CMV: You can't intellectualize racism, and the Bill Mahers of the world are just as culpable for their insensitivity as the Bill O'Reillys.

I'm not sure where the idea came from in American discourse that being left-leaning and being racist are mutually exclusive states. Racism and words like nigger (which Maher used on his show last night) are rooted in less-ism. Their purpose is to dehumanize black people and reinforce a social hierarchy that is inherently unfair to POC. The idea that you can reach some level of enlightenment where you can partake in harmful discourse for the sake of irony or subversion is pretty disgusting. As a POC, why should I care if it's coming from the right or the left?