Yeah, poking for a little clarification on that myself.

Is this really a hill worth dying on?

To your question, because I intend to discuss things in good faith, even though you've yet to do so: As it affects my life, I'm not really invested much in it, beyond defending my own integrity against someone who has taken it upon themselves to repeatedly come at me with accusations of racism, albeit in a roundabout…

"those of us who have experienced racism have absolutely no business"

It's more like when a screening gets organized for a senior citizens home or a student group or something. No one is officially barring anyone else from buying the tickets, but it's clearly set up for one specific group.

I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I've been so frustrated with the discussion surround this topic the last two days. Too many people who are just going for the knee-jerk "off with his head" and too many people either flat out trolling or not giving thought to the topic at all.

unnecessarily bitter argument over an incredibly dire hypothetical

So you're arguing for vivisection here? Honestly, I'm really not sure what you're going for.

Not for nothing, but Tropic Thunder is almost ten years old, and IIRC it didn't get anywhere near the word in question. And it caught more than enough flak for the blackface, and even then, it got away with it because RDJ was playing someone who was CLEARLY a moron.

I love the AVClub dearly, but they do have a cynical streak to their writing and editing which is only growing.

Because there's no good use of it, regardless of intent.

I stand corrected. I replied to the captain above that there was no one willing to engage in a nuanced conversation of this around here, and now I'm proven wrong. Thanks.

You're looking for nuanced discussion of this topic? In three separate articles, I don't know what would have given you the idea that was going to be forthcoming.

There's no racial undertones to his criticisms of Muslims. He has a massive axe to grind with religion, that even I as a long time viewer of his shows, wish he would tone down. But it is entirely to do with the religion.

He said "persecuted" not "prosecuted". Persecution can and more often does happen by non-governmental entities.

That's the thing— Maher isn't really sure why he did it. It was something he said giving no consideration to it at all. That doesn't excuse it, but it should bring in a few rungs down the ladder of how much offense is taken.

I find it very telling that instead of responding to any substance of what I said, you have to keep making comments about my identity.

See that's where you're completely wrong. The idea isn't that criminals are going to start submitting to background checks. Of course the black market will continue to exist.

I've never sat down and watched one front to back. I have seen enough pieces to at least have a functional understanding of the style.

Let's be honest, this guy probably considers Trump a feature not a bug.