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China Blocks HBO After John Oliver's Last Week Tonight Mockery of Xi Jinping (scmp.com)
News agency AFP reports: After mocking censors working overtime to delete comparisons of Chinese President Xi Jinping with the cartoon bear, comedian John Oliver and now the website of TV giant HBO have fallen victim to Beijing's censorship machine. Chinese authorities blocked HBO's site in China, just days after Oliver took Xi to task, anti-censorship and monitoring group GreatFire.org said on Saturday. The website was still not accessible on Monday. HBO joins a long list of Western media outlets that have had their websites blocked in China including The New York Times, Facebook and Twitter.
Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood,
Where Christopher Robin plays.
You'll find the enchanted neighborhood,
of Christopher's childhood days.
A donkey named Eeyore is his friend.
And Kanga and Little Roo.
There's Rabbit and Piglet.
And there's Owl.
But most of all Winnie the Pooh!
Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh,
Chubby, little cubby all stuffed with fluff.
He's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh,
Willy, nilly, silly old bear.
...so we all turn to VPNs & piracy for the simple ability to access content
Thin skinned snowflakes threatened by comedy.
China just needs to grin and bear it.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
He isn't funny
Wowsa. I bet you're fun at parties.
John Oliver is great at attacking straw men.
I think he's great at attacking real men. I'm not aware of any straw man arguments he's made. He addresses a real, actual issue on every show.
I don't respond to AC's.
When you're not very smart, complicated things are not funny or fun to learn about. Oliver tends to be pretty educational on complicated topics, so I can see how there'd be a subset of the population which would find that frustrating.
Additionally, if you're a rabid believer of anything, someone attacking that thing can feel like an attack on you. And that's not funny. If you can't honestly engage with reality, I can see how Oliver wouldn't be funny as he likely is attacking one of the stupid things you really are passionate about.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
John Oliver tends to yell a lot, disparage people, insult them, avoid rational discussion of the issues and conflate complicated issues by reducing them to the point of uselessness. Every once in a while, he has his writers research some obscure topic, then has a TAKE on that topic. The problem is he always has a TAKE that is extremely one-sided and he will ridicule anyone who disagrees with him. The best example of this is when he gave his audience an opener line, they cheered, and then he informed them that they should be mad about the thing he just said. It was probably the only time I ever laughed watching that show.
Thin skinned snowflakes threatened by comedy.
I used to watch John Oliver, back when it was funny.
Raw, un-insightful insults are not funny, and half the country will turn it off to watch something else.
For comparison, check out Dave Chapelle's monologue and hosting of SNL right after the 2016 election. His jokes were witty, showing a wry take on the situation, with a sense of humor.
For a non-contrast, check out any of Bill Maher's monologues - they're invariably pointed, mean, and with no insight or content. He's selling shock and promoting outrage instead of humor(*).
I thought Oliver's original take - getting the audience involved with his antics - was brilliant, and his research brought real issues into focus ...until he ran a segment about a subject I actually knew something about (vitamin D), which was completely in error, and I suddenly realized that I was taking his results as gospel without skepticism. Fell into the trap and didn't know it.
Anyway, I don't like contempt dressed up as comedy. Lena Dunham, Cathy Griffin, Bill Maher, Steven Colbert, and all the rest.
It's not creative, and it's not funny.
(*) Which is sad, because he's the only liberal celebrity I've seen who can rub two thoughts together to come up with a rational argument. He's very bright, but doesn't use his talent in any effective way.
He should run for President.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
avoid rational discussion
I hate to point this out, but you and all the other people criticising him here are doing the same thing. No criticism of specific topics he covered or points he raised, just attacking his presentation and style. Okian came about the closest when he mentioned vitamin D, but didn't elaborate.
Can you perhaps give us some specific examples?
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Particularly, in his take on 3rd parties during the election, Oliver's criticisms were superficial, largely aesthetic attacks, and he didn't even countenance, much less criticize, arguments practical or philosophical about the choice of voting outside the existing duopoly. Nor did he have anything at all to say about the parties' actual platforms, which is what an informed person votes by.