Steve Barnes' review of Bill Maher's outpouring of "venom" — Barnes' word and he seems to use it approvingly — shows the interesting appreciation that liberals have for a certain kind of hate speech. Yes, hate speech, because that is Mr. Maher's trademark. Imagine the reaction if a conservative comedian (there are a few) said of the current administration that "it is filled with stupid black people," or suggesting that President Barack Obama wore clothing making him look "like a pedophile at a church picnic," or calling First Lady Michelle Obama "an illiterate forest creature." Does anyone seriously think that the comedian would ever get work again?
Yet, Mr. Barnes seems to take the usual "left-wing boys will be boys" attitude toward Mr. Maher's nasty diatribe, though he does say that Maher "tested the limits of the audience's appreciation" when he "speculated that it might have been justifiable to let former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky follow a 10-year-old Donald Trump into the showers." This is not humor pushed to the limits; this is pathological viciousness.
I have always been amused by the fact that when a conservative makes an intemperate or outright over-the-top remark it is branded as "mean-spirited" or "hateful," but when a liberal does the same thing it is called "wicked satire" or "pushing the limits for the sake of art and to stimulate discussion."
Thank you, Mr. Barnes, for demonstrating that fact in your review.
Michael L. Nardacci
Albany