Bill Maher used the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks to say something that once required no courage at all: terrorists are terrorists.That the observation now counts as provocative says something about how far we’ve come since 2001.
Bill Maher Delivers A Brutal 9/11 Reality Check To The Left
“Back then we were against the terrorists…”
On Real Time with Bill Maher, in a segment titled “Clash of Civilizations,” Maher walked through what has happened in the 25 years since 9/11.
“Since it’s the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and since, for 25 years, we’ve been kept relatively safe from anything close to another 9/11, how about a hand for the Americans who made that happen? Because it didn’t just happen; there was a war on terror, and we won,” he said. “And yet so much has changed since 9/11; for example, back then we were against the terrorists.”
The audience laughed, but he was being serious.
Around the 20th anniversary, for example, four American journalism associations issued guidance insisting that “terrorism should only be used in quotes because it’s emotionally and politically loaded.” Canadian state broadcasters instructed staff, “Do not refer to the September 11th attacks as terrorist attacks.” The BBC told its reporters that using the word “terrorist” can be a “barrier rather than an aid to understanding.”
The pattern shows that the media establishment many years ago concluded moral clarity amounted to a kind of bigotry and that to name an ideology responsible for mass murder was the same as harboring hatred towards all those who happen to share that ideology. Continue reading Bill Maher: “Back then we were against the terrorists…”
























