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Bill Maher - Raising hackles with new book
« on: Dec 4th, 2002, 11:22am » |
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Bill Maher wants YOU -- to think
Raising hackles with new book
By Todd Leopold
CNN
Wednesday, December 4, 2002 Posted: 10:37 AM EST (1537 GMT)
(CNN) -- Bill Maher is annoyed.
He's trying to make a point about the need for sacrifice, one of the subjects of his new book, "When You Ride Alone You Ride With bin Laden" (New Millennium), and an audience member on CNN's "TalkBack Live" just isn't getting it.
"The leaders of our country have encouraged us to continue with our way of life, to not let terrorism win," says a college-age male from Massachusetts. "I mean, if we alter our lifestyle, then they're winning."
"Well, that's exactly the wrong attitude," Maher replies evenly, a hint of anger crowding into his voice. "That is not the attitude they had in World War II. Your attitude is that freedom means you can do whatever you want whenever you want it, and that sacrifice is somehow un-American. ... But the idea that we should also be defensive about our flaws and weaknesses and our vulnerabilities is ridiculous."
That's the kind of shoot-from-the-lip opinion that won Maher many viewers -- but ultimately cancellation -- on his late-night talk show, "Politically Incorrect." Late in 2001, his observance that the September 11 hijackers weren't cowardly, that "[the United States has] been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away," got him in hot water with the White House and (perhaps more important) advertisers. The show was finally canceled at the end of May.
Maher didn't dwell on his job loss, however. He immediately plowed his energies into "Ride Alone," he says in a phone interview from Los Angeles, California.
"I haven't had time to miss the TV show. ... This took all I was doing," he says, describing the book as "an intense labor of love." "I never intended to write a book."
Telling the truth as he sees it
Maher says he was going through an old book of World War I- and II-era posters when he was struck by the beauty of the art and the spirit of the messages.
Such slogans as "When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Hitler!" (an encouragement for citizens to carpool), "Wake Up, America!" (a patriotic James Montgomery Flagg poster) and "You Talk of Sacrifice ... He Knew the Meaning of Sacrifice!" (an illustration of a dead GI draped over a fence) were inspiring, Maher says.
He met with several artists gathered by his publisher and told them his ideas, then wrote short essays in his pointedly humorous style to accompany their work. The new posters feature watchwords such as "We Say They're Our Heroes ... But We Pay Them Like Chumps" (showing a policeman, fireman, soldier and teacher addressing a classroom) and "It's Not a New World, We Just Joined It."
Maher says there's plenty of blame to go around for the United States' lack of focus since the September 11 attacks:
• President Bush: "He had a marvelous window of opportunity [to encourage sacrifice] -- for about two months, people were ready to do anything. ... But he treated us like victims instead of soldiers."
• The government: "They seem to want to keep us in the dark, as if it would affect us too much to let us in."
• The media: "People in the media should be ashamed of themselves. Their job is to make what's important interesting, and they've failed at it for the last 25 years. ... People are always there to be pandered to," he adds, noting the popularity of gossipy news stories, "but the media once took more pride in being in a position of leadership than in the pleasure of profit."
He also takes shots at those who hide behind the American flag, from people who fly them from SUVs to critics who call free-speakers "unpatriotic."
"A real patriot is like a real friend," he says. "He will tell you the truth [even if it's unpleasant]."
'Where's the change?'
All he's asking, he says, is for people to think about the current situation.
"We weren't even asked to rethink anything," he says. "In any individual's life, crisis produces change." In the movies, he adds, if the protagonist slips up, he or she is forced to grow. "That should have happened to America. Where's the change?"
There are times, he says, when he wishes he were back on "Politically Incorrect." "We would work really hard on giving an angle not seen in other places," he says, so items such as one of the Washington-area sniper suspects' last names being Muhammad would have come in for a sharp look.
"That's like the elephant in the room," he says.
Maher's been bringing "When You Ride Alone You Ride with bin Laden" on the road with him, literally. His stand-up act shows images of the new posters coupled with his own riffs.
"It's may favorite stand-up I've ever done," he says. "I was always concerned about dealing with the big subjects, and I finally have an issue that's so big, it's so good to sink my teeth into."
Maher soon will get his chance to bring his comedy back to television as well. He recently signed a deal with HBO for a late-night talk show scheduled to begin in February. (HBO is a division of AOL Time Warner, as is CNN.com.)
Some of Maher's suggestions will no doubt grate on many from the left and right. He calls on neighbors to be common-sensically suspicious, and criticizes our culture's propensity to make "heroes" out of almost anyone facing a challenge.
But if the book makes people think, it's been worthwhile, he says.
"We are No. 1, but not because our toilets flush like typhoons," he says. "It's because of the rule of law, because of freedom of speech. ... I consider myself a true patriot. I want my country to be better and look at itself."
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