Graeme Wood: ISIS | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) 

Graeme Wood is brilliant! We need MORE people like him, people who aren’t bigots but are honest; people who can differentiate between ideology and followers. Keep up the good work Graeme!

Graeme Wood is fucking brilliant, loved all his Atlantic pieces and exchanges with Sam Harris. Great to see him on this show.

We need Sam Harris back on the show!!

I think one way to help with this is to clearly state that rule of the land (the laws we make, debate, vote in/out and change over time) supersedes rule of religion, tradition and anything else. We need to drill in the idea that nothing is above the law- and that includes religion.

props for a balanced exposition on the issue.

Good one!

Well said Graeme Wood!

I'd like to see this guy debate Robert Pape.

Thank you Mr. Wood for finally debating that idea that the Reformation was great and needs to happen again!

The enlightenment: Proof that irreligion has to clean up after the mess religion makes.

Death for apostasy would be equivalent to death for treason.

As an ex-Muslim, that guy from the Atlantic is still PC on Islam, but was called an Islamophobe?

Very brave to write about Islam in this day and age... Great interview!

Nice healthy debate

To Bill and to those who do not know: In islam, the concept of peace is very different from what it is to others. Islam divides the world into so called houses. The first house is Dar al-Islam (=The House of Islam) and this House basically includes all 1.2 billion muslims and 57 Islamistic countries. This is roughly 20% of the world. We are simplifying here a bit, but the rest of the world is called Dar al-Harb (=The House of War) and essentially everyone who is not a muslim is a harabi i.e. a person who lives in the Dar al-Harb (=The House of War). Jihad is done in this House of War (=that means our world). But Jihad does not mean war. Jihad is a conversion process that takes place in the non-Islamistic area and converts that and its people to become Muslims (Islamistic). Jihad leads to an actual war and that is the reason why it often is confused to be a war. Mohammad said "Oi Muslims, you have to fight the infidels until the whole world belongs to Allah". In plain English, this means "Oi Muslims, you have to convert the whole world to become Islamistic". When in the far future everybody has become a Muslim these divisions into “The House of War” and to “The House of Islam” will end. Now the world is one big caliphate and NOW and ONLY NOW the Dar al-Salam arrives. Dar al-Salam means The House of Peace. Bingo! Now we finally found the peace in Islam that Muslims talk all the time !! So, to recap, in Islam, peace arrives after Muslims have conquered the whole world and pushed it under the domination of Islam. This requires that in the end everybody else has been killed (=“… until the whole world belongs to Allah”). Before this happens, we non-Muslims are living in the House of War, in that Dar al-Harb and that is the REAL REASON why Muslims kill us, rape is, bomb us, shoot us, behead us, conquer us, take our cities, steal from us, burn our neighbourhoods etc. And the one thing and the only thing that Muslims are afraid of … is that the harabis (=that means us) will one day understand that we are being conquered.

I feel sorry for the people who live in Syria.

It’s not the reformation that changed Christianity. It was secularism and science.

"Blaming imperialism and colonialism for terrorism is blaming the victims of terrorism!" Anytime someone tries to explain the real reasons behind terrorism (as opposed to the convenient narrative that Islam is the main influence) this is the response that one typically receives. Anything more nuanced than the ludicrous notion that some Muslims randomly got together one day to read the Qur'an and then magically felt the urge to kill infidels is automatically seen as offensive. No one, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, can escape the credulous masses willing to condemn everything but the people in their own backyards -- it's absolutely forbidden to have any sense of introspection when it comes to these things. So when a Muslim screams "Allahu Akbar" and tragically kills 8 people in New York, it's the fault of an entire people who happens to share the same cultural/religious label. However, when a man kills nearly 60 people in Las Vegas it's always an "individual" issue done in a vacuum without any further needed context. Everyone who happens to share similar labels or beliefs is innocent, because only people 'over there' can possibly be the same in every way shape and form. Similarly, this is why it's difficult to suggests that someone like George Bush Jr. -- who pushed everyone into an illegal and unjust war (i.e. Iraq) that has led to millions dead or displaced -- is the primary reason for the rise of ISIS. But no, let's forget all that, because that was an "individual issue" that amounts to "victim blaming". Yes, pointing out that a former president, the military industrial complex, and other politicians were responsible for murdering, raping, and destroying an entire innocent population is "blaming" the victims of terrorists attacks and trying to be "evasive". Let me tell you what real victim blaming is: condemning an entire religion and its followers as some monolithic worldwide movement -- despite making up the majority of terrorists' victims -- while exonerating your own nation's leaders, their culture, and their ideas, just so you can hold on to some unjustified superiority complex. That's real victim blaming.

What they need is a modern-day Sherman! Start at one end and burn your way to the other!!! That'll enlighten them pretty well!

I’m glad 😀 I’ve never declared a jihad on the churches today lol 😂

If a murderer claims association with ISIS, it may be to give his insanity some purpose or crazy legitimacy, you can't just say cause he claims ISIS affiliation that it means anything.

Military and politics.

I live how we put a real Colonel on who does not take NK seriously and has a great quote about Lincoln and yet they don't post his interview. Honestly, HBO Real time this season really showed how biased they are with this and Bill shrugging off or switching topics with that rep in the middle with white hair.

Where's Ben Affleck to provide his deep insight?

I'm sorry for bringing this up (and I'm a big Bill Maher fan in general) but as much as he likes to harp on Islam being the root cause of Islamic terrorism (as opposed to radical Islamists bastardizing the religion); even though Graeme brought up Christianity and Catholicism, he never fails to fail to bring up mass slaughter thats happening in the Gaza strip. Although he's an Atheist when speaking about killing in the name of religion that always seems to go under the radar.

Until all people wake up & realise their imaginary friends are, well, imaginary, there will be strife. I suppose that makes me an imaginaryfriendaphobe.

Every new group does the martin luther... That's the fucking point

The Islamic world is in desperate need of a reformation.......

its not racist to say isis is islamist......

Let's take a moment to list some self-proclaimed religious states: The Islamic Republic of Iran The Jewish State of Israel ISIS All of the above along with Saudi Arabia are contributing to the stunted progress of human kind. Religion and government should be kept separate.

What makes this sweaty guy an expert on this very complex topic? What are his credentials? Just trying to sell his new book.

Having Jeffrey Lord on this show is disgusting. Having any Trump mouth piece anywhere is digusting.

1st!

Discussing Islamic fundamentalism without considering geopolitical underpinnings is naive, myopic and disingenuous. Why can't people see that much of it is a reaction to US foreign policy??

As usual ,the video that mentions Islam in a critical manner has by far the least amount of views from bills regressive viewership.

Obviosly the christian Group to compare ISIS with to glean any comprehension of what we're dealing with in relation to the religion-aspect, is 12th Century crusaders. That ISIS is a modern phenomenon doesn't take from this at all, as they are (Graeme Wood acknowledges) based on a medieval interpretation of islam and also explicitly strives for implementing islamic law, sharia, as it was enforced in medieval times. They are very much what a bunch of crusaders would appear to be if suddenly appearing in modern Northern France and starting to cleanse the land of sin and filth according to their medeival view on such. WBC, on the other hand, are no more representative of the christain beliefs, than are a hostage-taker representative of his hostage. They just hate stuff, poor things.

ISIS does not represent Islam. hehe

Fuis Cklam

I actually don't think ISIS is the reformation of Islam. If you look at history, you'll find ISIS mentality dating back to at least Muhammad himself. Muhammad himself used ISIS-like laws like cutting the hands of thieves and beheading his enemies... but let's say that's the way the world was in medieval times. Also, if you look up "Ibn Taimiyyah", you'll find that it's his teachings that ISIS follows more closely. He dates back to the 13th and 14th centuries. Also from that date is Ghazali, who said studying "Greek" mathematics and science is Kufr and Haram, in the process accusing Ibn Sina (aka Avicenna, author of impactful books on science and medicine) and his likes of being infidels.... ISIS is a problem that is deeply rooted in Islam and its history and culture.

As a statistician, I can honestly say that Maher blows the stats way out of proportion, remember pew polling does sampling, it doesn't ask every single person, there is a huge disclaimer saying that 'this is a sample,' So Maher using this '20%' stuff is incredibly intellectually dishonest.

Has Bill softened his position of Islam or is this just his first time not sloppily explaining his position?

Get this through your heads, muslims! People have a right to follow any religion theyw ant or none at all! It is an INHERENT right!

The market "race-to-the-bottom" encourages exploitation. Exploitation necessitates oppression. Oppression encourages extremism. Solution; Western democracies link trade to human rights, positively and consistently, then oppression goes down, while freedom (and wages) increase. Extremism is a symptom of the hopelessness that comes from long term oppression. In the case of extremism toward the West, the extremist wrongly associates Western freedoms, (and religions) with the military/ industrial complex that is the actual cause of his oppression. When the West has a more positive than negative effect on their lives, support for extremism will dramatically shrink.

Neglects Donna Brazile bombshell and invites a guest that affirms Bill's view on Islam... why is this show is called real time?

as someone somewhat education in religion academically and in particularly I have to disagree about the ingenuity of isis in its beliefs because they are wahabi muslims completely but they rose up with propaganda such as establishing a caliphate well the Wahabis rose up declaring that they are the "Salafis"(those who are of the pure ones) as opposed to the Caliphis(those of the Caliphate) Which they declared as sinful innovators. They rose up to destroy the caliphate which the ottoman rebellion was the first expression of. They then went on to destroy every element of the Caliphates they got their hand on. So for Isis to be rocking the Caliphate shows they are disingenuous and hypocritical at best

I like this conversation, but I think it would be better if there was islamic representation in there

Double standard? I'd say there was NO standard when it came to Vegas.

Graeme you should come to Indonesia and find out about Islam. Yeah we know the Middle East creates Islam, but also Christianity and Judaism. I guarantee you'll find more colours about Islam in Indonesia rather than in Middle East or even in the US.

KKK can be shown to promote the absolute antithesis of the foundational teachings of Jesus, the founder of the religion they claim to promote. On the other hand, ISIS can absolutely claim to follow both the teachings AND THE BEHAVIOUR of Mohammed, the founder of their religion. In short, I would therefore be OK with the idea of being surrounded by fundamentalist Christians who FOLLOW the teachings and example of Christ. Love and Peace would follow in their wake. Whereas, I pray to NEVER encounter Islamic Fundamentalists, who follow strictly the teaching and example of Mohammed. Death and destruction follow in THEIR wake.

irrelevant to the topic, but notice the red marks he has on him, the sweating head, stuttering.... boss man is not very comfortable in front of camera or is rather unsure of himself

Having Jeffrey Lord on your show makes it nearly UNWATCHABLE! Stop giving bigotry defending idiots microphones!