Start your weekend laughing! Bill Maher is onboardthe GC train and telling it like it is.

[DontLikeCrumpets]

Listening to a clip from an American comedian is in no way equivalent to voting for someone. Hope that helps!

Well you could ask, why is Donna Brazile aligning herself with Bill Maher by appearing on his show?

All this 'aligning' - so exhausting to keep up with.

I know, Spindle. I opened a newspaper the other day and read a quote from Vladimir Putin. I'll be turning myself in at the local police station later.

True. I was reading the Australian election thread and a number of posters have said they went for a 'least crap option' on the ballot. They certainly don't feel 'aligned' with the winner(s). They just loathed the alternative.

OK. This is getting confusing.

Someone says something you agree with. But it's not OK to highlight that they are saying something you agree with if they have also said things you disagree with?

Saying that you agree with the thing they said means you are giving approval for the things they said in the past.

Except if you are one of the scolds.

Maybe before we can be considered fully grown and independently thinking women who fight for women’s rights we should submit a list of all our interests, all our thoughts on all issues and all the people we listen to, read and talk to, even smile at for approval first.

And same goes for any man who wishes to fight for women’s rights.

Your problem is that even unfunny comedians can see just how utterly batshit gender ideology is. Far more people across the whole of the left and of the right see it for what it is than accept it! Even the kids.

I don't align myself with him, he an older white, male American. But I do agree with him on this.

You can keep your Politics of Purity. I shall maintain my humanity.

Lol at the posters rushing here to tell us that so and so cares nothing about women or this person isn’t a feminist

as if the likes of stonewall care about women or Owen Jones is a feminist

No of course he doesn't give a shit about women. Lots of people who don't give a shit about women are on the side of sanity with this issue. A stopped clock and all that. Im just glad the message is being spread further and wider and more people are being made aware of what is going on. It doesn't mean I'm 'aligning' myself with Maher or Piers Morgan or Nick Ferrari

For the avoidance of doubt, I'd like to make clear that when I support gay marriage and other rights, I'm not aligning myself with Owen Jones.

I appreciated most of this until he said 'if you want to know what life without balls is like, just get married' and then this piece lost its value. When someone I respect can talk about this issue (in an amusing way) I'd be happy to share it. I don't know anything about Bill M but that comment told me most of what I need to know.

My only concern is the transgender agenda trumping the rights of every other group, and always first to be quashed is women. THAT's my issue. I don't care if people want to wear dresses/trousers/call themselves Hilda. I do care when people with biologically male bodies want to compete in female sports, I do care when female only toilets/changing rooms are not a safe space any more (equally I would hate to think of a transgender woman feeling unsafe in male toilets - and it is likely they would be unsafe) so I don't know what the solution is there. I do worry about self identification being absolute law - rife for abuse from predators. I do worry about the 'trendiness' of it and confused teens making permanent medical decisions they might live to regret. The whole thing is such a bloody tangled web but I have to give a slow clap to the transgender lobby for being so vicious that to declare doubt or confusion, to stand up for your own rights instantly renders you a hateful bigot. How on earth did they manage that?

I wish he'd separated out the LGBT into LGB and TQIA+ because that would have made the data at the start clearer. And he's wrong about a few things such as it being cool to be LGBT, because it's not. The L is almost disappeared (wouldn't be surprised if the lesbian pride grand marshal is male, but hopefully I'm wrong), and the B is always told they're actually Pan. That leaves the G who are pretty boring, like Maher says, unless they make themselves cool by being "trans allies".

But he hits some strong points home and given it's been viewed 1.1 million times in 24hrs, that's fine. The fact that Finland and Sweden's cessation of puberty blocker use was mentioned is incredibly important because so many people aren't aware.

I've no idea about Maher, but he hit some blinders. So good on him for this. I quite probably disagree with him on many other issues, but that doesn't differentiate him from many Mumsnetters, even in this board, does it. It's a fallacy to say we agree with certain people on all things. Nobody does.

"Was there a mix up at the plant?" 😂

I'm glad he spoke about it and I'm glad he focused on the effect on children and on the ACLU, people need to be speaking about it more.

But he hits some strong points home and given it's been viewed 1.1 million times in 24hrs, that's fine. The fact that Finland and Sweden's cessation of puberty blocker use was mentioned is incredibly important because so many people aren't aware.

Indeed, to some extent, what he's actually saying isn't the most important thing. What's really important is seeing those real headlines, and Abigail Shrier's book, up there on-screen. The comedian shtick is just the delivery mechanism - it's what ropes in the audience to receive the message.

As many people as possible need to be exposed to those headlines, and books like Shriers, so the issues with gender ideology enter public consciousness.

And, yes, that includes whoever enjoys Bill Maher's show in the US.

What we're celebrating here is seeing more exposure in more parts of the media.

He plugged Abigail Shrier. He's raised the issue of the mutilation and sterilisation of thousands of children to the American public. He's okay by me for doing this. I've never heard of him before, have no idea of his background, probably won't like much else he says, but on this he's right and I welcome the fact that he said it. Doesn't mean I'll watch him, doesn't mean I like him. On this issue he's on the money.

I used to be much more 'you can't quote him, he's sexist and now you're aligned with a sexist'. Now I realise that's exactly how the woke left think and how we got into this situation. People want us to ignore the truth in front of us because the people who are pointing it out are not 'our' people.

Surely by the scolds' logic, they are aligning themselves with GC by posting on this thread?

You could hear a lot of nervous laughs in the studio.

Hm, yes, Abigail Shrier's book looks like it's doing pretty well.

www.amazon.com/Irreversible-Damage-Transgender-Seducing-Daughters/dp/168451228X/

I love it when you people say stuff like this. Nothing shows more clearly that you do not have single argument left that you attack the speaker, not the content of what they are saying.

And no, agreeing with one thing someone says does not 'align' you with them. It just means you agree with that one thing they have said.

You really need to separate out agreeing with one specific argument and endorsing the entirety of the human who espoused that point. Being able to do this really is the bedrock of civil discourse and rational thinking.

Oh no, what have we done wrong now?

We has watched a youtube video, Floisme. And it is made by a man who some people think we shouldn't vote for.

I think.

When I see people in here embracing bad comedians because they have some anti-trans material

What did he say that was anti-trans? What I heard him say that being trans is a real thing and some people really are, and its good that people feel about to come out as LGBTQ . What I heard him say is that the reasons for the huge rise in people identifying as trans needs to be discussed and that endorsement of children being trans is a particular concern that needs to be discussed, as the huge rise indicates it may be due to socialisation and as there is a medical pathway for children who identify as trans, it is concerning if children are influenced by social pressure.

So what did you hear him say that was anti-trans?

He mentioned the rather significant fact that Sweden and Finland have stopped giving out puberty blockers to kids. Awkward.....

I also liked it when he said that girls who don't like girly stuff need to learn that being female doesn't mean you have to act like a Kardashian.

Yeah, maybe he is a knob, maybe I disagree with him on lots of other issues. So what?

I agree with Owen Jones on quite a lot of issues.

I also vehemently disagree with him on the trans issue, I think he has a big misogynistic streak running through him, and I think he is a complete wally in the way that he conducts himself.

And.....?

I agree with this