Memes Abounded on a New “Real Time With Bill Maher"

If you’ve been keeping up on the news in the last few weeks, you’ve probably encountered a very surreal wrinkle to some very unsettling events: namely, the presence of memes in several high-profile shootings. For those of us who are not extremely online — and even for some of us who are, just in different ways — it can be difficult to parse out what’s happening and what a series of seemingly random words written on ammunition might mean.

This helps explain why Maher’s first guest on Friday’s Real Time was writer Aidan Walker, who described himself as a “meme researcher.” (And, later in the episode: “I try to figure out what they say about us and about society.”) He’s 26; it was his first time appearing on the show. And he acquitted himself very well, giving a good encapsulation on his area of expertise while also challenging Maher on a few of his assertions.

Walker provided one theory behind shooters’ use of memes, calling it “a nihilistic attempt to draw attention to himself and also to call into question the entire world that older people live in.”

He went on to address how some people can become alienated from much of what’s around them. “A lot of especially young people who don’t see a future for themselves — they feel lonely, they feel alienated, and they congregate in these spaces outside of the mainstream, where they feel like that online world is more important than their real world,” he explained. In other words, there’s frustration with their job prospects and interpersonal interactions, but there are also plenty of possibilities online.

Maher brought up the miniseries Adolescence and the way that series used memes as part of its plotline. Walker pointed to the role of irony in certain subsets of online culture, and Maher took a moment to express his frustration with self-described incels and revisited his younger days, when he was also, shall we say, involuntarily celibate. “They blame the women!” he said. “I never blamed the women. I knew it was I who was lame.”

From there, Maher returned to one of his recurring themes: asking if the younger generation is confused because there’s more discussion of sex and gender in schools. “Nobody ever suggested to me that I might be in the wrong body,” he said.

Walker pushed back on this. “I think that when you were a kid and that was the situation, it led to a whole lot of problems, too, but we didn’t talk about them,” he said. When Maher asked for specifics, Walker replied, “People who weren’t able to be their full selves.” Walker also noted that it was strange for the two of them to be discussing schools, since neither of them is a professional educator.

When he was introducing the night’s panelists, Maher returned to another point he’s made a lot this year: that elected Democrats are not taking him up on his invitations to appear on Real Time. “The Republicans show up, the Democrats do not,” he said. This evening’s panel consisted of CNN’s Michael Smerconish and Rep. Nancy Mace.

Maher brought up the recent indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. Mace minimized the controversy, pointing out that Democrats had criticized Comey in the past, to which Maher pointed out that criticism is a bit different from bringing criminal charges. Smerconish, meanwhile, reminded the audience that was not much of a fan of the criminal cases made against Donald Trump in recent years, but said of the Comey indictment, “This is worse.” Specifically, he was worried about the precedent it set.

Bill Maher Had Plenty to Say About Jimmy Kimmel on “Real Time”

Censorship, networks and the border were all on the agenda this week

Also up for discussion this week? One of Maher’s guests from last week, Tom Homan, who it turns out was under investigation for bribery until recently. Maher, Smerconish and Mace also discussed other current events, including the Trump administration’s stance on Tylenol and their seeming shift in policy regarding Ukraine.

By episode’s end, Maher returned to another familiar theme: arguing for a grand bargain between right and left, which doubled as a rundown of various issues Maher has with thinkers on both sides of the ideological divide. (His advice to Republicans: “Find one thing Trump wants and tell him, ‘No.’”) Maher’s spoken about this kind of bargain before; whether such a deal is actually possible — or who the signatories would be — is less clear.

Other notable moments from this week’s episode:

Maher on Taco Bell coming to Ireland: “This is like bringing a restaurant to France called ‘Snails and Shitty Attitude.’”
Maher on the country getting increasingly authoritarian: “I think Trump could be in the general’s uniform by Christmas.”
Maher on the president’s tariffs on pharmaceuticals: “He wants all our drugs to be local. Pharma to table.”
Maher on religious displays: “Dragging the cross — that really wasn’t the hard part of the cross. It’s getting up on it.”

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…