Bill Maher's War on Common Sense

Bill Maher has declared that

the Republican Party is at war with common sense

. "I think Republicans live in a world now where whatever a liberal says, no matter how sensible, is automatically evil, wrong, and needs to be fought with the fervor of a starving raccoon on crystal meth," he said during a recent new rules

segment on his HBO show Real Time.

The problem isn't that he believes he's right and everyone else is wrong. The problem is when he believes he is right

when he clearly isn't

! As with other self-appointed "rationalists," Maher considers himself to be an exemplar of logic, reason, and evidence, even though he believes many things which are illogical, irrational, and without evidence. So for Maher to claim to advocate rationality while criticizing others for their irrationality, not only is it hypocritical of him, but also a disgrace to the very concept of rationality. It's like someone who believes 2+2=5 claiming to advocate mathematics while criticizing others for their poor math skills.

Here are some of the ways Bill Maher is at war with common sense and please note that the full list will be placed with a link below, but I found these most interesting:

6. SOPA.

When Congress was considering the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill that would have allowed the federal government to shut down websites that contain—or even link to—copyrighted material, it was no shock that it was largely supported by the entertainment industry

and by entertainers like Bill Maher (though that's only if you consider Maher "entertaining").

Maher supported the bill

(which he admitted he had not read) because his documentary

Religulous

had allegedly lost profit due to internet piracy— which he called "Caucasian looting" (which implies that most other "looting" is done by "non-Caucasians"). He then argued that "just because you're sitting at your computer in your pajama bottoms doesn't mean you're not stealing." But contrary to popular misconception, internet piracy isn't really stealing as it involves intellectual property rather than physical property. If someone shoplifts a DVD from a store, the store loses a DVD; but if someone downloads a movie, neither the store nor the movie company loses the movie. They may have lost potential profit from DVD sales, but they did not lose anything else. Downloading a movie or song is "stealing" the same way making a photocopy of a book page is "stealing." The ironic part is that Maher supports the Occupy Wall Street movement, which protects "the 99%" against the "1%"; but by supporting SOPA, he is supporting a bill that protects profit for the entertainment industry (the 1%) while hurting everyone else (the 99%).

3. 9/11.

Maher may speak out against the irrationality of 9/11 conspiracy theories (even enduring

heckles and boos from truthers

in his audience), but that doesn't make him completely rational about 9/11.

On his former show Politically Incorrect

, weeks after the terrorist attacks, one of his guests, Dinesh D'Souza, disputed Bush's claim that the terrorists were cowards, arguing that they were warriors instead. Maher agreed, replying, "We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly." So let me get this straight: the brave men and women fighting the radicals overseas are cowardly, but those same radicals flying planes into the Twin Towers and Pentagon, killing nearly three thousand innocent Americans, aren't? Makes sense to me! The good news is that Maher received so much backlash for those comments that his show was cancelled; the bad news is that he received his new show on HBO!

2. Alternative Medicine.

While most people trust their health with modern medicine, Bill Maher does not. This is mostly due to his paranoid delusion that the pharmaceutical industry has conspired with the government to keep people sick in order to create profit; and as such, they have outlawed alternative treatments to prevent competition. On one Overtime segment, he claimed that practicing alternative medicine in America is illegal. (Not only is alternative medicine legal, but

many states require insurance to cover it!

) This led to a discussion about alternative cancer treatments such as Laetrile: "I don't know whether Laetrile works. I know the shit we've tried for the last 50 years doesn't. I know they've made no progress as far as cancer in this country." First of all, numerous scientific studies have proven that

Laetrile doesn't work

; and second,

the survival rate for cancer

has significantly increased over the last 50 years—so it's safe to say we've made progress. The saddest part is that, for his documentary Religulous

Maher won the 2009 Richard Dawkins Award, which is conferred to individuals whose works "advocate increased scientific knowledge."

As one medical blogger wrote

: "That's like Jenny McCarthy getting an award for public health."

Here is the rest from DA by some user: http://blamethe1st.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4xl5ju

First off, what is up with your font?

Sounds like Healthcare Reform. Its not new.

This is an increadibly biased point of view, just as much as Mahers'.

It isn't presenting the rational destruction of an irrational idea, it is just arguing against it.

"Men always talk about dying for their country, but never killing for their country."

Not entirely paranoid.
I don't recall what the company was, but I do recall that the government had shut down a company in the past that was creating illnesses and then creating cures for it to sell to people.
While the government was clearly not involved in the company's actions, I can still see how Mehar would streach it to the idea that they would become involved. The belief was probably part fact, part "trust gap". Remember that the government has let companies get away with things in the past until election season rolls around.
I doubt that he is right, though.

The only thing I dog this man about is getting onto Rush Limbaugh after calling Palin a twat...

Your format is shitty and annoying to read.

This is what happens if you C/P.

When you blatently C/P, it makes it look like you have no original ideas whatsoever, even if it is your own writing.

It is not, if you wish I added a link to the bottom so you can read it in full, I just thought it would be a interesting topic to bring up.

Did you read my other post?
I was waiting on your reply.

Which post? You have already posted several.

Try the one that follows right after the OP.

Well, that is your response to my post.

Nvm then.
If you don't have anything more to say, I guess I don't either.

Usually you respond to people when they respond to you.

Well I do, but may I ask why? I am assuming it is not forced.

Of course it isn't forced. How could we force you?
But the expectation is that you will defend your assertions until it is at least clear that there is a stalemate or one side withdraws from the debate.

Well I just simply shared this from a user on DA and was curious to if you agree with him or not, you see I do not watch a lot of Bill Maher, but apparently he does, so I just found it interesting. My favorite channel is FOX News because there fair and balanced, what is yours?

Do whatever you want. Just a suggestion if you want people to take you seriously and not think you're an asshole.

Thank you for the advice and I will try not to be an asshole.

No problem baby cakes.

I guess I'll say something about bill Maher as well. I think he's kind a douche bag. Especially this video he did.

Well I will admit that he is a liberal, and I generally do not watch liberal shows (being conservative and all that), but I will admit that the most disturbing thing I found about him is that he believes US troops are cowards.