Bill Maher Rages Against Woke Trigger Warnings That Show ‘How Weak’ U.S. Has Become: ‘Close Your Eyes, Here Comes an Ouchy’

Bill Maher railed against trigger warnings and wokeness on modern college campuses on Friday, saying they are a sad reminder of “how weak” the U.S. has become.

Maher cited an analysis study into trigger warnings that ultimately found they could be more harmful than helpful. Maher compared them to a “seat belt made of broken glass.”

“A trigger warning is a kind of ‘Close your eyes, here comes an ouchy’ that like so many bad ideas in recent years got started on college campuses. Students started demanding them so they could get ready in case something a book, or a piece of art, or a history lesson reminded them that life included bad things and not just good and sometimes people were mean,” Maher said at the close of HBO’s Real Time.

The comedian also laid works of art taking to providing trigger warnings to audiences over content that might be deemed offensive. One such example cited by Maher was U.K. theater adding a trigger warning about suicide to a staging of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

“London’s Globe Theatre felt the need to tell the audience that its production of Romeo and Juliet includes suicide. Okay, but Romeo and Juliet has been in your Netflix queue since 1596. You’ve had 400 years to prepare,” he said. “And also, it just kind of gave away the ending. I don’t understand how a society that so in love with spoiler alerts can also be into trigger warnings.”

An emphasis on victimization has led to a rise in “anxiety” in younger generations, Maher argued.

“People wonder why the younger generations have so much anxiety, it’s this stuff! Lots of stuff makes us uncomfortable. You know what makes me uncomfortable? This bullshit,” he said. “People who start every conversation with ‘As a person who,’ ‘As a survivor of,’ I’m triggered every time I see a trigger warning, because I’m reminded of how weak my country has become. It’s like wearing a mask on your mind.”

Watch the clip above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.

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