scoffing or rolling your eyes during a debate, as Fox News would have us believe, is not bullying. No, that's the appropriate social response to weasels telling lies. Joe Biden expressed ridicule at your candidate's shameless whoppers -- he didn't hold him down while Martha Raddatz gave him a pink belly. The ass-kicking was figurative.

Sometimes, for the common good, you have to hear something you don't want to hear or do something you don't want to do. Like paying taxes. Or getting off your ass and taking care of yourself. I'm not talking about law enforcement rolling up to where you happen to be standing and forcing you to run -- hat's only in the inner city. I'm talking about something we used to have but now seem to dismiss -- our social responsibility to one another.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I got bullied too. I have no good place to post this but I would like to make a comment on the last show. About climate change here are a couple excerpts:

From this article.
http://www.earth-policy.org/indicators//temperature_2011

"Even seemingly small changes in global temperature have far-reaching effects on sea level, atmospheric circulation, and weather patterns around the globe. Climate scientists note that increases in both the frequency and severity of extreme weather events are characteristics of a hotter climate."

"Warmer air holds more water vapor, and that extra moisture leads to heavier storms. At the same time that precipitation events are becoming larger in some areas, climate change causes more intense and prolonged droughts in others. By some estimates, droughts could be up to 10 times as severe by the end of the century."

Margaret Hoovers point misrepresents the U.N. findings

"The different components of the earth climate interact on many different time-scales in complex, often chaotic ways. Many of these interactions are still poorly understood. But even if we understood the present climate much better than we do, the future could still hold surprises. We are entering into a new, hitherto unexplored, climatic regime. Because the climate is a non-linear system, we will not be completely sure of the consequences of our actions until after climate change has already occurred. Climate models indicate that one of the main effects of greenhouse gas emissions will be global warming. Assuming that no action is taken to reduce emissions, computer models of the earth s climate indicate that global average surface temperatures will rise by 1.5-4.5 C over the next 100 years. This rise is larger and probably faster than any such change over the past 9,000 years."

From here article found here: http://ciesin.columbia.edu/docs/iucc1/fs1.html

A global average temperatures rise of one degree is a much bigger impact then one degree hotter summertime where you live.

Aaron
Thanks Bill!

Helium3 said...

"New Rule: Not everyone who says something you don't want to hear or who asks you to do something you don't want to do is a bully."

You are correct. They are more commonly referred to as democrats.

Anonymous said...

...and comments like "Black people know where you live" are not bullying at all. It's sad that you exist.

Anonymous said...

Good thing republicans have a sense of humor it's almost like Bill Maher is a comedian or something.

Republican need to realize that they just happen to vote against their interest and for that of billionaires.

Global warming is a coax, stopping welfare, taxing breaks for the rich, and bank deregulation will create jobs.

Oh yeah that is right, you don't know what will create jobs because many republicans cannot discern propaganda from history and facts.

Go examine fox some more and just remember it is controlled by an Australian.

USA USA USA

Milla said...

I would go so far as to claim that giving Ryan a pink belly would have been a perfectly valid response to the crap he spewed from his pie-hole in the debate. When you interview for a normal job and you get caught lying it usually means you're screwed. Why should a presidential candidate not be held to the standards expected from a prospective frycook? I don't fucking get it... ?

sk3 said...

New Rule - Republicans cannot say liberal or Democrat and Democrats cannot say conservative or Republican. Start now.

Anonymous said...

tell that fucknut Walter@Irish_in_LA that one morning on the way to work I am going to train my laser on 45 on his fucking lobotomized head and blow it away

Anonymous said...

Maher-

call off the threats on Romney or you will be triple-tapped, you libtard

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"Warmer air holds more water vapor, and that extra moisture leads to heavier storms. At the same time that precipitation events are becoming larger in some areas, climate change causes more intense and prolonged droughts in others. By some estimates, droughts could be up to 10 times as severe by the end of the century."

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