New Rule: Democracy Dies in Dumbness | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

and finally new rule if someone knows of a story that more effectively captures what's wrong with today's journalism than the sad saga of what happened last week at the washington post they need to keep it to themselves because it would be too depressing if you missed it the washington post recently got embroiled in a self-inflicted storm when one of their best reporters david weigel retweeted not tweeted retweeted this joke every girl is bi you just have to figure out if it's polar or sexual proving it is a joke thank you the comedian who actually wrote the tweet called it a banal throwaway joke which is exactly what it is throw away as and if you don't like it throw it away for eons both sexes have made jokes about how the other is crazy and no one but the perpetually offended thinks it means anything more than that the sexes get frustrated over how differently we each see the world and yes we relieve some of that frustration with humor and scene nevertheless weigel pulled down his retweet and wrote i apologize and did not mean to cause any harm and that was the end of that i'm joking of course the unlicensed daycare center that is today's newsroom went ape you see the post has another writer named felicia sanmez and she's a lot for example she tweeted about kobe bryant's 2003 rape trial hours after his helicopter crash and despite the fact that she says dave weigel is a good friend she resurrected the tweet he had taken down with the screenshot and demanded to know what the post was going to do about this unacceptable evil that must not be allowed to stand sarcastically writing fantastic to work at a news outlet where tweets like this are allowed yes can you imagine a world that allows jokes you don't like of course of course the leadership at the post folded like a miami condo and and suspended weigel without pay for a month and denounced the offending retweet as a gross violation of their values free speech apparently not being one of them then a third post reporter offered up the idea of course on twitter because why do anything privately that hey maybe everyone was overreacting and we should all just calm down and then it was really on felicia demanded that the post discipline him and tweeted about that i assume she's tweeting about this right now for days she raged with the fire of a thousand burning bras a gazillion tweets calling for more to be done against weigel mocking her bosses attacking colleagues and letting the world know how much the washington post sucked and this endless bickering and infighting continued online in public view until the bell rang and they all went to seventh period [Applause] now note that i haven't yet told you what age felicia sonmez and her quarreling co-workers are why because i didn't have to because you can't imagine someone my age acting like this in an office the new york times just ran an op-ed entitled why are we still governed by baby boomers this is why because too many millennials are overly sensitive overly fragile and have no sense of priorities you know i'm sure many boomers would love to retire but they can't they're like the grandmother who'd much rather be watching judge judy but has to raise her grandkids because her own kids are too up to manage it it's funny you think my generation is an eye roll let me live on a little secret about the younger generations no one wants to hire you your sense of entitlement is legendary and with notable exceptions your attention span and worth ethics suck here's a story you never stop hearing around hollywood unqualified little who has been here all of six months doesn't understand why he's not a producer yet this washington post story had such resonance because its behavior we all recognize there is a war going on within the millennial generation i know because i'm friends with the good ones but the cry babies unfortunately are still winning they complain they haven't taken over yet well stop complaining because in many ways you already have the fact that the post's initial response was to punish not felicia but one of their best reporters for a silly joke shows that the kindergarten is already in charge today today june 17th is the 50th anniversary of a very seminal event in american history on this day in 1972 the watergate break-in happened and over the next two years the washington post gave the world a master class in investigative journalism i have to wonder how the post's newsroom of today would handle that story or how they're currently handling any story all this time blubber tweeting over a retweet begs the question don't you have anything better to do aren't you uh supposed to be reporters digging up stuff are there no more vital issues going on in america right now this is why you're not in charge because if someone named deep throat called the paper today and wanted to meet in a parking garage this crew of emotional hemophiliacs would have an anxiety attack and report it to hr that they didn't feel safe [Applause] if there is a silver lining to this story it's that eventually the post did fire felicia sanmez so maybe there is a line that's just too much nonsense but that generation needs to move that line much closer to sanity and find it much sooner because democracy dies in dumbness you

Channel: Real Time with Bill Maher

Views: 4,526,078

Keywords: Danny Strong, Emmy Award-winning, writer, producer, Recount, Game Change, Dopesick, Hulu, series, opioid epidemic, Michael Keaton, Krystal Ball, podcast, Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, Krystal Kyle & Friends, James Kirchick, columnist, Tablet, writer-at-large, Airmail, author, New York Times, Secret City, The Hidden History of Gay Washington

Id: 5tu9JGK_yHo

Length: 8min 9sec (489 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 17 2022