'Boneheaded' Bill Maher criticized for comments on race and Chicago gun violence

Writing for The Daily Beast on Monday, left-wing columnist Ben Burgis criticized late-night host Bill Maher for a "boneheaded and wrong" discussion around race and gun violence with University of Washington international studies professor Daniel Bessner, centering on crime in Chicago.

"The first topic Maher threw to the panel was about gun violence. He mentioned several incidents, including some in Chicago. Bessner suggested that, while some of the other incidents Maher mentioned might have other causes, trends in Chicago — a city that’s been particularly afflicted by gang violence — were 'more linked to social conditions, socioeconomic conditions, the disbelief that there is anywhere to go in terms of improving your lot in society,'" wrote Burgis. "Maher immediately dismissed this. 'You sounds like the Mayor-Elect.' Johnson, who recently won Chicago’s Mayoral election, is a Chicago Teachers Union activist well to the left of outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot or his runoff opponent Paul Vallas. During the election, Johnson was constantly accused by conservatives and centrists of wanting to 'defund the police.'"

"Bessner said that he of course agreed that violence is morally wrong, but if you’re going to 'approach it on the level of policy,' you need to 'attack it at the level of socioeconomics, not culture,'" wrote Burgis. "Maher and Loury would have none of this. Instead, they suggested Johnson needs to show 'moral leadership' by condemning the violence more strongly. Most confusingly, Maher also seemed to want 'moral leadership' from random celebrities who share the skin color of the perpetrators and victims, arguing that since most murders in Chicago are a matter of young Black men killing other young Black men, Black celebrities should speak out more to condemn that violence. (I wonder if Maher thinks that somewhere in Chicago, there’s a gang member who would stop shooting people tomorrow if only he knew that Chris Rock thinks that shooting people is wrong.)"

Maher broadly dismissed the idea that "throwing money at" socioeconomic conditions prevents crime — even though a wealth of studies say it does — and claimed the U.S. has been waging a "war on poverty" for decades with no results, even though social spending actually did lift people out of poverty.

Ultimately, Burgis alleged, Maher has "no idea what he's talking about."

"Like other rich California liberals, he’s always liked weed, supported gay rights (though he has been widely criticized for his transphobic rants), and thought conservative politicians were 'idiots,'" concluded Burgis. "But that doesn’t mean he’s ever been a leftist in any deeper sense. If you want to hear old jokes about Sarah Palin reheated and served up as jokes about Marjorie Taylor Greene, watch Bill Maher. If you want to hear well-thought-out analysis of what’s wrong with our society, then — at least on nights when Daniel Bessner isn’t on Bill’s panel — you’re better off changing the channel."