Is Bill Maher serious?

[_dartagnan]

I think it is so funny how some of these idiots think they have the faintest clue about my family situation as well as my situation with religion.

Pointing out Maher's stupidity must mean I'm a Christian! LOL!

Pointing out Maher's stupidity must mean I have to defend Ben Stein!

Too funny.

Lately I've been spending just as much time here in the states as I have in Brazil. I have homes in both countries and my business is in Brasil. So what?

[_dartagnan]

I just saw Maher on a talk show tonight. He said Palin was a "category five moron," even though he admitted she did well in tonight's debate. The host tried to defend her on what Maher thinks is evidence "she's never read a newspaper." Really? She majored in journalism and we're supposed to believe she's never read a newspaper. Now who's the moron?

The host said that she probably didn't want to name specific magazines and such in her interview because the media could attach things to them and she didn't know which names to give for that reason.

Sounds reasonable enough given the horrible way in which the media had treated her the previous weeks, but Maher just said, "Yeah, that and the fact that she's a moron."

He also said that the only time Palin gets a newspaper is when someone is pregnant. People in the audience booed him for that sleezy comment.

[_Dr. Shades]

Here's my $0.02:

I think Maher was wrong if he says that the Jesus story is a carbon copy of the Horus story.

I do, however, think there are similarities that point to a common origin.

So Maher's only sin was taking the concept to a rhetorical extreme.

TO BOTH SIDES: Can everyone agree with that last sentence, or is it flawed in some way?

[_dartagnan]

He mentioned it as his primary piece of evidence against Christianity on The View, and he mentions it at the very end of his film.

This wasn't a slip of the lip, or an attempt to be funny or extremely rhetorical.

[_Bryan Inks]

Why is it in six pages of Dartagnan's ranting about this has no one brought up the fact that an apparently straight male was watching the View?

I mean, c'mon people. Since we're all so busy flinging about personal attacks. . . how did this one slip by you all?

The above was said entirely tongue-in-cheek, as I don't care one way or another what people do with their time. I just assumed that since the thread's author and several responders started flinging poo around, I should also.

Dartagnan, I gotta admit. I really don't like you. The way you present yourself on this board matches the people I label as douches in my life and avoid like the plague.

That being said, you've got a point. The hyperbolic comment was. . . factually. . . inaccurate. There was no need to get your knickers in a twist, though.

[_Trevor]

I am not morally outraged because Bill Maher is not sophisticated enough to understand mythology.

I do take exception, however, to his lack of understanding concerning those who are religious. In the end, it is Bill Maher who looks stupid, as does every other person who rails against religion excessively. All it shows is his own ignorance.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: The dream of a humanity without religion is a utopian dream no more reasonable than any other.

[Guest]

Dart, you dug yourself a hole in this. Wouldn't it be better if you started this thread on MAD&d board?
I'm sure you'd find strong allies like DCP, Juliann, Gordittos..
the way I see, here most of us incorrigible skeptics, unbelievers.
But nobody censors anybody here so far.
I think mods are here in sleeping mode, I'd fire them all, they are not doing their job!!!!

Don't take your frustration out on me because some people here have the integrity to admit Maher is wrong. Go ahead and take it out on Ben Stein or whoever you want. Don't expect me to defend Stein. Go start another thread on him if you want, you're only derailing here to avoid the facts about Maher's low standard for truth.

Dart,
We are all wrong at times, I admit it several times a day, science is wrong more often than not, Bill Maher is wrong.
I care less what you might think of my integrity, (unless you'd sign my paycheck).
What I wonder is, why are you taking these guys serious?
Bill Maher, George Carlin, Don Rickles are my and other countless peoples favorites. They are entertainers.
Just because you call Bill idiot, liar it doesn't make it so, it defines your stance. That is why people reply. It cuts both ways

[_Trevor]

What I wonder is, why are you taking these guys serious?
Bill Maher, George Carlin, Don Rickles are my and other countless peoples favorites. They are entertainers.

Now that is an excellent question. The real problem is the failure to distinguish between entertainment and sober discourse. It is Bill Maher's problem, and the problem of those who actually take him seriously (in a positive or negative sense).

[_solomarineris]

What I wonder is, why are you taking these guys serious?
Bill Maher, George Carlin, Don Rickles are my and other countless peoples favorites. They are entertainers.

Now that is an excellent question. The real problem is the failure to distinguish between entertainment and sober discourse. It is Bill Maher's problem, and the problem of those who actually take him seriously (in a positive or negative sense).

How can you top George Carlin's famous rant against religion?
How can one top Don Rickles' famous insults of his audience?
We watch them because they are funny, (some of us think so, at least).
It is so easy to tune out anything you want.
We do it million times a day.

[_dartagnan]

That being said, you've got a point. The hyperbolic comment was. . . factually. . . inaccurate. There was no need to get your knickers in a twist, though.

My knickers in a twist?

You guys are a trip. This forum has been up for years and there have been perhaps hundreds of threads dedicated to discussing misstatements by all kinds of people in the world, mostly the religious. From DanPeterson to Ben Stein, you have all been willing and eager to rant for weeks on end about how dozens of religious figures get things wrong nomatter how insignificant.

All I did was start a thread discussing Maher's inaccurate statement because I know that in the past the Horus = Jesus thing was a point of conflict here on this forum and I know many people here love Maher to death because he is another one of those anti-religious nuts like Dawkins.

And it surprises me not at all that the usual suspects rear their ugly heads again and attack me for simply asking a question "Is Bill Maher serious?"

Bryan Inks, solar and GoodK are outraged because they are the numb nuts who supported Zeitgeist as if it were true scholarship.

Bryan believes 9-11 was started by George Bush. And now he wants to yap at the lip because I'm a male who watched The View? Which is actually inaccurate anyway, not that it should matter. I saw the rerun of the relevant clip on CNN, but the fact that he would make this kind of criticism speaks volumes in itself.

Again, while you guys justify your indignance by asking me why I would bother with someone as irrelevant as Maher, I don't recall anyone here asking the same thing about Ben Stein, who is by far even more irrelevant. Maher is a popular comedian yes, but he is also a political activist and a popular TV host who is now producing a film that has excited the masses. Stop pretending he's of no consequence.

Obviously maher is a type of Jesus figure for some people here, and that is more worrying than anything else.