I have noticed that Bill Maher kind of tends to rouse angry feelings. Including with people who land solidly on his end of the political spectrum. I am a big fan. I like his criticism of organized religion. I love the fact that he is solidly and consistently an advocate for marijuana legalization. I like the fact that he catches Republicans on blatant bs that they tend to get a pass on in the media. He had Neil DeGrasse Tyson on the other night, this guy is the host of Nova Science Now, a wonderful writer, and a great advocate for skepticism and science in general. This got me extra-excited. I figure it would be fun to get a round of opinions on Bill Maher. I would be happy to hear from those who don't like him as well. Especially if you are on his side of the spectrum, because then maybe we can figure out a way to improve the message.
I remember watching a clip of his where audience members started yelling out stuff about 9/11 that doesnt make sense....... (Bill wasnt happy about the outbursts)
I really like Bill Maher's commentary and tv show. I agree with all of his positions (for the most part) and think he is a stellar guest on a tv show. With that being said I find his stand up totally boring and a bit of a drone. That may just be the US style of stand-up though, as I find that with a lot of American comedians. Much prefer the British style of stand-up.
Bill Maher is the liberal Bill O'reilly. Whenever he has a guest on his show who doesn't agree with him he has a tendency to shout them down and not let them finish their arguement. I find the way he present's his views to be condescending and insulting. On top of all of that I find his views on religion to be the exact mirror image of the Born Again Christian Fundamentalists that continuously tell me that I will never be happy until I accept Jesus Christ as my lord and personal saviour. Truth be told I have as much proof that God exists as he has proof that God doesn't exist. The thing is putting faith in Science is just as much blind faith as putting faith in religion. If you believe in Science (Which I do) you believe in it as it stands today. The thing is we have "proven" (as close as we can) and disproven things scientifically very radically in the last 50 years and we will continue to do so. I find Maher's manner to be arrogant, condescending and downright insulting. It's funny I read a quote from Rush Limbaugh once that said, "I'm not going to stop doing my thing until everyone agrees with me." Then a short time later I read a quote from Bill Maher that said, "I'm not going to stop what I'm doing until everybody agrees with me." Wake up you've already drank the Kool-aid. Stay Brown, Rev J
It pissed me off when Bill later stated that the weed Zach Galifianakis smoked on his show was fake and that it was just a joke. He's so outspoken about pot legalization yet he backed down when it came to something like that, likely just to please the censors who were angry.
Those were probably members of the 9-11 Truth movement, which is basically a movement dedicated to exposing September 11, 2001 as an inside job. They tend to show up at liberal speaking events and try to draw attention to their cause. I have several friends who are Truthers, but I don't agree (for the most part). Though, just recently wikileaks has revealed some stuff about September 11 and I need to look into that.
Lunarverse: I totally feel you. He was probably afraid of getting arrested since the show is live, but since the show is filmed in LA he would have gotten a ticket at worst.
Every word that we speak, has at it's root, an embodied sensation. God is that which is invoked. The word god is old English precursor to the word good. Our whole nature is centered around the invocation of our good depending on what that model looks like to us.
I've already printed this elsewhere and being kind of lazy I've copied and pasted here: Here's the thing. To me the concept of God is that of a pattern that reoccurs far to often to be random. I think I talked about Phi or the Golden Ratio on this thread and I'm pretty sure it has been mentioned but here it goes again. The Golden Ratio is a non repeating decimal= 1.61803399..... It can be used in equations to determine: Placement of protons and neutrons on the nucleus of an atom, Probability of the position of an electron when an atom is in a neutral state, Probability of the position of a neutron when an atom is in an exited state, The structure of chemical compounds, The placement of microscopic hairs on the legs of an insect, The structure of the microscopic hairs on the legs of an insect, The size an placement of the eyes on an insect, The position and structure of the double helix of DNA, The natural geometry of a Beehive, The placement of scales on coldblooded animals, The placement of feathers on birds, the structure of feathers on birds, The placement of individual hairs on mammals, The structure of said hairs, The segments on a Nautaulis snail, The placement of leaf growth on a plant, The placement of Branch growth on a tree, The pattern of seed development in the center of a sunflower, The position of a planet in it's orbit, The position of a planets orbit in relation to the sun, The distance between planets, The frequency of a comet's orbit, The overtone series of sound, The color spectrum of light, The bandwidth of radio waves, and these are only the things that I can remember off the top of my head. The thing is to me this is too frequently reoccurring to be a coincidence. Call whatever it is that connects these things what you will I just choose God to make it easy. Now truth be told there is no absolute proof that there is a God as such. This is just the basis for my theory. But there also is no absolute proof that there isn't a God as such. So like I said there is just as much blind faith in Science as there is religion. Stephan Hawking just disproved a theory he had published and held as truth 40 years ago. In doing so it started a chain reaction disproving other theories that have come along in the past 40 years based on his theories. The scientific community is up in arms about this because of the implications of so many scientists work being false. There are also findings in the religious community that are essentially being sat on for the simple fact that it would disprove alot of the religious communities dogmatic thinking and would send them up in arms too. The fact of the matter is that neither side has a monopoly on the truth and it is not an either or situation. Stay Brown, Rev J
But one has to have faith that reality is actually the way we perceive it to be, which, every once in awhile it proves itself not to be.
Yesserrie, It is hard for many to see that some measure of faith is beneficial to the critical mind in allowing for probability to emerge.
This is balance. Who says that Fox News gets to have a monopoly on strong opinions? Somebody needs to do the same thing for the other side. It's up to the viewers to take it all in, weigh the positions, and form their own opinions. At least Maher has a great sense of humor. I don't find anybody on the far right to be the least bit funny. Science is for people who don't want to accept anything on blind faith.
You shoud Agree my friend,it was indeed an inside Job.... I wish you well on your quest to find the truth
Obviously you've never watched Glen Beck, just because he isn't trying to be funny doesn't mean there isn't humor in watching a crazy person spout off his random theories for an hour.
Hmm...don't know about that. I'd say there was a good possibility of a federal crime, if they'd sat there & got stoned, since the show was broadcast nationally and internationally But in any event the stunt pushed the marijuana mores envelope in a good direction.
It's sad to see rightwing humor these days. The only comedian they have, really, is Dennis Miller. He's caustic and sometimes mean-spirited, just as Maher is on the left. Difference is, Dennis isn't funny anymore. He used to have an excellent show when he was on HBO. But he took a sharp unexpected turn to the right, and apparently lost his sense of humor at about the same time. Now he's just snide and mean. Bill Maher reminds me a lot of Johnny Carson when he does his monologue - great presentation, even the same pacing. All he'd need is an air-golfclub to complete the effect. I enjoy a lot that he makes a point of including bonafide conservative guests. He doesn't try to destroy them on air. Well, maybe he does, but he's polite about it. He's actually often obviously restraining himself to let the conservative opinion be heard. And as a result the conservatives keep appearing on his show. Some of the discussions around that table are the best, most-succinct U.S. political debates I can remember seeing Unless he pulls a Dennis Miller or something bizaare like that, I'll keep watching him. He has one of the best politics-oriented hours on TV.
