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Religulous Starts Now
I’ve been a big fan of Bill Maher for a long time and I’ve been really looking forward to the upcoming release of Religuous since I first heard about it. Maher is pretty straightforward in his disdain for old-timey fairy tails and his quick wit should be a good match for the overly pious. The atheist viewpoint itself (in Bill’s case agnostic) has been gathering steam for some time now and perhaps we are reaching that tipping point Richard Dawkins was hoping for with the release of The God Delusion. The fact that The God Delusion itself appeared on the premier of The Family Guy last Sunday shows that atheism is finding its way in to pop culture, this is good.
But, Maher himself is not perfect. For all of his healthy skepticism about the God of Abraham he has a somewhat twisted view about western medicine: He equates all disease with “toxins” and denies the germ theory. He even follows the dangerous Jenny McCarthy line that vaccines cause more harm than good. But I still think there’s hope for him, and perhaps the right person will come along someday and set him straight. And really, just because he’s whack on science, doesn’t mean we should toss aside all the good skepticism he brings to his show each week. His politics are spot on, his rants on faith pull no punches, and on occasion he’s been known to give those those pesky 911 Truthers what for. Plus, he’s funny as hell. For those reasons I’ll be at the opening of Religulous this weekend supporting a fellow (mostly) skeptic.
Update:
Just saw the film. Fantastic! Really good, much better and slightly different than I expected. It’s almost like an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. But instead of food, Bill serves up religion with a side of hypocrisy and washes it all down with frothy glass of Borat. It’s awkward and troubling and certainly bombastic—actually, literally bombastic towards the end. Even if you can’t be bothered to join in on the prickly faith debate, see it for the politics. The subject matter affects us all.
Best film I’ve seen all year. See it. Tell friend. Spread the word.
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Thadeaus Sez:
I saw his appearance on Conan O’Brien and it was pretty good. The clip with gay “man-laughter” was classic. We’ve never had a moment like that… Maybe this is the chance, let me know what time you go.
Posted on 01.10.2008
Lorie Sez:
I find it interesting that he is so skeptical of religion yet holds such odd beliefs about medicine.
I haven’t really seen him in action since watching his late night show years ago, but the movie sounds great.
Posted on 01.10.2008
Geoffrey Sez:
@Thad: I’ll probably go Saturday, I’ll give you a call.
@Lorie: Yeah, I think Bill falls into the trap that a lot of people do by equating scientific medicine with “the pharmaceutical industry” and they aren’t really one and the same. Sure, Restless Leg Syndrome sounds like a marketer’s tactic to get more useless chemicals into people’s bodies (ignoring the fact that the syndrome has been around since the 1930s) but it still shouldn’t inspire people to toss out the whole of medicine. He also tows the “alternative medicine” line when talking about fuzzy concepts like “toxins” and the like. The whole ancient wisdom crap that brings us acupuncture, chiropractic, colonics, bad/good “energy” etc. is really beginning to get more popular not less. (See Airborne for an example of people embracing medicinal cognitive dissonance.) Once you toss in fear of the “corporations” the oxymoron of ancient wisdom becomes more and more appealing.
But really, I don’t even think Bill takes it that far. He’s a vegetarian and takes good care of himself so perhaps he feels self-important. I bet as soon as he contracts something like whooping cough he’ll be calling an M.D.
Posted on 01.10.2008
Lorie Sez:
Wait a minute, I like Airborne. I take it to prevent rickets ;)
Posted on 01.10.2008
Geoffrey Sez:
I think Airborne is only good for Hip Gout and Milk Leg, but check the label.
Posted on 01.10.2008
p auL Sez:
I like Bill a lot; I think he’s funny and has a lot of good points.
The problem with guys like him, however, is I think he’d turn away most anyone that didn’t already agree with him. He’s obviously put a lot of thought into what he talks about and he’s very smart, but it always seems like he, (or Michael Moore, or Keith Olbermann), would be better served toning back how they served up their juicy nuggets of wisdom. The shouting or hitting you over the head with a hammer they tend to bring with their points seems like it would only serve to turn people off they may have otherwise won over.
On the other hand, they’re probably just frustrated and angry that people can’t see what they clearly see as a simple point to understand.
Posted on 02.10.2008
Geoffrey Sez:
I think the difference between Maher and guys like Moore and Olbermann is I kind of expect Maher to change his mind on something if he’s given the right evidence. The other two, not so much. Moore and Olbermann are the polar opposites of guys like O’Rielly and Hannity (i.e. two sides of the same coin), and I wouldn’t include Maher in that group. He is smarter, and that counts for something.
Posted on 02.10.2008
Kevin Sez:
You should check him out on the Daily Show from the other night.
Posted on 02.10.2008
Geoffrey Sez:
Update:
Just saw the film. Fantastic! Really good, much better and slightly different than I expected. It’s almost like an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. But instead of food, Bill serves up religion with a side of hypocrisy and washes it all down with frothy glass of Borat. It’s awkward and troubling and certainly bombastic—actually literally bombastic. Even if you can’t be bothered to join in on the prickly faith debate, see it for the politics. The subject matter affects us all.
Best film I’ve seen all year. See it. Tell friend. Spread the word.
Posted on 06.10.2008
p auL Sez:
I still haven’t seen the film, but yeah, I do think Maher would change his mind if given the right evidence. From what I’ve heard about it, he plays everything, (for the most part), pretty even-handed.
Also, (just based on what I’ve heard), it seems that the film might have done even better just sticking to interviewing people that were at least Bill’s equal in argument, instead of pitting him against people that are clearly nutjobs. Healthy debate should be good for both sides and the audience, which I think is what results from pitting Bill against people that have a well-thought out point of view.
Posted on 23.10.2008
mike Sez:
So, I’m here (lookatlao) because I was going to tell you (Geoffrey) that your birthday has not gone unnoticed in Kingston. Then I noticed that you viewed Religulous on my birthday, so I figured this is the spot for the communication. Yet another completely unimportant cosmic connection. Gotta love ‘em. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I will.
Posted on 18.11.2008
Geoffrey Sez:
Thanks! The movie is worth a look despite several shortcomings mentioned above.
Talk soon!
Posted on 19.11.2008