Maher: ‘Pretty Much the Entire Mainstream Media’ Is ‘Useless’ on Rushdie Attack

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that “pretty much the entire mainstream media” has been “useless” on the attack on Salman Rushdie and liberals “should be supporting people like Silvana Fardos and the vast majority of Muslims who came to this country because they didn’t want to live under this kind of thuggery and theocracy” that led to the attack.

Maher said, “The person the world needs to hear from most about the attack on Salman Rushdie, the person with the strongest moral voice on the issue of Islamist-inspired violence is Salman Rushdie. And the fact that he can’t speak right now shows us that the wrong side won this round. And make no mistake, there are two sides to this, and no, they don’t break down to Muslim and non-Muslim. There are many brave Muslims, and many cowardly, stupid liberals. If all you can muster to say about this event is stabbing is bad and I’m against it, without looking at the reasons behind it, you’re useless. And that describes pretty much the entire mainstream media.”

He later added, “This is Silvana Fardos. She is the mother of the young man who stabbed my friend. When she was asked what she now had to say to her son, Ms. Fardos said, ‘I have nothing to say to him.’ She said, ‘I’m done with him.’ Okay, that’s a hero. That’s courage. Silvana Fardos could’ve spewed the kind of weasly crap we heard from so many faint-hearted writers after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, nonsense about how those murdered cartoonists had it coming because they were ‘punching down,’ and well, yes, a room full of corpses, but on the other hand, those cartoons were offensive. But she didn’t do that. She had the guts to say, I give no quarter to people who think like that, even when it’s my son. Now, am I saying every Muslim house is harboring a terrorist? No. What I am saying is, liberals, instead of screaming Islamophobia every time someone points out the unique right that Islam demands to kill you if you insult their god, you should be supporting people like Silvana Fardos and the vast majority of Muslims who came to this country because they didn’t want to live under this kind of thuggery and theocracy.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett