10 reasons why Bill Maher is a piece of shit

Short explanation: “progressives except for Palestine (PEP)” describes the kind of people who are progressive in their beliefs in just about every way except when it comes to Palestine, where they become supporters of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and colonialism. That view is typically explained by their ingrained belief that Jews have a different DNA than the rest of mankind and therefore all standard measures and norms are dropped when Jews are involved. For example, if a non-Jew murders a person he is a criminal that should spend the rest of his days in jail but if a Jew murders a person there must be a good reason for it and he must be retaliating, therefore the victim is to blame. If a Jewish State practices apartheid with different sets of laws for Jews and gentiles and builds colonies for Jews-only, then they will tout the virtues of apartheid! If the Jewish State locks people in a ghetto and liquidates entire families with American supplied military might, then it surely is because the victims did something wrong to deserve it! Bill Maher is the type of progressive that if in the future Israel decides to make dog food out of Palestinians and market it in the US, he would be the first to volunteer to be the brand’s spokesperson in national ads.

Here is Bill Maher, conducting a lively debate between an Israel supporter and another Israel supporter, moderated by a third Israel supporter. And a holy orgy of lies, distortions, misrepresentations and smugness ensues.

After watching the above spectacle it was clear to me that “progressive except Palestine” is insufficient to encapsulate Bill Maher’s world view. I had to leaf through my dictionary for a good hour in search of a better term. Fortunately, thanks to the richness of the English language, I finally stumbled upon the fitting expression to accurately describe Bill Maher: a piece of shit. So without further ado here are the top ten reasons why Bill Maher is a piece of shit:

1. The famed atheist who has gone as far as making an atrocious documentary movie where he mocks people of all religions for 100 excruciating minutes, turns out to be giving his endless support and admiration to… yes you guessed it… a state that was created based on religion, has religious parties in government and still touts Judaism as its raison d’etre. Why does atheist Bill Maher support a religion-based state? Because Bill Maher is a piece of shit.

2. Bill Maher would shudder thinking of the United States, where he lives, as a “Christian State belonging exclusively to Christians” yet Bill Maher fawns for a state that defines itself as a “state belonging exclusively to the Jewish people” and has state sanctioned religious institutions and no separation between religion and state. Why does he have a double standard? Because Bill Maher is a piece of shit.

3. Bill Maher touts Jewish supremacy to Arabs by pointing to the fact that Jews have won more Nobel prizes than Arabs and that must be because of a higher percentage of “Jewish atheists” (whatever that means), which explains Arab backwardness according to him and Israel’s technological advances. Yet you would never hear Bill Maher advocating Apartheid S. Africa as a role model of a state and white supremacy as an ideology because whites won more Nobel prizes than blacks. Why? Because Bill Maher is a piece of shit.

4. Bill Maher considers Israel morally superior because it could kill more Palestinians but it doesn’t. In the same way, Bill Maher would consider the US to be morally superior in Vietnam because it could have nuked the entire Vietnam but didn’t. Why is Bill Maher creating false morality arguments? Because Bill Maher is a piece of shit.

5. Bill Maher who at some point called the US military budget “the world’s largest welfare program” and opposes such waste, doesn’t mind sending over $3 billion a year from his tax money, or around $2,000 annually for every single Israeli family, to subsidize Israel’s military. Why does Bill Maher believe our tax dollars are better spent on a foreign country than at home? Because Bill Maher is a piece of shit.

6. Bill Maher lets one of his guests get away with a gigantic lie that Israel left Gaza and no longer controls it, even though the UN, the entire international community and even agreements that Israel signed view the Gaza strip as occupied territory, considered an integral territorial unit with the West Bank, both under occupation since 1967. Bill Maher would never claim that Warsaw Ghetto was not occupied by Germany because there were no German soldiers inside it. Why? Because Bill Maher is a piece of shit.

7. Bill Maher tells Palestinians that they should forget their dispossession and move on, even though the majority of them still live under a repressive colonizing military occupation and some are locked in an open air prison behind walls and remote controlled machine guns. Would Bill Maher preach to Jews locked in the Warsaw Ghetto or in occupied Poland to forget and move on? Of course not. Why? Because Bill Maher is a piece of shit.

8. Bill Maher blames Palestinian deaths on.. you guessed it… Palestinians. He upholds the mendacious claim that “Israel is defending itself” from rockets even though Israel is the occupying power and hence the aggressor. Bill Maher denies the occupied people the right to resist their occupation and incarceration. Why? Because Bill Maher is a piece of shit.

9. Bill Maher makes the claim that “Hamas would wipe Israel off the map if it could” while ignoring the fact that it is Israel that has wiped and is still wiping Palestine off the map with colonies. Why does Bill Maher support the wiping off the map done by colonial immigrants but not the natives who were wiped off the map and who want to do the reverse? Because Bill Maher is a piece of shit.

10. Bill Maher ignores the ongoing colonial context and the Jewish state’s policies of Jewish exclusivity, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, colonization and “Judaisation” on the expense of Palestine’s native population. He ignores Israel’s discriminatory laws, its state definition of Jews versus non-Jews, the denial of refugee rights, the violation of dozens of UN resolutions and the Geneva Convention, the millions of people under Israel’s rule without basic human rights for generations – all these monstrosities that have been going on since Israel’s foundation and that no progressive would ever support. Is it because Bill Maher is ignorant, pretending to be ignorant, or is it just because he is a piece of shit? I vote for the latter.

published in Dancing With Palestinians