Clarion Content

The Clarion Content is not typically a fan of Bill Maher. We have no truck with the man, rather we have been little exposed, and have hardly encountered his work. We came across a most fascinating piece of his the other day on the Huffington Post.

The thesis, tongue only partially in cheek, is that white American males are really who is dragging the country into the toilet. There is a deterioration in the morality of America. Standards for civility have dropped off of the proverbial cliff. Maher uses Brett Favre's recent scandal as his whipping post, but he could have easily picked from half a hundred others.

He says that the white American male is threatened by the surge of immigration in the last thirty years that has left them heading towards a plurality with African-Americans, Latinos and Asians. As Maher puts it, "the president is black, and the best golfer is black, and the Secretary of State is a woman, and suddenly this country is way off track and needs some serious restoring."

Next, he flips this white male degeneration around and attributes to it the popularity of "Sarah Palin, Christine O'Donnell, Michele Bachmann; the lovely MILFs of the new right.." He goes on to put this popularity in context, "...and their little secret is that their popularity comes exclusively from white men. Look at the polling: minorities hate them, women hate them -- only white men like them. I'm no psychiatrist, but I do own a couch, and my theory is that these women represent something those men miss dearly: the traditional, idiot housewife...If an election between Obama and Sarah Palin were held today, and only white men could vote, Sarah Palin would be president."

An eyeopening social cultural perspective that dances on the nexus where the humorous, the absurd and the real meet. Good work, Bill Maher. Check it out here.


Incidentally another writer who works a fascinating pop cultural nexus is Stephen Marche. His brilliant "1,000 words About Our Culture" column can be found here at Esquire. Check him out!

Labels: Politics, Pop Culture, thought