Bill Maher's Take on Violent Video Games

Now, I know what you're thinking; who the hell cares what Bill Maher has to say about anything let alone video games.  Well, there's a reason why I'm bringing this up.  Game Informer had an article on their website that has a video of Bill Maher, on his TV show, talking about the effects of violent video games on children.  The article can be found here; 
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/03/21/bill-maher-tackles-violent-video-game-debate.aspx .  He feels it isn't the government's place to dictate what happens within the realms of 'fantasy'.  
 
But, in the video, he perpetuates the stereotypes of what a gamer in a lazy attempt at humor.  We're all fat, lazy, immature 'children' to people like him.  To me, his rationale for being against the proposed video game law had as much, if not more so, to do with the fact that that law is being pushed by Republicans rather than the view being congruent with his personal beliefs.
 
Now, I know I'm preaching to the choir when I bring up the ridiculousness of the stereotype ignorant people like Bill Maher believe and inevitably perpetuate.  But, my question is this; would you want a person like Bill Maher, who is as condescending to gamers as he is, to be on the gamers', developers', and publishers' side on legal matters concerning video games? 
 
I can see both sides but  I think the law isn't going to pass now or ever with, or without, Bill Maher's help.  So, though I appreciate that he's on our side I would rather he keeps his little condescending mouth to himself.
 
What about everyone else?

Wait, but aren't most gamers lazy, fat, and immature? 

" Wait, but aren't most gamers lazy, fat, and immature?  "

" Wait, but aren't most gamers lazy, fat, and immature?  "

I like the dude, but don't take him too seriously, he is after all a comedian.

" Wait, but aren't most gamers lazy, fat, and immature?  "

Bill Maher is a stupid hypocrite. As a liberal atheist, he is an embarrassment to my kind. Dude's as bigoted as any republican, just not towards the same things.

" @MooseyMcMan said:

" Wait, but aren't most gamers lazy, fat, and immature?  "

WE ARE NOT!  Shut up jerk-face! "

Almost nothing he says on that strikes me as being wrong. Embellished for comedic effect, but not wrong. 

Dude, you are totally missing the point. Bill Maher is far from ignorant, he's just a comedian, a funny one at that. He makes fun of people. 
 
This dude regularly sails his boat into international waters so he can smoke pot in peace. How's that for lazy and unproductive?

" Almost nothing he says on that strikes me as being wrong. Embellished for comedic effect, but not wrong.  "

Bill Maher is, to a rational extent, a libertarian. His dislike of the bill is very much congruent with his beliefs.  
If you let an adult non-gamer listen to ten minutes of XBL chatter, they would think the stereotype to be true as well. 

who dat?

" @JasonR86 said:

" @MooseyMcMan said:

" Wait, but aren't most gamers lazy, fat, and immature?  "

WE ARE NOT!  Shut up jerk-face! "

*wheezes for a bit then eats potato chips.  "

bill maher is a prick sometimes but i agree with him on a bunch of things, including this (mostly).

" If you let an adult non-gamer listen to ten minutes of XBL chatter, they would think the stereotype to be true as well.  "

" Now, I know what you're thinking; who the hell cares what Bill Maher has to say about anything

Once "nerd" and "geek" became a "cool" thing to be people needed a word to replace them, "gamer" was it. It doesn't even make sense anymore anyway since calling someone a gamer is about the same as calling someone a "movie watcher".

I'm not fat, but I am immature and lazy. Two out of three ain't bad.

" Bill Maher is, to a rational extent, a libertarian. His dislike of the bill is very much congruent with his beliefs.  If you let an adult non-gamer listen to ten minutes of XBL chatter, they would think the stereotype to be true as well.  "

When I say Bill Maher is a troll, I don't mean he's needlessly inflammatory in order to goat any kind of attention he can get from his echo chamber cunt audience. Does that applause sign need its own power source? What I mean when I say he's a troll is he has the facial structure of a Norwegian river bridge troll. The kind that eat babies and toll their bridge with riddles. Here's a riddle: where does someone who looks like that find the stones to comment on anyone else's appearance? Its a real conundrum.

All I know is I can't stand Bill Maher.

...I like Bill Maher.  That said, he can take his viewpoints to certain extremes. Usually, I agree with his big picture, but when he finds one or two fine details to harp on he can be a little abrasive.  I like having him as a far-left-o-meter to justify my middle-ness in politics. 

Let me make this statement first. I think that personal accountability for our actions is important, and I don't want or need the government censoring my media.  IF someone is negativily affected by some form of media that leads them to commit some hanous or criminal act, it is a failure on the part of the parents, and video games make for a weak scapegoat to poor parenting. In other words, violent tendencies can not spontaniouly generate in a child/adult due to violent media.
 
Now, let me play devil's advocate for a moment. What if they are right and violent video games do cause an increase in violent tendencies? What is the right course of action?

" @S0ndor:   But, if you watch the video, he's using comedy as the entertainment angle for his commentary.  But, there is still actual, serious commentary here.  I don't know, I guess I'm harder on him because I'm not a fan of his.  I just don't think unfunny comedy that makes fun of an activity I am involved in should be given a pass.  Especially when that comedy is just a string of insults with no punchline. "

" Wait, but aren't most gamers lazy, fat, and immature?  "

" Let me make this statement first. I think that personal accountability for our actions is important, and I don't want or need the government censoring my media.  IF someone is negativily affected by some form of media that leads them to commit some hanous or criminal act, it is a failure on the part of the parents, and video games make for a weak scapegoat to poor parenting. In other words, violent tendencies can not spontaniouly generate in a child/adult due to violent media.  Now, let me play devil's advocate for a moment. What if they are right and violent video games do cause an increase in violent tendencies? What is the right course of action? "

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Almost nothing he says on that strikes me as being wrong. Embellished for comedic effect, but not wrong.  "

As a gamer who is earning a masters degree, I think he's incredibly wrong here. "

" @JasonR86 said:

" @S0ndor:   But, if you watch the video, he's using comedy as the entertainment angle for his commentary.  But, there is still actual, serious commentary here.  I don't know, I guess I'm harder on him because I'm not a fan of his.  I just don't think unfunny comedy that makes fun of an activity I am involved in should be given a pass.  Especially when that comedy is just a string of insults with no punchline. "

The commentary is mainly about the bill and Republicans. His comments about gamers are just a by-product that he uses to explain his point that the Republicans make a big fuss about everything. He exaggerates and stereotypes for comedic effect and to help further illustrate his point. He uses a caricature to create an easily identifiable mental image for his audience. There's absolutely no reason to be offended by it, unless you want to be offended by it, or don't know what a caricature is, or have no sense of humour, or are having a particularly bad day. "

" @JasonR86 said:

" @S0ndor:   But, if you watch the video, he's using comedy as the entertainment angle for his commentary.  But, there is still actual, serious commentary here.  I don't know, I guess I'm harder on him because I'm not a fan of his.  I just don't think unfunny comedy that makes fun of an activity I am involved in should be given a pass.  Especially when that comedy is just a string of insults with no punchline. "

The commentary is mainly about the bill and Republicans. His comments about gamers are just a by-product that he uses to explain his point that the Republicans make a big fuss about everything. He exaggerates and stereotypes for comedic effect and to help further illustrate his point. He uses a caricature to create an easily identifiable mental image for his audience. There's absolutely no reason to be offended by it, unless you want to be offended by it, or don't know what a caricature is, or have no sense of humour, or are having a particularly bad day. "

he's not wrong, he's also not right.  It's just an opinion.

I don't care what Bill Maher has to say, he supports PETA and doesn't believe in germ theory or vaccinations... his opinions are invalid.  
 
And I think portraying gamers like that does more harm than good. He's a nut, plain and simple. 

good luck shutting up that loud mouth, but really who gives a shit what Bill Maher thinks?

" @JasonR86 said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Almost nothing he says on that strikes me as being wrong. Embellished for comedic effect, but not wrong.  "

As a gamer who is earning a masters degree, I think he's incredibly wrong here. "

And? In 2 months I'll have a masters degree. Im not fat but i am fucking lazy, the ability to get a degree is completely irrelevant  "

I'm pretty condescending to gamers too, we don't exactly help our own image out.

" @S0ndor said:

" @JasonR86 said:

" @S0ndor:   But, if you watch the video, he's using comedy as the entertainment angle for his commentary.  But, there is still actual, serious commentary here.  I don't know, I guess I'm harder on him because I'm not a fan of his.  I just don't think unfunny comedy that makes fun of an activity I am involved in should be given a pass.  Especially when that comedy is just a string of insults with no punchline. "

The commentary is mainly about the bill and Republicans. His comments about gamers are just a by-product that he uses to explain his point that the Republicans make a big fuss about everything. He exaggerates and stereotypes for comedic effect and to help further illustrate his point. He uses a caricature to create an easily identifiable mental image for his audience. There's absolutely no reason to be offended by it, unless you want to be offended by it, or don't know what a caricature is, or have no sense of humour, or are having a particularly bad day. "

Even funnier since the bills dealing with video game violence have, overwhelmingly, come from Democrats. "

My take on your reaction:
  

I'm not immature, but I am fat and slightly lazy.

Although I do have the social skills of a molerat, I blame a history of weight problems/social rejection/gender identity bullshit/questionings of sexuality/body image problems/natural mental illnesses and other unmentionables (If these are the mentionables, then what are the unmentionables?!). Bill has always been one to... what's that word? Suck. The same goes to his audience. How many times can a "Sarah Palin is dumb" joke be laughed at? 
 
I get that he's a comedian and all, but the general rule of comedy is that you have to make something funny if you want to get away with it. Maher's technique of spamming jokes should be shunned at all times.

Wait isn't Bill Maher a comedian? So his opinion or thoughts on video games and the possible slothfulness of their consumers kinda don't matter. 
Also when your constantly hitting on girls young enough to be your granddaughter then your knowledge of "gaming culture" takes a back seat so you are forced to use hack material to cover for your ignorance on the subject at hand.

" I don't care what Bill Maher has to say, he supports PETA and doesn't believe in germ theory or vaccinations... his opinions are invalid.   And I think portraying gamers like that does more harm than good. He's a nut, plain and simple.  "

When I watched the Bill Maher video, all I could think of was: 
 
"Hey Brian, if cops are pigs, does that make you a snausage?" 
 
"Good one Peter. Did you stay up all night thinking of that one?" 
 
"I got to bed around 2, 2:30."

Jeff Gerstmann fell asleep during a guild wars 2 interview, then joked about it... - Point made

I agree with Bill Maher on a lot of things. 
 
When compared to other popular political commentators, he is streets ahead.

Well as someone who has a fast metabolism & 2 college degrees I sure don't feel lazy or fat while being in love with video games/game industry.

Personally, I believe the government, and people like Jack Thompson, need to stop singling out video games as sources of violent behavior. As has been mentioned, its simply a scapegoat for bad parenting. In addition, anyone who does commit serious acts of violence probably has some other problems that they need to deal with; it's not just caused by playing violent videogames. 
 
As for having Bill Maher on our side? I could honestly care less because as the topic creator said, it probably won't make much of a difference in the violent video game law passing.

Seriously, the guy's forehead is so big. I feel like if I slew him, I'd take his forehead for a trophy and turn it into the feast table at my meadhall.

" @l4wd0g said:

" Let me make this statement first. I think that personal accountability for our actions is important, and I don't want or need the government censoring my media.  IF someone is negativily affected by some form of media that leads them to commit some hanous or criminal act, it is a failure on the part of the parents, and video games make for a weak scapegoat to poor parenting. In other words, violent tendencies can not spontaniouly generate in a child/adult due to violent media.  Now, let me play devil's advocate for a moment. What if they are right and violent video games do cause an increase in violent tendencies? What is the right course of action? "

Well, first, you'd have to explain why games are specifically causing violent actions when things like movies, art, and music are not. Otherwise, you'd have to explain why one time of speech is not deserving of protections while others are.  Video games do not cause violence. Never have. As pointed out, plenty of violence before Nolan Bushnell shat out an Atari. "