Maher and Mao

Bill Maher is a social commentator and the host of a long-running HBO series. He leans Left, but over the past few years, Maher has begun to question a number of the left's orthodoxies (much to the chagrin of many of his progressive fans). He has, as they currently say, been red-pilled—at least on some subjects.

The modern version of what was once called political correctness is woke culture. It's basic tents are commendable——treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. But over the past decade, its extreme elements have gone far, far beyond that and have become ominous. Here's Maher on the subject:

The pull-quote from the video is: "If you can't see the  similarities between Mao's Cultural Revolution and this [extreme woke culture], the person who needs re-education is you."

 

Maher describes a few instances of the more extreme elements of woke culture that should be rejected by any thinking person who believes in the rights of all people to express themselves without fear of "re-education" and/or retribution.

Maher concludes: 

"Good intentions can turn into the insane arrogance of thinking that your revolution is so f**king awesome and your generation is so mind-bendingly improved that you have bequeathed the world with a new kind of human ..."

Sure, we all want to be kinder, and more understanding, more thoughtful of others and more inclusive of new ideas. But when those laudable traits are enforced by group actions that can only be characterized as authoritarian—'think, talk and act exactly as we demand, or else'—we begin to edge ever-closer to Mao's vision of a utopian world.