I end up in a place not too different from you on this, but I get there by a different route. I am not a big Maher fan - never have been. I don't think he is half as funny, or as smart, or as iconoclastic as he seems to think he is. I don't actively dislike him, but I don't seek him out much. And part of that is that I think he does tend to overplay his hand, in almost every way. Maybe he thinks that makes it more funny (it doesn't); maybe he thinks that makes it more controversial (it doesn't) or persuasive (nope).
OTOH, I think he is basically correct that religion causes war (that's not all it does, but it clearly does that, and pretty often). I also think he is right about "fake fairness" - though this is an old and obvious point that lots of people have been making for a long time. Fox News has been effective precisely because they have stretched the right hand margin of what is considered plausible discourse about 300%, which results in about a third of what they say making it into the public consciousness of what is considered mainstream. The far left has never been heard in the public discourse in anything like the same way that the far right gets heard all the time. Mahr himself hardly qualifies as a liberal (unless the topic is dope or porno) and Olbermann, while not an objective journalist, is not even close to doing what Beck does. I am pretty far out on the political left, and I read a lot of the liberal press, and I know how hard it is to find that voice on broadcast or cable television (you can watch NewsHour for a month of sundays and not get exposed to a voice as far to the left once as you hear on CNN, MSNBC or any of the sunday news shows every week, with regularity). To be clear, I don't really want anyone as liberal as Beck is conservative to get a regular hearing on television. Those people are insane, and hearing a crazy liberal does not inform or reassure me any more than hearing a crazy conservative. But it does distort the public discourse to allow, and even indulge, the crazy right so much without giving even a little bit of a balancing POV On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 9:13 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > Admittedly, Maher is a comic first and an activist/commentator second. > Therein lies the problem, but I state that out front because I don't > want to engage his arguments directly, for the simple reason that -- > frankly -- his arguments aren't very well formed. For example, I think > his contention that religion causes war is as preposterous as those in > the 1980s who claimed heavy metal music leads to teen suicide. But > this isn't about that. > > During his most recent "Overtime" segment -- a regular online > continuation of his "Real Time" show -- one of his guests attempted to > respond to Bill Maher's outrage over what Bill called a "false > dichotomy" and "fake fairness," by which he meant it was disingenuous > to say there are just as many wackos on the left as there are on the > right. Maher asked who is the left equivalent to Glen Beck and then > immediately verbally smacked down one of his guests for daring to > suggest Keith Olberman (Maher retorted that Keith was "obnoxious," but > not the same as Beck). In my opinion, Maher was wrong in reacting the > way he did, though I think he had no choice but to do so (because the > next logical step was for someone on the panel to suggest, in fact, > Maher generates the same response from conservatives that Beck > generates from liberals). And when Maher probed further, demanding to > know the left equivalent to groups like the teabaggers or right-wing > militias, he dismissed all responses until people stopped trying. > Maher seems to think he wins at moments like that, but I think that > sort of response costs him (or what he believes) support. > > I am a longtime fan of Bill Maher's, dating back to his brief > appearance on "Max Headroom." And I can set aside whatever ideological > differences we have because he is extremely smart and extremely funny. > But if he wants to be a comic, then he should be a comic. Or if he > wants to host an issues oriented talk show, then he should do that. > However, the hybrid isn't working for me anymore. I want to be able to > tell Maher that as a host, it is wrong to cut off a guest. If you want > to disagree with the guest or argue the point, at least let the guest > finish the point he or she (in this instance she) wants to make. But I > can't tell him that, and I really can't be critical of him, because > his defense would be that he is a comic, and therefore doesn't have to > play by the same rules as the journalists who host talk shows. It is > the same argument people use to defend on Jon Stewart on "The Daily > Show," that he doesn't need to be fair and balanced because he is just > out for laughs, except neither Stewart nor Maher are JUST out for > laughs. > > Where I see the discrepancy between the left and the right is that the > left feels the need to water down their views with humor, whereas the > right tends to take a more somber (even angrier) approach. But both > sides will hide behind those elements, using them as shields. I have > watched both "Religulous" and "Expelled," and found both to be equally > entertaining but also equally full of the same, self-righteous > smugness. As for Olberman, I agree with him more than I agree with > O'Reilly (I can't bring myself to watch more than 10 or 15 seconds of > Beck, so I'll let others weigh in on that), but find them to be cut > from essentially the same cloth, the difference being that Olberman > tends to treat his guests more respectfully. Olberman uses humor while > O'Reilly uses angry scare tactics, but both are using the same > hyperbole (yes, I know how silly it is for me to throw that word > around in reference to others) and rhetoric. > > Anyway, see for yourself whether you thought Maher was being unfair in > allowing his views to be presented while shouting down those who > trying to present opposing ideas. As for me, I think I'll either have > to scale back on my dosage of Real TIme (the way I have with Olberman > -- I used to check out his show daily in podcast form, but now I think > I see it once every month or two), or limit myself to Maher's standup > performances. > > > http://www.hbo.com/real-time-with-bill-maher#/real-time-with-bill-maher/episodes/0/184-episode/video/184-may-14-overtime.html/eNrjcmbOYC5Uz89JccxLzKksyUwOSExP9UvMTdUsy0xJzYeJOufnlaRWlDDns0knlpbkF+QkVtqWFJWmsjGyMXIyMgIAblQXOA== > > -- > Kevin M. (RPCV) > > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! 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