I don’t watch Maher’s show for the same reasons already mentioned (smug prick, etc), but on the Daily Show it was obvious that he was trying to hide his contempt with humor.
Sure, he just thinks it funny. Riiiiiiight.
I seem to be in with the majority of respondents here: even where (as an rationalist agnostic) I agree with Maher I cringe at his frothy-mouthed approach to the topic, and it pisses me off when he derails a decent discussion on his own show to go off on a rant.
It’s always a horrible thing when someone nominally on the same side as you is such an asshole that it discredits your side. I might agree with Hitchins and Dawkins about the irrationality of many believers but there’s no excuse to be such flaming jerks about it, and while I think Michael Moore often picks valid targets for his scorn he always destroys the credibility of his own arguments by distorting the facts in order to score cheap shots against his opponents. I won’t even watch his films anymore.
Back to Maher:
New Rule: You have to shut up about religion and pot-smoking, especially when it isn’t relevant to the topic at hand. We get it, Bill - you like to smoke marijuana and you think religious people are nutjobs. Now let those people you invited onto your show get a word in edgewise.
Do you watch the show? He definitely lets his guests get a word in edgewise. Some of them can’t shut up, in fact, and need to be actively moderated by him. He does not shoehorn in discussions of religion or pot smoking inappropriately into conversations, though he does have his hot button topics, and who doesn’t? As I said, object away to his personal style if you must, but don’t mischaracterize him in order to slam him. There’s enough real stuff to dislike without making shit up.
I get the podcasts. He doesn’t insert religion into the conversations himself but if it gets mentioned he often goes off on one (although whether this is now just to plug his film I don’t know). And while it doesn’t happen every show, when one of his hot-buttons does get pushed you can pretty much kiss the discussion goodbye.
I like Bill overall; I just think he needs to chill sometimes. Hitchins, Dawkins and Moore, however, can go fuck themselves.
And yet he does a movie about theism.
Does not compute.
I wish people didn’t waste their time worrying about stuff like this. There is no way somebody like Bill Maher is going to damage the public perception of atheists: public perception of atheists is already terrible, largely due to misunderstandings and the work of cynical, manipulative religious leaders. While Maher or Dawkins aren’t exactly advancing public discourse by responding in kind and belittling religious believers, they aren’t the cause of the problem.
As for me, I stopped watching Maher’s previous show a long time ago. The problem I had was that he was sort of a compulsive devil’s advocate- he seemed to take a lot of positions just to be contrary, and he picked them almost at random regardless of how stupid they were. I don’t remember if he was doing the anti-vaccination thing at that point, but it’s a good example.
I watch Bill Maher’s show religiously (heh) and, for the most part, I like it. I hate the stand-up portion at the beginning of the show, however, and always skip right through it, no matter the topic. I just don’t find Bill funny.
To me, Bill’s a guy whose unable to keep his incredulity in check on many subjects, not just religion. He just gets called on religion more because of its third-rail issue status. He gets a pass from me on his religious rants. I’m just as shocked about humanity’s propensity toward theistic belief in the face of logic and evidence as he is.
I find his panel to be the most real and interesting of any in the media. No matter the guests, or their political bent, it does seem Bill’s able to get them to express how they really feel on an issue, for the most part.
But yeah, Bill’s probably a little too smug for his own good.
I don’t think he plays devil’s advocate just for the sake of being contrarian. He genuinely holds these beliefs (marijuana should be legal, animal rights, religion should be viewed skeptically, the pharmaceutical industry does not have your health in its heart, etc). Yes, he’s passionate about them, which is kind of refreshing, since almost everyone with a public voice is against them but I happen to agree with him on most of them. I think he’s a bit off on the vaccination thing, but it rarely comes up. From reading this thread, I think a lot of people have a wrong idea about him and his show. It’s mostly a panel discussion on current events, and I think it’s interesting and well-done, without heavy-handed blathering from him most of the time.
Bill’s almost always correct and on-target when he discusses religion and culture generally. The only time I disagree with him is when he gets off a rant on animal rights—,now, THAT pisses me off.
I’d like you folks complaining about him to talk about specific statements he makes with which you disagree. If all you’;re going to do is bitch that he’s a poopyhead, well, then just change the channnel, kay?
Heh, you’re probably right, but then I wouldn’t get to make this fun pit thread.
What’s his position on vaccinations? I’ve somehow missed his position on this.
I agree with him on some of those points, but I just got that sense from him. It’s been much too long for me to remember a lot in the way of specifics. And there’s nothing wrong with doing that stuff, but the way he did it got old. I was a regular Politically Incorrect viewer for a while there. And the way that show was dumped was complete bullshit, by the way.
He’s vocally anti-vaccination, as far as I can tell. He seems to fall in with the “vaccinations are killing our children” crowd.
That’s odd, because he seems to dislike children as well.
As Diogenes noted earlier, he’s anti-vaccination. You did pretty much nail it with the one-liners comment, by the way: being contrarian to encourage a debate is one thing, but it seemed to me that his guests would have interesting conversations and he’d interrupt them to contradict it for the hell of it without actually knowing anything on the subject.
Quoting myself in this thread, which ended up turning toward a Bill Maher pitting…
It was well after that that I learnt he was anti-vaccine, a pharmaceutical conspiracy theorist, and an absolute loon about animal rights (PETA-level, though I don’t know if he’s a member/supporter of PETA), but I was less than shocked to learn these facts.
I think his show is one of the most entertaining on television. I do think he is sometimes a little batshit (yes, that vaccinations thing) but overall I find him both funny and on the mark. I’ll go see the movie. I expect it to be amusing and entertaining. And possibly saddening. Like Maher I have no respect or time for religionists. Unlike Maher I do identify myself as an atheist
He had whatsername, the head of PETA on his show last year (I think it was last year, I’m not certain.) It looked to me like he was trying to figure out a way to go down on her via satellite link.
ETA: Meant to quote post 34 by Tengu here. Oops.
I too am a big fan of Real Time.
It is the most interesting and honest(IMO) political talk show going. Maher can be a dick but so what? He is certainly outnumbered by dicked on the other side of the argument.
It’s possible to be distrusting and scornful of every world religion and still be a theist, so I’m not sure what makes Maher an atheist.
Meh. Zero outrage from me. Maher is not a pro-athiest, he’s an anti-religionist, right?
I may not be on the money here because I don’t watch too much of him. But I always took him to be a guy that wouldn’t diss my own personal views on a higher being. But he’d diss Christianity, as an organized religion very quickly.
Then again I may be wrong, I just don’t pay too much attention to him.
A couple of weeks ago, Janeane Garafolo mentioned he was the only person to get fired because of 9-11. I like his show and don’t find his rants against religion to be off putting. He doesn’t feel the need to treat the subject with respect, deal.