Bill Maher....

[lwien]

If you didn't catch the end of last nights show you HAVE to find a way to see it 'cause if you don't, your membership at FC will become null and void !!!!!

 

[Adobewan]

Here's a way:
http://newrulesbillmaher.blogspot.com/

 

[CarolKing]

I love it and never miss an episode. I am watching it now. Loved the panel but I get irritated with Ana Navarro, she was the only republican. She loves Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. She did have a couple of good points. Glad he had Killer Mike on, I don't know much about him only he's a rapper and he's for Bernie. I really liked what I saw of him.

I also thought Hillary had a weird outfit on for the debate.

Go Bernie!

Edit
Good commentary about cannabis at the end. Why in the hell did he light up a joint he needed to get his vaporizer. A joint made the point better. Most of America wouldn't know what a Haze looked like. He might have been smoking something other than cannabis, I hope it was the real thing.

 

[Stu]

I hope it was the real thing.

The way the panel (except for Navarro of course) kept hitting that joint I'm pretty sure it was the good stuff.

If you didn't catch the end of last nights show you HAVE to find a way to see it 'cause if you don't, your membership at FC will become null and void !!!!!

I don't know about that. There was more combustion than combustion-fucking going on.

Edit: Having said that, if that joint were passed to me on live TV, I'd have hit it with enthusiasm, too.

 

[CarolKing]

This is bullshit.

Friday night’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher ended with Maher lighting up a joint after a pro-marijuana statement. The FCC immediately fined him $1.7 million, the largest fine since Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl halftime in 2004.


“You can’t smoke a joint on television; I don’t care if it’s a pay channel. Kids are looking at the video of it on YouTube as we speak,” said FCC chairman Tom Wheeler. “One of his panel members was obviously not happy with the event and Maher put her in danger from the potentially deadly marijuana smoke.”


The city of Los Angeles is also looking into the issue of Maher sharing the joint with guest panel member Killer Mike. Under the rules of medical marijuana in California, the weed bought can not be given to anyone besides the person whose name is on the prescription. Each medical card member must purchase and use only their weed, or it violates the terms of the prescription.

 

[RUDE BOY]

And do you really think he isn't smart enough to expect to catch shit and get fined for smoking herb on live TV where recreational use isn't legal? I mean half of anything he says makes him sound dumb as fuck(IMO) but he ain't stupid.

 

[Farid]

He's a showman. Everything he does is for views. His whole anti religions shtick is tired and old, and now his jokes come off as racist without much humor, so he has to do something else extreme.

He believes the same things Trump does about Muslims, and when he gets a panel together which agrees with him it just comes off the same way as Fox News does to me. I know I'm not his target audience, but he doesn't have to alienate people like myself.

He's the "liberal" Bill O'Reilly, and I think both him and O'Reilly are not legitimate sources of news, but showmen looking to make some $.

If he were to meet me he would say I'm not a Muslim because I'm not extremely religious, but when I meet very religious Muslims they never question my faith. It's the classic no true Scotsman fallacy.

 

[CarolKing]

I happen to like his show and look forward to it each week. I might not agree with everything he says but I agree with a lot of his views. True it's intertainment, he's a comedian. Comedians can get away with more. Whether that's right or wrong but it seems to be true.

I figured he would get some negativity about lighting up. I thought it might not be cannabis. Hopefully HBO knew a head of time. I would hope he wouldn't get cancelled because of it.

 

[RUDE BOY]

I would hope he wouldn't get cancelled because if it.

I would think next weeks ratings will be higher after they did this, probably enough to make the HBO network execs forgive and forget.

 

[KimDracula]

The "no true Scotsman" fallacy is more often used by religious apologists (be they Christian, Muslim, or of another stripe) who routinely dismiss violent acts by others who share their dogma. Christians will say their terrorists are not really Christians while Muslims will say they are not a real representation of Islam. Maher, as an atheist who is annoyed at Liberals who play this game, does not. He does, though, often support the side of Muslim reformers who aren't afraid to criticize religion.

Since we are discussing logical fallacies, how about we address the straw-man argument that is always ascribed to Maher: that he thinks or says something about all Muslims. He doesn't. He may criticize the belief system (surely that is allowed, no?) or individuals within the larger group, but he is never painting all Muslims with the same brush. It's far past time to ditch our reverence of other peoples' favorite fairy-tales.

 

[Farid]

He makes sweeping generalizations on Islam based on the most conservative interpretation around. That would be like judging the Unitarian Church by standards set by the Puritans.

All you need to be considered a Muslim is that you accept God as the only higher power, and that Mohammad is his messanger. Anything else is just how far you want to take it, and changes depending on your school of thought. Maher is lying when he says that Islam requires X or Z. He is talking about Wahhabism, one of the most conservative schools of Islam. What makes him an expert on the subject anyways? He clearly has made up his mind on anything relating to religion.

Perfect example of how these generalizations fail. Islam has 2 main sects: Sunni and Shia. They have very different belief systems but both are considered Muslims. Shias believe in a heirarchy similar to the Catholic Church, with religious leaders making important decisions regarding the religion. Sunnis believe that the Koran is the final word of God and that any human interpretation is subjective and that no human should hold any position of religious authority. Often generalizations apply to one sect or one school of thought, but it is rarely a mainstream school of thought.

 

[lwien]

“You can’t smoke a joint on television; I don’t care if it’s a pay channel. Kids are looking at the video of it on YouTube as we speak,” said FCC chairman Tom Wheeler. “One of his panel members was obviously not happy with the event and Maher put her in danger from the potentially deadly marijuana smoke.”

".......deadly marijuana smoke" ???? Fuck, it's Reefer Madness all over again.

 

[dirtdragon]

He makes fun of religion because he should. You can make all kinds of points how it is good, peaceful, etc.. The reality is there is no sky fairy. Belief in something that is not true is a slippery slope. First you believe in Angels, and then start to interpret parts of silly books as fact. Next thing you know "everyone must die if they don't believe in the almighty". We see this in all religions but a large part of the world is still indoctrinated and carries on the myth.

It is so sad that most people I know believe in GOD, Big Foot, Lockness Monster, astrology, ghosts, or Psychics.

If you believe in something because of a collection of old stories written by goat herders in an era where we knew very little about the world around us then you deserve to be made fun of. Most of these stories are not even original as they were copied from the Pagans.

I could go on but if you still believe it would be best to do some unbiased research online and you too can know the truth!

 

[KimDracula]

He makes sweeping generalizations on Islam based on the most conservative interpretation around. That would be like judging the Unitarian Church by standards set by the Puritans.

All you need to be considered a Muslim is that you accept God as the only higher power, and that Mohammad is his messanger. Anything else is just how far you want to take it, and changes depending on your school of thought. Maher is lying when he says that Islam requires X or Z. He is talking about Wahhabism, one of the most conservative schools of Islam. What makes him an expert on the subject anyways? He clearly has made up his mind on anything relating to religion.

Perfect example of how these generalizations fail. Islam has 2 main sects: Sunni and Shia. They have very different belief systems but both are considered Muslims. Shias believe in a heirarchy similar to the Catholic Church, with religious leaders making important decisions regarding the religion. Sunnis believe that the Koran is the final word of God and that any human interpretation is subjective and that no human should hold any position of religious authority. Often generalizations apply to one sect or one school of thought, but it is rarely a mainstream school of thought.

The last sentence in that first paragraph makes no sense. Must you be part of a group to criticize it? I don't think so.

Of course Islam isn't a monolith and has different sects. No one disputed this. You're now using a straw-man here and additionally, you're making it seem almost as if the term Muslim has no meaning by fragmenting it, which is a bit like the No True Scotsman thing again because you're simply trying to make it impossible to name the target. Yes, it is Wahhabism that is feeding the fundamentalism and violence, which has been recognized by Maher and others. No one said Maher is an expert. We're discussing him because that's the thread that was started.

There is no evidence for a god and no sect of Islam will lack for ridiculousness. It is theism and it is flawed just like every version of Christianity. I notice you didn't object to that term though there are many different flavors of those, too. While people deserve respect; flawed dogma containing the biggest lies ever conceived does not.

 

[lwien]

If you believe in something because of a collection of old stories written by goat herders in an era where we knew very little about the world around us then you deserve to be made fun of.

There are many members here who believe in God and you just dissed them big time for they no more deserve to be made fun of because of their beliefs than you do for yours.

 

[KimDracula]

We have a duty as critically-thinking, peace-loving people to ridicule damaging belief systems that rely on anti-intellectualism and denial of reality.

 

[lwien]

Ok, this thread is getting wayyyyyy off topic. How 'bout we get it back to what my original post was all about, eh, which is his stance on cannabis and lighting up in the studio. Those things have NOTHING to do with religion.

 

[Farid]

The things that he says are not said in a vacuum. I understand being against religion. But he has a fetish with Islam, and considering the current climate (think Trump) the things he is saying are not helping bring this country together. Now I think he, like may celebrities, take on certain personalities because it benefits them, but I put him in a catagory with O'Reilly, Howie Carr, and Ann Coulter.

Back on topic, I'm pro weed, but I think smoking it on stage to score popularity points is kind of juvenile. It's exactly the kind of stuff that non weed smokers see and scoff at. Cause even in legal states, smoking in most buildings is still banned, and people who don't smoke still hate second hand smoke. I can't fault them for that.

 

[RUDE BOY]

We have a duty as critically-thinking, peace-loving people to ridicule damaging belief systems that rely on anti-intellectualism and denial of reality.

So your a "peace loving critical thinker" out to save us from ourselves by ridiculing my belief in God and the religion I chose to follow?

Can't really respond here to @dirtdragon or totally to @KimDracula without risking being banned for a while but Man O Man talk about a prime example of narrow-minded bigotry and hate speech at it's best being espoused in their posts above.

 

[HellsWindStaff]

I had just seen this, and was going to post, but for some reason I just had a feeling you posted it already @lwien lol my FC senses were tingling, cracked me up when I saw the thread and that you started it! Thanks for sharing I thought it was pretty funny.

I agree with @Farid that although I personally really enjoyed it, that is exactly the kind of thing non partakers will scoff at.

I'm agnostic? I think. I don't know. I am not religious in any sense but there are a lot of ideals and philosophies that I do think are good parts of religion (bad parts too). I guess I would consider myself spiritual, but not religious. I do think that the whole religious topic in this thread though is a total left turn lol not what I expected when I entered

 

[KimDracula]

I find it hilarious how some people think their belief in religion is somehow sacrosanct and off-limits to criticism. I routinely make comments about Republicans in political discussions and am not accused of hate-speech. Believe whatever you like but don't expect me to respect it automatically. Just because there are still so many who do is of no import. Many people think there are reasons to hate people because of their race, for instance, and have many "reasons" they think this is appropriate but I will still point out the stupidity of racism. Why is it different to point out the idiocy of religious dogma?

 

[lwien]

I love debating religion but can we please get this thread back on topic and if anyone wants to start a religion thread I'll be there as well.

I take other peoples threads off topic all the time but I hate when it happens to mine......

Here........I'll just kind of wrap it up:

 

[CarolKing]

Make a seperate thread to discuss religion - back on topic.

I think the older Bill Maher gets, he has become a little bolder. He just turned 60 so he feels more entitled to get his point across regarding cannabis. I'm glad he had the balls to do it.

 

[TeeJay1952]

What is the matter with Bill? Doesn't he know that now is the time to "Fuck Combustion"? Think of the children.

 

[seaofgreens]

I tip my hat, if I wore one. Good job Bill, most expensive joint ever. Amiright?