When did Columbia become Kanye State? Bill Maher asked that question at the top of Friday’s Real Time on HBO, setting the tone for a show that focused on the national campus unrest and what’s behind it.
Maher attempted to answer that himself in his “New Rules” editorial, saying in a message to protesters blocking traffic in the name of a cause: “No one likes you.”
He contended that protesters fail to realize that they are not bringing people around to their point of view by making them late for work or from picking up a child from day care.
“You can glue your hands to the street, since your hands don’t have to do any work today,” Maher said, and claimed that for many social justice warriors, “It’s more about the warrioring than the causes.”
Vis-a-vis the current wave of pro-Palestinian protests, he suggested that those who care should start with the subjugation of women in many countries, showing a women in a burka. He also mentioned the starving in North Korea, China’s jailings, and the Burundi jihad against gays.
“Are you really speaking truth to power, or do you think you look cool in a keffiyeh?”
Maher said that activists should ask themselves whether the most important thing in my life is something I hadn’t heard about six months ago.”
In his one-on-one interview, Maher brought out Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent candidate for president.
Maher questioned RFK on several issues, particularly his controversial stance on vaccinations. While they did agree on some issues, Maher kept him on his heels several times with questions that used RFK’s prior quotes.
Although many see RFK as a spoiler in the election, he attempted to show polling numbers that give him strong support in battleground states, among younger people, and with independent voters.
RFK argued against the government’s attempts at stifling free speech, which he claimed would embolden big pharmacy and other corporations to similarly squelch unpopular issues.
“Once we say that’s okay, we let that genie out of the bottle,” he said.
Maher asked him about his statement that no vaccine is safe and effective. RFK claimed the question was asked on a radio show and he was cut off before completing his answer. He said that live virus vaccines appeared to work, and that double-blind tests were needed to establish the efficacy of others.
The panel discussion featured Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business, and Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor and now host of the podcast The Don Lemon Show.
Their discussion focused largely on the campus protests and the difference between today’s activists and those of the past.
Lemon said the difference is the “horrible antisemitism,” and that most of the protesters don’t have the information they need, since they get their news from TikTok. “Kids should be given a wide berth, but when it crosses over into violence and antisemitism, that’s wrong,” he said.
Galloway agreed, and also blamed certain faculty for exacerbating the situation.
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