So I watch Bill Maher on Bill O'Reilly last night (Sept. 29, 2010). For me, it's like getting two teeth drilled since I happen to feel both of these fine gentlemen represent much of what's wrong in our modern arena of debate. Not that you can't be straight forward about opinions, or say you think this or that is wrong. But listening to them talk, you have to wonder if it's all a scam for ratings and money. Do these two (and others) really believe what they say? Surely they can't believe all of it. Take Maher. O'Reilly asks him to admit that there are extremists on both sides of the debate. That's obvious, as any group, ideology, movement or anything has it's bad apples. Maher's response? No way! There are only extremists on one side, the Right. I tried to see if he was smirking when he said it, but couldn't tell. That would be like saying 'No way! The world is too flat!' Who could believe him? Yet how many do believe him, and others in our media, simply because they are on 'Our Side (TM)'? I would like to think Maher was being facetious, or obnoxiously sarcastic, but a little voice can't help but think he isn't. One of the great coups of the Left has been it's insistence that liberalism is not a belief, but the TRUTH. It could be he actually believes that anyone on his side of the debate is incapable of extremism. It's one of the differences between the modern "conservative" and "liberal" movements. If that's so, then there should be no excuse for clear thinking and free thinking individuals to listen to him any more than they would listen to someone insisting there really wasn't a moon landing.
Ok I get what you are saying about Bill Maher, but I think it actually is a point of view issue more or less. Bill Oreily is not on the extreme so he can freely see that there are those on the extremes of both sides. Bill Maher is on the extreme left. When you are on the extreme and there are no further extremes to get to then you can't see that both sides have the extreme. It is like a continuum Bill M on the far left Bill O somewhere in the vast middle and then those on the far right. Bill M has only the group he hangs with around him and can't see that they are all on that fringe. Bill M is surrounded on both sides with people who agree and disagree with him and then I would venture to say that if asked someone on the far(i mean really far rigth) would not see that they were on the far right and that they would believe as Bill M does that there are not fringe people on both sides.
ReplyDeleteTrue, I think Maher does represent that fundamentalist leftist/secularist movement out there. Really, leftist is secularist, those religious groups trying to attach to it are a sad lot indeed. But I would say O'Reilly is more in the center, a sort of post-modern libertarian with economic conservative tendencies. Maher is, no matter what he really thinks about the purity of his side, on the radical left. But if so,that shows that the radical left is even more radical, for I never met even the most fundamentalist right wingers who didn't admit there were extremists on their side. So Maher: more radical than radical? Or possibly he's moved into Zealot realms.
ReplyDeleteAh Yes! I think you've got it! The left wingers are not extremests they are Zealots. much more on the fringe than we have ever seen. They can't see beyond themselves because they don't see that they are on the same path as anyone except the other zealots and since naturally those in the vast middle are not zealots and the far right has been persecuted out of being zealots then he and his group are all along in their quest for whatever it really is that they are on the quest for.
ReplyDeleteYes, and I will post on this in the near future, why I may disagree with many on the right, but I fear the left. It's as if the Left, about 50 years ago, told us to toss all those old rules and morals and enter a land of no rules, just right. Now, as our culture is dying, in many ways because of that, the neo-left is stepping and and saying there are rules, our rules, and if you don't conform watch your butts.
ReplyDeleteFor someone who cares so much about civil debate, you don't mind throwing your share of barbs
ReplyDeleteWell, when someone says 'everyone on my side is fine and balanced, it's everyone on the other side who is wrong and bad', that's pretty easy to toss barbs at. My problem isn't with their passion, their bravado, even their snarkiness. It's with the fact that they seem unable to grasp that they are what they condemn. That Maher is no different than a fundamentalist religious zealot and seems either to be lying, putting on an act, or really that stupid and blind by his own zealotry to realize it. That's my beef.
ReplyDelete@troyson- barbs have been thrown but in view of Maher's continual rant I don't see the need for Dave G. to be civil. Maher continually attach people of religion because he seems completely unwilling to see anything other than hatred for people - who in his opinion are probably some of the dumbest people on earth. He just can't see how faith has a part in life- even though he lives in his own "non-faith" with is really "faith" everyday. Dave G. is simply reacting to what some have called in the past Persecution of his religion.
ReplyDeletePersecution, give me a break. Try being an atheist and running for president. Christians have spent a thousand years shoving their lies on everyone they can't take people pointing out their own stupidity
ReplyDeleteFaith is not stupidity. Faith is believing something is worthwhile and living with that as a backdrop of the faith. Yes I can see where being an atheist would be a problem trying to run for president since the foundations and backbone of this country are religious dare I say "Christian" or at least God centered. That is not persecution that is stepping out into an area that is foreign to your belief system and trying to force it down others. I am sorry if you feel that you personally have been persecuted, but in seeing the lastest of Bill and Bill in the newer post I don't see how an atheist is being persecuted - who is it that is being call stupid here. What is stupid is the fact that Bill M. can't see beyond himself and see the hurt he is causing. Stupidity is when a person who says they are libral and is unwilling to see that others have the right to believe as they wish. We are all living in this world and we should try to respect others for their differing opions and beliefs even if we don't agree with them. I fear too often that Christians are very willing to allow others to believe as they wish, but them be told that we cannot believe as we wish without being told we are hate mongers and biggots and homophobes etc.
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