The problem with Maher is not that he wants to talk seriously about problems in Middle East countries, it is that he uses those problems to bash muslims and arabs. He makes grotesquely racist generalisations based on extremely isolated incidents – for example his predilection for beheading jokes, which he made during his smarmy interview with Mona Eltahawy (in 2 parts):
In both instances, people pushed backed against Maher, Mona Eltahawy in the first and Tavis Smiley, plus an outraged audience member during the second ("Have you ever seen what a Hellfire missile does to a muslim women?"). Great stuff.
The statistics you cite are from a credible source (The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights) and should not be ignored. It has to be acknowledged though, that these are stats relevant to Egypt, and it is wrong to make generalisations about the entire arab/muslim world as Maher does. For a more respectful discussion of the problem of sexual harassment in Egypt I refer you to the following article "Egypt's Women Rally Behind Lara Logan":
Ultimately this is an issue for Egyptian men and women (and whomever they choose to enlist in their efforts) to solve. If we have learnt anything at all about Egypt in the last month it is that as a nation they have capabilities far beyond what was the consensus position.
Bill Maher's concern for arab women is entirely opportunistic. He should be ostracised for his ugly views.
I agree Behar and Goldberg should be applauded for their actions on The View but IMHO Behar's opposition to hate speech is selective: she had the vicious islamophobe Pamela Geller as a panel guest on her show at least twice during the hysteria over the Park 51 centre. While Behar (gently, not with the outrage she reserves for Bill-O) opposed Geller's position, she's toxic enough that she shouldn't be given a platform at all. It's hate speech on steroids with Geller.
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Rihab, and others interested to see it - I've linked above to a clip of the Maher/Smiley discussion.
Ciaran,
The problem with Maher is not that he wants to talk seriously about problems in Middle East countries, it is that he uses those problems to bash muslims and arabs. He makes grotesquely racist generalisations based on extremely isolated incidents – for example his predilection for beheading jokes, which he made during his smarmy interview with Mona Eltahawy (in 2 parts):
link to youtube.com
link to youtube.com
...and again just a few days ago when he telling the world about how awful arab/muslim men are:
link to mediaite.com
In both instances, people pushed backed against Maher, Mona Eltahawy in the first and Tavis Smiley, plus an outraged audience member during the second ("Have you ever seen what a Hellfire missile does to a muslim women?"). Great stuff.
The statistics you cite are from a credible source (The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights) and should not be ignored. It has to be acknowledged though, that these are stats relevant to Egypt, and it is wrong to make generalisations about the entire arab/muslim world as Maher does. For a more respectful discussion of the problem of sexual harassment in Egypt I refer you to the following article "Egypt's Women Rally Behind Lara Logan":
link to thedailybeast.com
Ultimately this is an issue for Egyptian men and women (and whomever they choose to enlist in their efforts) to solve. If we have learnt anything at all about Egypt in the last month it is that as a nation they have capabilities far beyond what was the consensus position.
Bill Maher's concern for arab women is entirely opportunistic. He should be ostracised for his ugly views.
I agree Behar and Goldberg should be applauded for their actions on The View but IMHO Behar's opposition to hate speech is selective: she had the vicious islamophobe Pamela Geller as a panel guest on her show at least twice during the hysteria over the Park 51 centre. While Behar (gently, not with the outrage she reserves for Bill-O) opposed Geller's position, she's toxic enough that she shouldn't be given a platform at all. It's hate speech on steroids with Geller.