For years, entertainers Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Lin Manuel Miranda were immensely popular figures on the progressive Left. Maher, an irreverent comedian whose barbs at Republicans, conservatives and religion delighted his infamously left-wing audience. Stewart made it fashionable for late night comedians to act as partisan commentators who heavily favor one tribe over the other (several of those knocking off his schtick peddle a less sophisticated, and certainly less funny, version of it). And Miranda rocketed to stardom by masterminding a monster, ingenious hit on Broadway about the founding of the country, Hamilton. Each man now finds himself no longer basking in exulted status among many of their fellow travelers, as the cheers turn into grumble -- or even outright hostility.
Maher is increasingly at odds with his tribe, voicing views on issues ranging from COVID to Israel that are anathema on the hard Left. He uses his HBO platform to wage war against runaway wokeness on a weekly basis, eagerly leaning into the battle. After virtually every show nowadays, Very Online leftists bitterly grouse and rage about his comments; one member of the Squad famously floated a boycott of his show, an echo of a right-wing pressure campaign from long ago. Confronted with criticism and backlash, Maher's approach has been defiant and unapologetic. He seems to relish the fight, and if there's going to be a culture war on the Left, he wants to help wage it. Here's the latest example of his verbal fisticuffs, jabbing hard at young wokesters who seem to have no knowledge of history or, ironically, appreciation for true progress:
If you think America is more racist now than ever, more sexist than before women could vote and more homophobic than when blow jobs were a felony, you have #Progressophobia and you should adjust your mask because its covering your eyes. #BY pic.twitter.com/qFUFwO3eNJ
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) June 12, 2021
"Here's the thing kids: There actually was a world before you got here." Miranda seems to be bewildered and a bit lost as those same kids target him. He's been battered by constant criticism from the ascendant leftist coalition of genuine radicals, self-righteous preeners, relentlessly nagging 'problematic' police, and the envious -- whose presence on such bandwagons is all about dragging down others as form of destructive therapy to soothe their own gnawing sense of inadequacy. Facing a barrage of whining and scolding -- on Hamilton flunking "equity" tests and being too pro-America, on not performing the requisite gyrations on behalf of social justice, and on failing to satisfy niche demands from tiny corners of the woke peanut gallery -- Miranda seems to be consistently adopting a groveling 'duck and cover' response. The apologies are piling up:
?? “your obedient servant…” pic.twitter.com/8nGqIPfmwa
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) June 15, 2021
The criticisms are "all valid" and he's very sorry for "falling short," he pleads, inviting future rounds of calumny from the insatiable, bad-faith mob. Hating and mocking him has apparently become a pastime among lefty Gen. Zers, who no doubt delight in extracting and not accepting apology after apology, which only add to the "cringe:"
[The era of peak Miranda popularity] is a bewildering contrast to now, when name-dropping Miranda on the internet will, at least among a certain, acerbic internet demographic, likely invoke a flood of merciless memes, largely revolving around an infamous series of selfies in which Miranda is rather dramatically biting his lips, or delighted mockery of some Hamilton demo tracks, all sung by Miranda, whose vocals have failed to impress the TikTokers who recently discovered them. On the face of it, Miranda seems to have, much like skinny jeans and side parts, become a casualty of the intergenerational feud between millennials and Gen Z, in which the former’s pop culture becomes fodder for the latter’s cringe culture...It’s not just Miranda who has been reexamined. The release of Hamilton on Disney+ last summer prompted viewers to reassess the musical as well.
The very form of liberalism that ran among Hamilton’s often very white millennial audience has undergone a reckoning. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and Donald Trump’s presidency, America’s conversations about race have become franker. In 2019, the writer Ishmael Reed expressed his criticisms of the musical by penning a play, The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, and compared Hamilton to Ohio kidnapper Ariel Castro, who held three women captive in his basement. And when the musical finally opened in Puerto Rico in 2019, it wasn’t entirely welcomed. “It’s true that there was some pushback against Miranda when he brought Hamilton to Puerto Rico, but that was mainly from a younger, more activist core group..." The outpouring of praise for the musical’s diversity gave way to criticism of the fact that it lionized the Founding Fathers and glossed over their involvement with slavery. The idealistic celebration of immigrants as America’s founders felt disingenuous to critics of the show’s focus on enslavers and colonizers as the “young, scrappy, and hungry” protagonists.
Miranda is learning the same lesson that was obnoxiously directed at Tom Hanks in a recent op/ed published by NPR: With this crowd, nothing is ever good enough. Literally:
It's wonderful that Hanks stepped forward to advocate for teaching about a race-based massacre – indirectly pushing back against all the hyperventilating about critical race theory that's too often more about silencing such lessons on America's darkest chapters. But it is not enough...He is a baby boomer star who has built a sizable part of his career on stories about American white men "doing the right thing." ...For those of us who speak often on these issues, one of the toughest things to do is to go to a white person who is trying hard to be an ally and tell them they need to do more...So I am saying it is time for folks like Hanks to be anti-racist. If he really wants to make a difference, Hanks and other stars need to talk specifically about how their work has contributed to these problems and how they will change.
Those who commit to trying to please the beast volunteer to be held captive by their capricious and ever-shifting whims. That's why Maher seems to have decided to plant his feet and fight. Which brings us to Stewart, the longtime Daily Show host, who is getting roasted among some leftists for his amusing, manic rant on Stephen Colbert's show about COVID and the Wuhan lab leak theory. Embracing this theory as viable, plausible or likely, they seem to believe, is an "anti-science" right-wing "conspiracy theory." They also insist that thinking or speaking critically about the actions of the Chinese Communist Party is tantamount to putting Asian Americans in danger. Many of these same people do not hesitate to criticize Israel, even as Western Jews are beaten in the streets, but that's different. Of course the lab leak theory was always viable and plausible, if not likely. Those who publicly entertained it -- even eminent scientists -- were mocked or threatened. But now it's going far more mainstream, as the sniffing dismissals aren't holding up. It's been a revealing episode for the media, self-appointed "misinformation" watchdogs, and the cozy and smug guardians of liberal-left conventional wisdom. But that obsolete 'wisdom' has obviously taken deep root among many leftists, who are recoiling in horror as one of their longstanding favorites takes the "wrong" side while skewering the irrationality of "right" thinkers such as themselves. Here is Stewart committing sin against the High Church of dogmatic leftism:
Right now: Jon Stewart on the Covid Lab Leak “theory” is solid laughs pic.twitter.com/WlRX35p9WK
— siskin.eth (@mns) June 15, 2021
Colbert's lame zinger about Sen. Ron Johnson is just the cherry on top. The former fans are angry. How could he do this to us, and agree with...them, they stammer, evidently impervious to the growing chorus that the conspiracy theory they associate with the Bads is actually entirely possible. The narrative is deeply ingrained. How will Stewart respond, if at all? Will he stick to his guns and even double down, Maher-style, or try to placate the angry hordes?
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