First of all, don't tell me what I am assuming because you are wrong.
You really don't understand that *some* rap music promotes a gangsta lifestyle that is harmful, that exploits and influences young people in urban ghettos and even in suburbia?
You honestly have to be told that there is a large branch of reality television that exploits women or displays crass behavior that young people without proper parental guidance will come to accept as normal? Or that reality television can influence people to the point that instead of aspiring to go school to get an education and a well-paying job that they instead dream of going on a reality television show to win a big monetary prize? Or to be Paris Hilton's best friend???
About Paris...she's become quite famous for nothing more than being a wealthy socialite who has managed to worm her way (quiet effectively) into one of the most widely recognized faces of pop culture. Instead of seeing her for the superficial bimbo that she is there are young women that aspire to be just like her and that want to be her BFF.
Maher contributes because he promotes the questioning of our elected officials, for one. He doesn't sit back and let those that govern do so without challenging them (sometimes directly by inviting them onto his show) and by encouraging others (the audience) to challenge what it is these same officials are doing supposedly in our benefit. While his foremost interest is most likely his own, his contribution to society is hardly "nothing."
