During his closing monologue on Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher criticized media rhetoric when it comes to radical Islamic terrorism and said that, for them, “when it comes to terrorist attacks, please, there are very fine people on both sides.”
Maher began by saying, “[S]o much has changed since 9/11, for example, back then, we were against the terrorists. Really, no cap. Now, a lot of media outlets don’t even want you to say the t-word. On the 20th anniversary, four American journalism associations put out guidance that said that terrorism should only be used in quotes, because it’s ’emotionally and politically loaded.’ Yeah, so is the World Cup, but we don’t put soccer in quotes.”
He added, “Really, we can’t, anymore, just say out loud who the bad guys were that morning, those 19 hijackers? They shared something. Oh, let’s call it a worldview. And it wasn’t astrology. But, somehow, over time, we’ve decided not to harp on that, the whole business about who wanted us dead and why. Let’s not put a name on it, when it comes to terrorist attacks, please, there are very fine people on both sides.”
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