I hadn’t planned on writing about the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. In fact, I kind of felt a little bad that my inaugural post — a review of Battle Royale — coincided with the event, but since I have a readership of two or three people (counting myself), it didn’t really matter at the time.
It’s to be expected that politicians and pundits would use the tragedy as an excuse to further whatever bullshit agenda they’re hawking. Republican congressman Louie Gohmert threw his asshat into the ring by stating:
What really gets me as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs and then a senseless crazy act of terror like this takes place
Of course, rather than issuing an apology, he fell back on the tried-and-true “taken out of context” gambit. Dickhole.
Not to be outdone, smug fuckface Bill Maher decided to take a break from being painfully unfunny and issued the following garbage on Twitter:
Rt wingers luv to tout American Exceptionalism – today is a reminder that so many of the things that make us exceptional these days are bad.
If anything, Maher’s typing that bullshit out in teenage-girl textspeak only serves as a reminder as to why I don’t bother with Twitter; it’s killing political discourse and the English language at the same time.
Bill Maher is probably too intoxicated on his own sense of self-satisfaction to remember that a similar tragedy occurred in Norway not too long ago. Glenn Beck used that tragedy to further his own whacked out agenda, and he was an asshole for doing it then, just like Maher is an asshole for doing it now.
The truth is, I’m not at all upset at Maher. It’s his job to be a stupid dick. I’m more upset at the millions of Americans who rely on people such as Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter for their “news”. Personally, I’ve got no problem with Stewart and Colbert. I think they’re funny… most of the time. But that’s just it; thinking they’re funny does not translate into “I think they’re reliable sources of information”.
When your entire schtick consists of mocking your opponents’ point of view, you’re setting yourself up to look like an insensitive asshole whenever something serious comes up. Using day-to-day politics as a starting point for scoring cheap “gotchas” is fine and dandy, but using a tragedy to do so… well, it only underscores the reasons why people should rely on more serious sources for their news.
All these pundits — from Maher to Coulter — are simply entertainers. Nothing more, nothing less. You might glean some tidbits of relevant information by listening to them, but in the end, being well-entertained does not make you well-informed.
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