General Politics Discussion (V) [ARCHIVED] • Page 119

good ratios.

 

I would guess based on stats of where people live and their political leanings that a very very large majority of the people who have never met a Muslim would not be the people tuning in to Maher....or probably reading Sam Harris, for that matter.

 

You’d be surprised at the affinity figures on the fascist right have for new atheists.

 

I don't know where you're getting this from, but growing up in a place where nobody interacts with muslims I would say you're probably way off. Harris in particular is certainly popular with a lot rural right wingers.

 

Maher gets, what, 1-2 million viewers a week? I'd be pretty comfortable saying at least 75% of those viewers are urban/suburban dwelling liberals, and mostly on the coasts. Definitely the people that would have met Muslims in their life.

Sam Harris I'd be inclined to believe is popular among the racist conservatives, but I also had never heard of him before all this so I take eveyrone here's word on him being a "liberal" or something like it at some point.

 

Maher may claim to be liberal, but even by the low bar that I consider liberal standards he's often overtly sexist and racist. If one is inclined to buy into the xenophobia surrounding muslims, I'm not sure why they wouldn't tune into Maher. I don't know the numbers, but I'm not sure why you'd take issue with his name being thrown in there.
I wouldn't consider Harris liberal. For instance, he's currently helping to lead the crusade against "social justice warriors" and justifying racist speakers as some noble form of free speech and free exchange of ideas. A week ago he was defending some more than questionable racist theories on race and IQ being linked against Ezra Klein. I'd probably view him as a right wing libertarian if anything. But really he's just a piece of shit.

 

I 'take issue' mainly because I think the large majority of people who never met a Muslim are definitely not the types to be tuning in to Maher. He trashes those people and their hero Trump on the regular. I can't see anything even close to a majority of his viewers being that crowd. In other words, I don't think he's the reason islamaphobia is alive and well among the people who have such strong negative views about Muslims despite not meeting any Muslims. He's more likely to be the reason why some left leaning atheist types harbor some islamaphobic views.

Fair enough on Harris. I thought I saw people here saying he used to be a liberal or liberals like him or etc. I honestly never heard of the guy before this thread.

 

The thing about racists is, whatever else one says, so long as there’s one note that justifies their hatred of Muslims, for example, they’re tolerate a person. Someone like Maher may make fun of conservatives, but he shares their cultural make-up, ie, racism, sexism, hatred of the politically correct. They can go on YouTube and say that even liberals agree with such and such talking point. So yes, if you’re an Islamaphobe, Maher will likely be among the sources from which you derive justification for your prejudice.

 

‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

 

A half hour Fox show gets more views than Maher and Harris combined for an entire month. Their shaping of the narrative is far more impactful by raw numbers alone.

 

Tucker Carlson (which for some reason Glenn still goes on) has a far higher role to play in the shaping of people’s thoughts on Muslims in the mainstream than Harris’ and his blog and podcast. (Who based on public data is maybe 1/50 as seen.)

 

This is disgusting.

 

Maher isn't a hero to MAGA people but they'll gladly share a facebook video of him justifying the Iraq war or whatever

 

still fuck Sam Harris tho

 

Somehow I don’t believe this at all