From the Editors

“We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away, that’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.” This is the comment that Bill Maher, the host of Politically Incorrect, made that forced him to make a formal apology.

Politically Incorrect airs on ABC’s late night line-up. The comment was made on the first episode after the terrorist attacks, Monday, Sept. 17. On Tuesday, ABC and Maher were defending the show by saying, it “celebrates freedom of speech.” But on Wednesday, something happened that made the attitude of the host do a complete 180.

FedEx and Sears, Roebuck and Company both pulled their ads. Customers had complained about the endorsement of the show, so the two companies took action. Maher decided to apologize.

“In no way was I intending to say, nor have I ever thought, that the men and women who defend our nation in uniform are anything but courageous and valiant, and I offer my apologies to anyone who took it wrong,” said Maher. “My criticism was meant for politicians who, fearing public reaction, have not allowed our military to do the job they are obviously ready, willing and able to do and who now will, I’m certain, as they always have, get it done.”

The title of the show alone allows viewers, and even those who choose not to view, to know that it is not for the highly sensitive. The public usually allows Politically Incorrect to get away with just about anything, but this tragic event is enough to change anyone’s view.

The show itself encountered a great personal loss due to the attack on the United States. Barbara Olson, a conservative commentator, was a frequent guest on the show. She was on the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon. One of the guest chairs was left empty last week in her memory.

This topic is controversial and confusing. The point of the show is to do exactly what the title says. It is meant to shock the public and for them to be able to listen to different views as they are being discussed openly. It is a forum of free speech. On the other hand, our nation has just endured, or I should say, is enduring the greatest tragedy in its history. Is this a time to be speaking lightly about the events?

All of this commotion began with a discussion with author Dinesh D’Souza, who disagreed with President George W. Bush for calling the terrorists “cowards.”

“Although I think Bush has been doing a great job, one of the themes we hear constantly is that the people who did this are cowards,” said D’Souza. “Not true. Look at what they did. First of all, you have a whole bunch of guys who are willing to give their life. None of `em backed out. All of them slammed themselves into pieces of concrete. These are warriors.”

We do have to look at this situation from all sides, and that means understanding that the terrorists look at themselves as warriors. So if they are, they are crazy ones in my opinion.

Every comment that is made about this particular stream of events should be thought about before it is said. Just like every other situation in this world.words can never be taken back.

Maybe Maher just wasn’t able to fully express what he was feeling, and it was taken out of context. Maybe he meant what he said, and now that he is threatened by losing funding, he wants the public to believe that he did not mean it. But he sticks with the comment that he made while trying to correct himself.

“It’s our government, it’s our politicians, who have been cowardly in not letting the military do their job,” said Maher.

If he was trying to make amends, I don’t think that he did a very good job. This is not a time to be denouncing our government. The citizens of this country need to feel a sense of security right now. None of us have been through an event quit like this before.

We have leaders who have studied foreign affairs to extents that most of us will never fathom. We have decision-makers that have studied how previous wars started, evolved and ended. Some of the smartest and most educated men and women are making decisions for the United States right now, and that is exactly what we need.

I believe that Maher has over stepped his bounds this time. He is not a law-decision or policy-maker for this country, and he should not be condemning those that are.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 5 2001. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry