Bill Maher on Cheap Chinese Crap

From the “New Rules” portion of his show on 8/24/07:

“If you (consumer) demand products that don’t cost anything, people will make them out of poison, mud, and shit.”

“Because in China their kids don’t play with the toys, they’re the ones in the factory making them.”

“I (impersonating American consumer) don’t have time to ponder whether these twelve-dollar jeans are a product of child labor. I just know that I’m an American on a budget and our lifestyle is a blessed one and I want to look nice standing in line for an iPhone.”

“Let’s buy toys from a communist police state, you know they’ll put in a little extra love.”

You can watch the entire segment or if you want to skip right to the bits on China skip to 3:20.

 
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Joel says:

ha, that left-hand turn lane comment was a low blow. i actually have a bruise from getting a little to snuggly with a fellow commuter and his girlfriend (riding sidesaddle on the back) in the bike lane during rush hour on Wed evening. when we bumped and she fell almost fell off, she said, “You can’t yell at him, he’s a foreigner, he won’t understand.” (She was right; my Chinese friend told me this later.)

cultural differences include the road, and you can have different ‘driving cultures’ where the set of common assumptions and expectations varies from place to place. China’s is so different from the West that when new foreigners arrive (we just initiated some newbies in August), they are usually awed and terrified the first time they see rush hour. Many walk for a month or so before they warm up to the idea of riding a bike. I still remember seeing my first intersection in action…

Kelsey says:

Maybe I’m just a slow Touron, but I didn’t get the left turn lane reference. In Ohio/Indiana we don’t have a large Chinese population. Heck, we don’t have left turn lanes.

Joel says:

you know, he’s not really all that funny to me. It’s like he’s reading the material that didn’t make it to the final edits for Colbert and Stewart.

Kelsey says:

Joel, Stewart and Colbert don’t have the air of superior “smartness” that Maher has. Sometimes I feel like he is talking down to me when he’s delivering jokes.

Let your voice be heard!

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