So, i’m trying something new again… trying to organize my thoughts a bit more and perhaps make things flow a little smoother from grey matter to fingers, from keys to screen… hopefully it’ll make things a bit easier to read as well… today, and perhaps going forward, i’ll be taking the idea of blog sections even further and breaking everything up into major categories such as TV, Movies, Music, Sports, Politics, etc… hopefully, it will allow me to focus on one thing per topic and one topic per post (for the most part) in an effort to move things along a little easier… anyway, let’s get started…

TV/RELIGION/POLITICS: BILL MAHER IS AN IDIOT (BY HIS OWN LOGIC)
- to the tune of Crazy – Gnarls Barkley

Well, i tend to enjoy The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from time to time, probably more than i should, but that’s another topic… and from time to time, it tweaks my conscience or the dark side of my funny bone or something that causes that tingle to feel a bit icky… this particular episode with Bill Maher is one i’ve watched a number of times because it just makes me think heavily and sadly to be honest…

A little background: Bill Maher is an atheist of some sort (he says that he’s not an atheist, but that he just doesn’t know who or what or [fill in the blank] God is), a left-wing liberal fanatic by many counts, and he’s also a comedian with his own late night politically charged talk show on HBO… Oh, yeah, and he just recently released Religulous, a documentary that finds him travelling the globe in efforts to prove that anyone who believes in any organized religion is an idiot… (i’ll ignore the obvious argument that everyone – even atheists – believe in some form of religion, whether they admit it or not and focus on this particular interview)…

Maher sticks around for two segments of the show, giving him a full twelve minutes of airtime to promote his movie and share his philosophies… he begins discussing politics and the debates and how Sen. Obama has been too “professorial” in addressing Sen. McCain and suggesting a more irreverent approach… and then they dive into the topic of a split between the “progressive, European nation” and the “Sarah Palins of the world,” a “stupid, red-neck nation”…

He continues to note that 60% of Americans believe that the Noah’s Ark account happened literally as it is detailed in the Bible… and that Scientology is no weirder or crazier than Christianity… it’s just that we’ve grown accustomed to it… he jokingly retold the Christ story, picking up especially on how difficult it is to understand the concept of the Trinity…

Jon Stewart steps in as interviewer and asks if a belief in “such myths” is innate to our human condition because it provides comfort and fills our needs… “at a great price” replies Maher, launching into an explanation of how “these books” like the Bible were written at a time when no one understood much about the universe and that “it was forgiveable to make up such myths and stories”… of course, now that we’re much more progressive and sophisticated in our knowlege of science and such, it’s not forgivable and Maher mentions how scary it is that we may have a Vice President who “believes in the Bible literally”…

and that’s how the first segment was ended and that’s where it got even more intriguing… this seems to be a long walk for the payoff (my overall point) but it’s coming…

Segment Two: Maher mentions that he’s just asking questions and not passing judgement, but that “religious people know so little about religion”… apparently, his claim is that he just doesn’t think anyone should have certainty about anything… he complains that God doesn’t ever reveal himself directly to people to clear the air of misconceptions that surround religion (which reveals a lot about his own skepticism) and then comes the part that really stood out to me…

Jon Stewart, steering the conversation asks if it’s possible to compartmentalize these religious beliefs so as not to, i guess, ruin your ability to be effective leaders or whatever… and he mentions that Sarah Palin is very religious and that Barack Obama is a very religious person…

You can almost see the hackles rise as Maher responds that he’s not certain the Sen. Obama is actually a really religious person… “He of course has to say he is, because he’s running for President of the United Stupid of America. . . but I hope he’s lying…” there’s a lot to unpack there but i’ll finish the segment first… Maher mentions that he doesn’t have a problem with people who lie about religious beliefs, just those who actually believe it…

Now here’s the rub… and where i came up with the headline up there… Maher has a problem with people of faith because, in his opinioin, they’re disillusioned… he doesn’t have a problem with people who lie about their faith, however, because they’re just deceitful… so, in Bill Maher’s world, it’s better to have a leader who is deceitful than one who is disillusioned… okay, but if you follow and believe in a leader who is deceitful (and, therefore cannot be trusted), does that not make you disillusioned?… and if you’re disillusioned, then you are, of course, an idiot… gotta hate it when logic runs its course and comes back to bite you…

Anyway, in all honesty, i feel sorry for Bill Maher and the ever-growing number of others who are like him… it hurts to hear statements like the ones that were shared here and it hurts even more knowing that they are sentiments that are held quite closely…

PENCIL’S DOWN

time’s up and i’m moving on… i don’t think i’ve posted anything new at theTRu since last time, but there are a lot of irons in the fire right now, so stay tuned…

peace… love… bdg…