Democracy in America


Bill Maher - Les conservateurs américains et la France
Vidéo envoyée par Liberlogos

Tendentious? Obviously - it's Maher. Funny and frequently - embarrassingly - spot on? Too often, yes.

His criticism of the polar opposite notions of privacy struck me as particularly accurate; why does the American press get to conflate transparency and the rights conferred by the First Amendment with "if it bleeds (reeks of personal tragedy, past sleaze, or could ruin this person's capacity to lead a normal life), it leads?" I appreciate that Le Monde recognizes my complete and utter indifference regarding whether or not Cecilia and Nicolas are shacking up on a regular basis, and under whose roof. And I know I'm not the first to surmise that low voter turn-out in the United States (compared to the over 85% recorded in May in France) could indeed be a direct result of the non-political issues that get trotted out and beaten mercilessly by reporters and pundits on every broadcast news channel, print daily, and radio station.

There's grub to chew on here, even if it's shelled out in cynical spurts and capped off with a hilarious poke in the eye. So to speak.

Mmm, BHL?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I love Bill Maher. I am not a fan of Lévy's. Thanks for the post, I already sent the clip off to a few friends.
Delphine
2/7/07 04:07
Aralena said…
Ditto, Delphine! I'm curious to see what American Vertigo looks like on the big screen, though...
2/7/07 08:54
Amy75 said…
That was great! Thanks for sharing. My highlight of the night is watching Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, I always forget to check out Bill Maher
4/7/07 17:23
R-M said…
Ah...on this 4th of July (as I diligently suffer through my last hurdle to join the ranks of legal professionals) it is refreshing to be reminded that there among us who actually care about the truth behind the news. I, for one, enjoyed the following commentary on the Libby pardon and its disturbing implications:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19588942/

Until 2008....
"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future."
John F. Kennedy
4/7/07 23:00
Aralena said…
Amy, I miss Jon Stewart like burritos and the Pacific Ocean... thanks for reminding me that I need to check him out on YouTube!

Rita-Marie, I am still wading through the Media and EU law doorstop that you gave me last semester - it's a fantastic source for this debate... the Libby mockery of justice has me stunned... sort of.
5/7/07 09:11
Anonymous said…
Hilarious video. I was just wondering, what was the coverage of Paris Hilton going to jail like in France? I have my fingers crossed that it was miniscule- in Australia (and in the US of course) it LED the news which was RIDICULOUS. Also, has there been a French version of Big Brother? I hope not!
10/7/07 17:37
Aralena said…
destinationmetz, I know that the free dailies ran some of the ridiculous Paris jailbird AP press feeds, but as far as I remember, her name didn't show up in Le Monde or the other "papers of record." I don't own a TV, so I have no idea if the on-air infos defiled the French airwaves... I really hope not!
18/7/07 13:50
Taj Nahal said…
excellent post -- I also wrote about this in my blog tajnahal.blogspot.com.
I saw this clip on the actual show a few weeks ago and was laughing so hard (out of humor and sadness) that I'm glad to see it on the net and translated in French.
29/7/07 01:06
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