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| Trig with his sister Piper |
Why I heckled Bill Maher
by Ron Futrell
I’ve seen many leftist comedians perform over the years. Usually they are fun and enjoyable, and they can even be entertaining. I enjoy listening to all sides. It was in this spirit that I joined friends to see Bill Maher perform at the Las Vegas Palms Casino Resort on Saturday night. I went in with low expectations. But I didn’t realize how low Maher would go.
I have a special-needs son named Troy. He’s 27. Every day, I drop him off at Las Vegas’s Opportunity Village, a workplace for adults with special needs. Helping people with special needs is something I’m passionate about.
As you may recall, Sarah Palin has a special-needs son, too. During his performance, Maher chose to make a joke about Palin’s five-year-old son, Trig, who he described as a “retard.” The audience of supposedly compassionate liberals roared with laughter. The crowd’s reaction was even more disturbing than the joke itself.
I was sitting in the back of the room with my friends (who paid for my ticket) when Maher made his Trig Palin joke. I decided to move in closer to the stage, though I was still sitting a ways back. At that point, Maher made a joke about Halliburton. Still disgusted, I blurted out, “It’s 2013, Bill. You might want to update your material.” It was as much a comment on his use of the “r” word as it was on his use of old material. Maher heard me and responded. I also got some flak from some of the other audience members. Then the security guards asked me to leave. I gladly did.
There are different rules for connected leftie elites like Maher. Mocking handicapped five-year olds-- actually calling a specific child by name a "retard" in public during a comedy routine-- is, well, I'm too angry to use the words Maher deserves.
Bravo to Mr. Futrell for standing up and calling Maher out. Maher is lucky he only got heckled.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if Maher repeated the joke in person to Todd Palin. Or to Sarah, for that matter.
At the same time, the people who insist upon saying "special needs child" -- and especially those who insist that the rest of us do likewise -- are as disgusting as Maher, for they are lying about reality in the same manner that "liberalism" always does.
ReplyDeleteTrigg Palin is *not* a "special needs child"; he is (mentally) retarded. The author's son is *not* a "special needs child"; is (mentally) retarded. Similarly, my mother was *not* "handicapped" or "multi-capable"; she was was crippled.
However, Maher wasn't making a plain statement of unpleasant fact, he was making a school-yard taunt ... against:
1) a child,
2) a child who is (mentally) retarded;
and calling that cruel taunt a "joke".
Mentally retarded used to be a perfectly acceptable term, but it isn't anymore because immature teenage boys used it as an insult. So I can kind of understand why a new word was needed.
DeleteCome to think of it, Maher is an immature teenage boy even if his gray hair belies it. He's just a pig.
TRISH
Retarded is an old term for "Delayed" and has been replaced by the more modern term "Developmentally Delayed"
DeleteBecause the old word Retarded has been turned into an epithet used to humiliate others, it has become as unacceptable as using the "N" word to describe black people.
IIion, you are an ignorant ass of the worst kind. The term "retard &/or retarded" are offensive. The Politically Correct term is SPECIAL NEEDS wether you like it or not. I know this because I have a SPECIAL NEEDS child. It is individuals like you that make the lives of children like mine so difficult, and the asinine behavior of unprofessional celebrities like Bill Maher, that make it appear to be acceptable. Try becoming educated and aware before you open your trap next time. Until then, Shut the Hell Up!!!
DeleteAMY HANKINS - Pissed off Mom!
AMY HANKINS - who really is a pisser! "[emote!emote!emote! me!me!me! mine!mine!mine!]"
DeleteWow, that was fun!
*yawn*
Does this mentally unstable and/or emotionally unhinged willfully ignorant fool (*) really imagine I that give a damn about her rantings? Does *anyone* imagine that I'm going to bow to her assertion that she can dictate what I think or say?
As everyone surely knows, I don't give a damn what is or is not the (current) Politically Correct term by which to deny reality -- well, other than that knowing them makes it easier to avoid using them. What I care about truth ... and in this context, the truth is that (mentally) retarded is (mentally) retarded.
Hell! The phrase 'mentally retarded' is itself a euphemism.
(*) ‘willfully ignorant fool’ is a redundancy – to be a ‘fool’ *just is* to be ‘willfully ignorant’; to be ‘willfully ignorant’ *just is* to be a ‘fool’.
FYI I work with people with disabilities for a living and my daughter is also disabled. The technical terms at one time were Moron, Imbecile, and Idiot but were changed because they became derogatory. They were changed to mild, moderate, severe and profound retardation. These are medical diagnosis. The other terms stated are used in the schools and by parents to protect their children from hearing what has been stated as "the truth". The nation is in the process of changing the terms to mild, moderate, severe and profound ID (intellectual disability). Professionals in social work use these but the medical community has not completely switched over yet. I wonder how long it will take for insensitive people to turn this acronym into a hurtful term?
DeleteSusan Greer: "[reality can be changed by calling it something else -- and by demonizing those who do not]"
DeleteWhile Susan Greer isn't obviously emoting and ranting like AMY HANKINS, the pissed-upon, she's still "reasoning" emotionally, rather than rationally.
And -- this is the really terrible part -- just like The Pisspot, she's asserting that reality is changes by changing the labels, and, of course, demonizing those who haven't switched.
llion, You must have incorrectly read into my comment. That is easy to do when you don't have voice inflection to assist in interpreting the communication. Actually, I am not demonizing anybody. I just thought somebody might be interested in the technical correctness - that's my analytical part of my brain. You are correct in that changing labels doesn't change anything and I'm not suggesting that. As Shakespeare wrote, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." What I will say is that nobody could have ever made me understand what it is like to raise a child with an intellectual disability. It was something I had to experience to understand. Other people can learn empathy through others vicariously but not me. I am grateful for what I have learned from my daughter. If anybody is interested I started blogging with my "non-disabled" daughter about raising a daughter and sister with a handicap. Have a nice day!
DeleteI forgot to add my blog link
Deletehttp://walkedinyourshoes.blogspot.com
I would like to make one other point if you don't mind. My daughter is 25 and has mild ID and autism. I think the reason that so many terms are used besides "retarded" is because many of our disabled children are perceptive enough to know when someone is being condescending to them. They don't understand why but they are capable of hurt feelings. They are familiar with terms like dumb, stupid and retarded in the derogatory sense. Aside from guarding them against exploitation, abuse, and predators - parents spend a great deal of effort guarding their tender hearts.
DeleteWould anyone care to publish exactly what Bill Maher said?
DeleteRon Futrell appears keen to make it known to everyone that Bill Maher said something offensive about Trig.
But he never quotes what Bill Maher said.
Now, I've seen comedians (described as "Left/Liberal" comedians) make jokes in poor taste (example Jon Stewart on Election Night 2012 ("Claire McCaskill 'legitimately raped' Todd Akin"..Rape isn't a JOKE, Jon).
I've no problem calling a joke in poor taste for what it is.
I fail to understand why Ron Futrell couldn't quote exactly what Maher said, and let the audience decide whether it was a joke in poor taste or not.
Just like Maher, Ron Futrell too possesses a bully pulpit.
This could very well be one person with a bully pulpit going after ANOTHER person with a bully pulpit, making up an "offensive joke about Trig Palin".
I mean, I don't claim that it's IMPOSSIBLE that Maher made a joke in poor taste (as I said above, Jon Stewart did, too).
Am saying I find it odd and suspicious that there's no actual reference to the offensive quote.
And I hate to add this, but this is a guy who professionally writes on Andrew Breitbart's website.
Troy made fun of my six year old daughter. Very classy of him.
ReplyDeleteTRISH
Troi is a pig, even among trolls.
DeleteIf you look back at his comments, you'll see he's kind of troll who posts the racist comments in threads that Popeye attributes to "Christian conservatives".
I guess I missed that one, Trish. But, it does not surprise me at all. The guy has made jeering comments about fallen soldiers in comments where I have lamented dead colleagues, accused others of being homosexuals (a strange insult for a 'liberal'?) as if it were libel while defending 'gay rights', and generally has the diction and attention span of jr High School bully.
DeleteWhat does that tell me? He is a coward, a person of questionable sexual morality and low tolerance, and someone who has never really grown up. My guess is 'daddy' issues and a severe lack of discipline as a young child.
I have seen people like him cured of such madness too many times to count, but it takes breaking them down first.
In all, he's really quite pathetic.
Pay him no mind.
Troy will get his comeuppance. One day he will say some of these things to someone who is not thousands of miles away and will be introduced to the pain he enjoys inflicting on others. Someone smarter and stronger than him will teach him a lesson he wont ever forget.When it happens (it will) he will soon realize that the only person who has sympathy for him is himself. Will he learn from that? We can only hope and pray he does.
That's the whole problem, you see: He is a selfish child who cannot stand anyone else being the centre of attention.
Your little girl has something he can only dream about: Unconditional love. Your love for your daughter and that which she holds for you is all that matters.
May God bless and keep you both close.
Let's not forget David Letterman's joke about Sarah Palin's underage daughter having sex with some baseball player on the field at Yankee Stadium. He apologized, at least.
ReplyDeleteThese people are slimeballs. We're trying to have intelligent discussions about, among other things, the abuse of power at the IRS, or rising premiums as a result of Obamacare, and they're saying things like "You're kid's a retard!" and "Wouldn't it be funny if your daughter was raped in Yankee Stadium?" Ha, Ha, Ha.
Joey
Well, it's a statement about the American Left in general when their public face is largely drawn from the ranks of comedians, television personalities, and Hollywood celebrities. You know, the kind of folks who read People magazine for the articles. About themselves.
ReplyDeleteMaher strikes me as a foppish idiot.
ReplyDeleteA sneering high school 'king nerd' who thinks he has wit, but in fact comes of as a simpleton. The only 'retard' in this conversation is him. A 'social retard'.
The only funny thing I have heard him say was that he is a 'libertarian'. That did actually make me laugh.
So Crusader, your response to Maher’s mane calling is to call him an idiot, and to say no, he’s the retard. Stay classy my friend.
Delete-KW
Bill Maher is a grown man and he can take being called a retard, as distasteful as that word is. He shouldn't, however, be picking on children. I think you're trying to draw an equivalency there but there is none. Bill Maher has made his career out of being a fountain of nastiness.
DeleteJoey
KW,
Delete"So Crusader, your response to Maher’s mane calling is to call him an idiot,"
Yes. Observing he is an idiot.
"and to say no, he’s the retard"
Yes. A 'social retard'. You may want look up the meaning of the word 'retarded'. A grown man who mocks handicapped children is, indeed, socially retarded. They have not developed in such a way as to be able to understand limits of behaviour.
"Stay classy my friend."
Always.
But, keep in mind: You are not my friend. You have stated as much on these comments several times. Remember your retort to my offer of a beer? Just one example.
If you walk the walk and keep having babies until you get a Trig it’s celebrated in conservative circles. Being the fountain of Trisomy babies, I guess conservatives are a little more sensitive than most.
ReplyDelete-KW
KW's nasty comment is revealing.
DeleteIt's a matter of historical fact that Progressives were the bigots and the segregationists. But sometimes, when you listen to their rhetoric today, it's easy to forget who they really are, when you strip away the patina of "enlightenment" they display.
If you take KW's crude comment above-- "get a trig... being the fount of Trisomy babies"", and consider Maher's breath-takingly cruel joke about Trig, and replace "Trig" with "nigger", you get a taste of who Progressives really are.
After all, their passion for abortion is the leading killer of handicapped children and black children in our country.
Actually, like most responsible adults, I was thinking birth control. I know that for many conservatives contraception/abortion is a distinction without a difference, and this sad fact is what leads to so many trisomy babies.
Delete“It's a matter of historical fact that Progressives were the bigots”
Finally a “were”, although I don’t think that applies to progressives as much as it does Democrats. The Republicans that fought to end slavery and latter voted for civil rights where progressives in that regard, and the Democrats that opposed them where the ones being conservative.
-KW
"Get a trig". If brains were nose candy, Popeye, you wouldn't have enough to rub your gums.
DeleteI think you're being a little obtuse here, KW. It isn't celebrated in conservative circles to keep having babies until you have a Trig, by which I think you mean a mentally handicapped child. (I can still use that term right?) What's celebrated is not killing a child in the womb after learning that the child will be mentally handicapped. Raising children is exhausting and raising a handicapped child even more so, which leads most parents to abort burdensome children. Sarah and Todd Palin didn't do that, and that's what's celebrated. That means that their love for their children and their respect for life trumped their personal convenience. Bill Maher would never do that because he's a cowardly fink lacking in character.
DeleteProgressives are bigots in the present tense, yes. And the past.
Andrew Sullivan, who is oddly obsessed with Palin's lady parts for a "gay" man, surmises that Trig isn't really Sarah's child but Bristol's! The little strumpet. He's deadly serious about this and for a while after the 2008 election he wouldn't shut up about it. He was like a 9/11 Truther at a Ron Paul conference, going on and on, and whenever anyone told him he was nuts it only convinced him further that there was a coverup in the works.
Joey
@KW:
Delete[I don’t think that applies to progressives as much as it does Democrats. The Republicans that fought to end slavery and latter voted for civil rights where progressives in that regard, and the Democrats that opposed them where the ones being conservative.]
Progressivism dates back to the late 19th century, and Wilson, who segregated the federal government, was the first Progressive Democrat president. Progressivism was the belief that society could be improved by government-mandated social engineering. Perhaps the most conspicuous example of massive social engineering is segregation, which Progressives touted for its salutary effect on blacks as well as whites.
Segregation was a central tenet of the Progressive program, at least on the Democrat side of the aisle.
If civil rights is looked at as a stand alone issue, 60 years ago it there where many Republicans voting for progress (progressives), and many Democrats voting to keep the status quo (conservative). On other issues the roles where reversed. Them’s the facts, deal with it.
Delete“Segregation was a central tenet of the Progressive program”
Again, thank you for using the past tense. I feel like we’re making progress.
-KW
KW,
Delete"...keep having babies until you get a Trig..."
You keep killing your babies and celebrating it.
The rest of us will keep reproducing. Trig is a welcome member of the human family, loved by his people. OF course his birthday is celebrated.
Jealous, KW?
Woodrow Wilson was a progressive, KW. And he was also a segregationist.
ReplyDeleteHis idea of progress was a little different from yours. What you're doing is retroactively applying labels from today that don't fit.
Ending the horrific practice of abortion would be great progress, yet today's progressives are against it. That tells me that the term is bandied about quite a bit with meaning fixed by the speaker.
--Francisca S.
What was the joke? Why won't anybody post it? Is it because we ate all afraid it might have been funny? Is that so painful a notion to swallow? And stop talking about abortion. This is a debate on freedom of speech and artistic license.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It seems these debates need a moderator to keep them on track. I personally don't deny Maher his artistic license or freedom of speech. People can say what they want but they vote with their wallet. So don't buy tickets to his show if you disapprove. That is why I would pay to see Brian Regan and not Bill Maher. No need to get nasty about it all.
DeleteI agree with June 17, 2013 at 1:14 PM. What was the joke? The moment wasn't recorded or filmed. No transcript or even a best guess at repeating by the accuser. There's no proof anything happened except in the the mind of Ron Futrell. And Sarah Palin is is so hungry for any kind of significance she jumped right on this.
ReplyDeleteI was looking for the joke myself, and I don't doubt it actually did not occur. I do think the big issue with the word "retarded" being used was in fact the context it was used in and we all know how a lot of comedians can get and the lines they cross. I work with children with special needs that are all over the spectrum, and yes I have heard the term used BUT it was not used in an intended offensive way. I think it was a classless choice to target Sarah via her child for the sake of a show. (I highly doubt it was some sort of compassionate dialogue that thoughtlessly used the term)
ReplyDeleteCHARLIE HEBDO TERRORIST ATTACK – What have we LEARNED?
ReplyDeleteSome TOPICS just should be left off the TABLE – PERSONAL ATTACKS and FAITH BELIEFS seems to be two such TOPICS!
Left-Wing-Nuts including Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert and Tina Faye and Right-Wing-Nuts like Rush Limbaugh, are all Guilty of making Personal Attacks and Mocking certain People, certain Groups and certain Faiths!
This type of HUMOR must STOP, and it must STOP now, or more such TERRORISTS ATTACKS are likely to occur!
FACT: BILLIONS of PEOPLE are SICK and TIRED of being MOCKED, by IDIOTS and AZZHOLES like JON STEWART, BILL MAHER, STEPHEN COLBERT and TINY FAYE and RIGHT-WING-NUTS like RUSH LIMBAUGH!
NAAWP STANCE: If you want to tell JOKES and create SATIRE please continue to do so, but PERSONAL ATTACKS and FAITH BELIEFS should be left off the TABLE, because they are not FUNY and quite OFFENSIVE to a lot of FOLKS!
1) http://thedailybanter.com/2014/08/a-defense-of-offensive-comedy/
2) http://www.imdb.com/news/ni58153810/
3) http://www.vulture.com/2015/01/jon-stewart-conan-obrien-charlie-hebdo.html
4) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/business/media/stephen-colbert-prepares-final-colbert-report.html?_r=0
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for the ADVANCEMENT of AMERICA - 2015