Review of S20 E1
I’ve written about Bill Maher before. And I haven’t written in a while. My last post here was May 31, 2021.
To be honest, when I saw a billboard promoting the first episode of the new season I told myself, “ha. not going to watch. he’s just not relevant anymore.” But then I thought about the one and only comment from my readers last time:
Omar: This is the weirdest written article - the headline set us up for what I thought would be a thought-provoking write up, but instead it's a childish rant about how .. hey Bill Maher, you were wrong - and I love Cardano .. ??
I wasn’t taking this blog seriously. I signed up for substack to experience it from a user’s perspective, and think about how they must have developed this. But then I got hooked on how little old me could use the same software other big time blogger are on. And the stats! The stats are addictive.
But Omar, I can do better, I swear. So in my first blog post of 2022 let me be of service to the world and review season twenty, episode one of Real Time. After the opening we start strong with Timothy Snyder interview. Timothy remembers he’s on a comedy show and is often funny even though the topic is the end of the world.
And then two guests on the panel: Rep. Ritchie Torres and substack’s own Bari Weiss. First issue: the U.K. is going back to no mandated face masks, no masks in schools, no more work from home requirements, no more mandatory passports for events, no legal requirement to self-isolate. Rep. Torres goes first.
“We are getting back to normal.” but doesn’t mention any of the items above.
Bari mentions lots of her points from Bringing Sanity to the Omicron Chaos. She has great point about what’s happening with kids. I have four. This is not good for them. Torres goes right back into “LOTS OF PEOPLE DIED!” and doesn’t really address any of Weiss’ points. Maher reads off deaths-by-state stats and makes the excellent point that the wide open states did just about as good if not better than the locked down ones. Also makes point about happy good vibes in Florida vs. California. And then, three big points:
The vaccine does NOT stop you from getting it.
It does NOT stop you from transmitting it.
It DOES stop you from dying when you get Covid.
So that makes this a very different choice for many people. You are affecting only your own health if you don’t get the vaccine. Torres comes back with “VACCINES IN GENERAL ARE GOOD! POLIO!” Maher warns our judges are listening to just NPR and getting some non-facts.
Weiss reminds us watching just cable news (on either side) all day, gives you limited information. <Andrew Rant>Stop believing you have to pick a side. Watch small amounts of BOTH or turn them both off. Once you pick a side we all lose. Remember that Bret Weinstein Unity 2020 idea?</Andrew Rant>
Maher says Democrats used to be for “the little guy.” And now they aren’t even close. At this point it’s like Torres is answering the Jeopardy category of “What a good Democract would say…” Topic change to Crime. Torres says there are way more guns available now. Maher says we’ve always had guns! I learned who London Breed is and that the city puts up “Car Jacking Area” signs. Topic Change: West Side Story. Weiss: embrace being canceled. Torres makes good point about Trump cancel power also very bad. Bill talks about Colin Kaepernick
Colin in Black & White ← just a plug for this, I really feel like I know who Kaepernick is after watching. Next Bill talks about the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and there is weird issue with no Jewish People. And I learned something I did not know about Ralph Lauren! He was born Ralph Lifshitz October 14, 1939. And Bari makes a point about how Jewish people can change their name and not suffer any anti-semitism because no one would know. Ouch. This one hits home.
My friends and professional peers know me as Andrew Arrow but I was born Noah Justin Shafritz May 5, 1976. It wasn’t until April 20, 1996 I legally changed and definitely hid the fact that my parents where Jewish. In my defense I was raised in Wexford, PA and we were the only Jewish family for miles. I was the only Jewish kid in my school. To me, it was the mark of being different. I would shock classmates with this concept of “no Christmas” in our house.
I also never had a Bar Mitzvah at age 13. My parents said we didn’t live close enough to a Synagogue and they were terribly expensive and did I even want one? I said no. Being Jewish wasn’t cool. But twenty-five years later I’m happy to tell anyone about my name and history. Cut to this Academy Museum of Motion Pictures issue.
So from my Jewish and non-Jewish perspective I say it does no one any good to try and exclude Jews from the list to give more room for other persecuted people. But do I get why a black man or native American women might have that feeling of “HA! Yeah right, they are just privileged whites!” For sure. That’s been my life.
But can’t everyone see? Unity. Come together. We are all in this together. You only have one choice: love everyone. No seriously. The two party system isn’t about to break, it broke. Time to get serious about two people from both sides. Ahem, the Dan Crenshaw / Tulsi Gabbard idea. Maybe not them specifically. But two people from both polar opposites showing they can work as a team. No more individual ego running the show. They really do have to switch who is “President” and who is “Vice” all the time.
By the way this is how Maher ends the show. What if the Democracts pull a Gus. The idea is flawed but hilarious. Have both Biden and Obama divorce their spouses (on paper only) and marry each other. Then Obama is first lady and back in the White House despite having already served two terms.
Well thank you loyal readers of the Andrew Thomas Arrow Living blog. It’s great to be back. I leave you with this SURVIVING the God-Like Technology That Can Kill Us All | Daniel Schmachtenberger on AMP.