He’s done what a critic said of H. G. Wells, that “He’d sold his birthright for a pot of message.”
Poignant? Bill Maher? I think you meant pointed. Unless he’s started asking people how they felt when their mother died.
Thank you! Seriously. This is the third thread I’ve posted this. He is not an atheist. He’s said so himself. Do you think he’s lying or he doesn’t know what he’s talking about?
Yeah, whenever he starts spouting off about how people should be more rational, I always think “Weren’t you on the board for PETA?” And when he had whassisname Kennedy on talking about thimerisol and Autism, I really thought he was going to debate him, instead he went right along with it.
That said, I agree with his views on religion, mostly. And I find him pretty funny as a stand-up guy. I thought Real Time was awesome at the start, but has been a bit weak in the last couple of seasons. Hopefully it ramps up again for the election.
If you think someone who speaks the truth as he sees it, suffers no fools and question people who make unusual or outlandish claims is an ahole, then he’s an ahole. And I try to be one too.
thwartme
Huh. I stand corrected.
I don’t think Fundamentalists are of the opinion that their faith is just that, faith. The whole point is that the Bible is the literal, word-for-word truth, and anyone who disagrees is unequivocally wrong. That’s claimed knowledge, not just belief.
So “I believe in God” is not a theist statement?
If I’m not mistaken, it’s not the “belief” or “knowledge” that truly annoys Maher, but the confidence.
He’s funny, and he is generally pretty nice to his conservative guests until they get too fap-fap-fappy, and he famously tolerates Ann Coulter, which is either a sign of insanity or a precursor to sainthood.
Things I would rather not hear him talk about: medicine, high-fructose corn syrup, marriage. But that’s really not bad for a guy who tells it like he thinks it is.
He makes a point with humor as well as anyone out there.
I used to really like him until I found out he’s fallen for that whole “vaccines cause autism” crap. I don’t see how an otherwise intelligent seeming and skeptical person could believe that in the face of all the contrary evidence.
I don’t particular like him as I find him smug and aiming at easy targets. That said, I would mostly ignore him until you mentioned his anti-vacination stance. That’s as absurd as the religious loonies he rails against.
I think Maher is great, and his show on HBO is a must-see for me every week.
It is not like there are no Republican shows bashing Democrats on the air every chance they get (most shows on FOX Gnaws for instance), but when you compare Maher’s intelligence and wit on his show to that of the Bush apologist Dennis Miller, I think Maher wins hands down.
Really? I’m not a huge Miller fan but he’s every bit as witty and intelligent as Maher is. YMMV but Miller strikes me as actually being a little more well-rounded and thought out than Maher.
And the anti-vacination stance just puts Maher in the “utter fuc*ing idiot” camp (unless that is not the case and he has been mis-quoted).
Well, it’s also the belief. When I saw him, he asked if anyone in the audience believed that Noah literally brought 2 of all the animals in the world onto a ship. When people applauded, he mocked them and pointed out how absurd it was. He did the same with the Immaculate Conception story. He frequently expresses incredulity at the bizarre and insane things people will believe for the sake of religion, things which, if not for the fact that they were enshrined in a faith’s credo, would be viewed as signs of serious mental illness. In fact, he views them as just that.
Also, Dennis Miller is a total tool.
I can’t take Maher seriously after seeing him in Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death.
He can be a funny guy, but the anti-vaccination thing caused me to pluck him from my “people I admire” mental category and whisk him away, without any intervening stops, to my “dangerous fucking lunatics that I fear” category.
And you may think Miller is a tool but apparently he’s ok on vacination.
Does Maher even touch on Islam is his new movie or is that too much like real controversy for him?
He does, as I understand it. But let’s be real here, Islam is pretty well scrutinized as a dangerous force in the world.
I think that’s exactly why some people think he’s an asshole. I don’t watch his show, mainly because the few times I stumbled across *PI *I found him smarmy and, well, an asshole particularly for the reason you mention above. I love a good disagreement when the combatants are disagreeing on the merits, but if you have to resort to ridicule and disdain for your opponent, who is sitting right in front of you on your show, in order to win applause, you sink in my mind to the level of an asshole.
Back in the Politically Incorrect days I was a fan of Bill’s. He was somewhat smug, but I’m generally OK with that – I took the smugness as a part of his schtick. And I often agreed with him – not always, but quite often. I thought of him as a funny, smart guy and I like to listen to funny, smart guys.
Then I watched an episode with Joe Nickell on the panel. They were discussing modern medicine. This was the first time I remember hearing Bill’s views on that topic. Anyway, in the course of the show, Bill said (paraphrased, but pretty closely so), “What has science ever done for us?” He said this in complete seriousness and that was it for me. I just can’t view a person who would make a comment like that as a smart person. And he isn’t funny enough to make up for dumb.