I’m not sure what it is about him that annoys me. I think it’s because he reminds me of Ben Elton.
1 Like
Each to their own. I like how silly he can be.
1 Like
Very good analysis, in my opinion. John Oliver has always loved being a “problem child” (mocking AT&T and HBO and everyone else that employs him). Most certainly has Xinnie furious right now…
2 Likes
I find the man funny, just as I found Ben Elton’s early stuff funny.
It’s my issue that I find them both irritating.
2 Likes
I can’t stand American progressives either, but I’ve never encountered one who hates democracy and loves the CCP. I think you’re conflating American progressives with communists.
2 Likes
There are many comparisons that can be drawn.
You’ve never encountered a progressive who doesn’t hate democracy?
I can say that the “progressive” people in my university in Canada (friends, classmates, and colleagues) were for the most part hilariously ignorant of the world and its history. They didn’t have much of an opinion about China other than lumping it into the non-Western world, and couldn’t find Taiwan on a map.
2 Likes
Comparisons can be drawn with anything. That doesn’t mean anything. American progressives and communists are totally different things.
I’ve never encountered an American progressive who hates democracy. They often argue that American democracy is a lie (and, on this point, I’d actually agree with them), and they turn into crybabies when democracy doesn’t go their way (this happened with the student activist UK left after they lost the Brexit vote too), but they use every justification in the book to try to explain why their ridiculous views are democratic and they even believe the shit they say.
Teehee. Hating an american progressive that is actually a british person that got famous shitting on americans and gained us citizenship.
He has an opinion show, and a comedy one at that. And he is good at making people that live in the worlds of sarcasm and passive agressiveness laugh. Let em be. He isnt the news, nor anyone important as far as policies go. He is a funny comedian 
The fact taiwan relies on such to improve its image is just sad. And thats not saying anything bad about John, but it is just sad.
1 Like
OK, I get your point.
Indeed, progressives talk democracy but don’t do democracy.
I watch him occasionally. Disregarding his political views, I think the show is well-written and they often come up with cool surprises in the end. The topics they tackle are also sometimes quite different from what will be discussed elsewhere.
Not a big fan, but there are certainly people that I find less watchable, like Bill Maher.
3 Likes
That episode was really well done.
I love the moment when John Oliver tells his audience that Freddy Lim is now a member of Taiwan’s parliament. The collective gasp was awesome.
Chinese Fucking Taipei! 
Guy
4 Likes
To be fair, I don’t think conservatives fare much better. I’ve learnt in recent years that, in the siloed age of social media, people in general will convince themselves of all sorts of doublethink to justify why their side is right and in accordance with the principals they claim to stand for even when it’s objectively not the case.
But so-called “progressives” have definitely proven themselves to be the biggest hypocrites when it comes to this. But it might just appear that way to me because they’re the ones in the seats of power in most of the media, academia, etc. so their bare-faced hypocrisy is more apparent.
1 Like
So how important was this episode of Last Week Tonight? According to this tweet, it shall go down in history!
Guy
2 Likes
The word for both sides is extremist. Accepting that makes things a lot easier to accept.
EDIT: I don’t consider conservatives to be extremists. Progressives and the far right are.
He reminds me of a lot of British teachers I’ve worked with in Korea and Taiwan (quick witted and erudite, but a bit smug occasionally bordering on condescending). I know that’s a stereotypical view of Brits (especially British academics), but yeah…
1 Like
Surely you’ve heard of LeBron James.
1 Like
ah yes, that explains why Oliver totally catered to that same demographic as he usually does by going all-in for Taiwan.
Wait a second…
Yeah sure there are tankies on the farthest end of the left that I fear you have successfully been convinced comprise a larger portion of the left’s tent than they actually do… but many on today’s left are not “panda huggers” at all.
1 Like
I’d say there’s a lot of both, and hopefully recent trends (Hong Kong, Covid, wolf warrior tactics) will continue to shift the balance towards the non-panda huggers. For so many years, Taiwan just wasn’t a visible issue for a lot of the left.
1 Like
There’s other stereotypes too. I’m going to watch this episode and report back.