In an opinion piece at The Hill Jessica Tarlov writes about “cranky Democrats”:
No one has ever mistaken me for a Bill Maher fan. His standup never really appealed, and I was one of those snowflakes who was deeply offended by his use of the N-word in 2017 and sided with Ben Affleck that Maher’s comments about Islam were more Islamophobic than “classical liberal.†But now, even though my memory isn’t short — I do know how to hold a grudge — this season of “Real Time with Bill Maher†hits all the right notes for me. I’ve been loving it.
From having the scientists behind the “Dark Horse†podcast on to discuss the origins of COVID-19 and the vaccine, to Democratic wunderkind David Shor who managed to survive his “cancellation†by the woke mob, to tough talk by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) on the future of the Democratic Party and how it must include white people like him, Maher and those who book his guests are totally speaking my language: irreverent, researched, controversial and, most of all, thought-provoking.
A recent episode featured American linguist and Columbia professor John McWhorter and his perspective on what he calls “Black fragility,†the problem with “mean woke†people, and the importance of challenging the orthodoxy that Black Americans operate as some kind of monolith instead of the diverse and varied group they are. I’d recommend that you watch the entire 15-minute interview, but what particularly resonated with me is a new term McWhorter and Maher used to describe themselves: “cranky liberals,†or “cranky Democrats.†They’re not disaffected, they’re not disengaged, they’re just really cranky.
She goes on to list some issues which she thinks are contributing to the crankiness:
- Calls to defund the police
- Cancel culture
- The “anti-racism” curricula
I don’t consider myself disaffected, disengaged, or even cranky although I think my views are more closely aligned with those of the “cranky” than they are with those of progressives. I see myself as a good government Democrat. One of the best descriptions of my views has been “eclectic”.
In my view Ms. Tarlov is merely noticing something I’ve pointed out from time to time: progressives are not liberals and today’s progressives are making a mad dash away from the views of the majority of the Democratic Party. They’re pulling a lot of very prominent Democrats along with them. Will they succeed in remaking the Democratic Party in their own image? Or will they just leave a lot of people behind with no other real alternatives?
Progressives are fascists, literally. They believe in private ownership and government control of businesses. They believe in the use of force to attain goals. Instead of nationalism, they want uniformity of thought, and the support for killing black babies is f*cking creepy.
Like a fever, progressivism must ‘run its course’ and ‘burn itself out’. The post-COVID hysteria will probably doom it, and Bill Maher is just a leading indicator.
Nonetheless, he is an entertainer. So, ratings are everything.
I can usually get a rise out of a progressive by pointing out that FDR embodied America’s version of fascism. It was pretty obvious to everybody at the time.