Some delightful musings on Bill Maher’s illustrative new film about religion from Professor “MTH” — a “relentlessly skeptical” and “persistently challenging” commentator (much like he describes Maher himself), whose pricelessly acerbic delivery is matched only by the incisiveness of his comic wit and intelligence.
I love his rating scale: 3 and a half out of a possible five Sarah Palin debate winks.
I don’t complain about crazy practices, like putting elevators on Shabbat service, ever since I went to Israel and enjoyed free-flowing, free booze in bars an hour before sundown on Friday.
A lesson the Muslims would do well to learn.
I’m not complaing about the “crazy practices” of the faithful… Religion is, as I’ve said before, “mostly harmless” — and quite endearingly so. I just want it to remain that way.
I wasn’t accusing you of complaining about religious practices. I was just making a comment.
By the way, did you know that Bill Maher subscribes to unscientific theories, such as those underpinning homoeopathy?
Yep. Bill thinks milk is “poison” according to the last RealTime.
Ryan — Yes, daughter #1 subscribes to this notion as well. I have been lectured at some length about how “milk is poison”…
Ti-Guy — It’s difficult at times to be utterly and completely scientific about absolutely everything.
It’s difficult at times to be utterly and completely scientific about absolutely everything.
No it isn’t. It’s laughingly simple. What you know is that you have evidence for. The rest, you should be agnostic about.
I’m not condemning Bill Maher and his critique of organised religion. I love it. But he’s a comedian, first and foremost. He’s also…and I loathe to say this…not always that bright.
Don’t drink it, RT! Don’t drink the poison! It’s big dairy keeping you opiated!
Yes. I’ve been sadly deluded by “Big Dairy” all these many years. LOL.
“Human beings have had to guess about almost everything for the past million years or so. The leading characters in our history books have been our most enthralling, and sometimes our most terrifying, guessers.
May I name two of them? Aristotle and Hitler.
One good guesser and one bad one.
And the masses of humanity through the ages, feeling inadequately educated just like we do now, and rightly so, have had little choice but to believe this guesser or that one.”
-Kurt Vonnegut
I personally find it hard to be completely scientific about everything.
Ti-Guy — There are few things in this life that are “laughingly simple” as you so glibly put it. Even the most simple and straightforward of matters rests of a foundation of massive and deeply involved complexity. At least in my experience, that has proven to be the case.
personally, i see science in everything. it’s just a matter of understanding the science. not that i claim to always fully understand it (nor even usually), but it’s always evident.
KEvron
Okhropir — Indeed, to some extent, we are all guessing… any venture into the field of cosmology will quickly make this plain truth readily apparent, dispelling quaint notions of definite certitude in rather short order. That of course isn’t to say that we should subscribe to fairy tales or fanciful, wholly artificial creations, more just that things need to be approached with a certain degree of humility.
There are few things in this life that are “laughingly simple” as you so glibly put it.
There is nothing in life that is laughingly simple. What I said is that is that realising what you know is laughingly simple; deciding what you have evidence for, and what you don’t.
If you don’t think you have enough evidence to really know something, then you have educate yourself.
Or lower your expectations.
The fact that the “bail-out” package — as incredible and completely fantastic as it was at more than twice the estimated cost of the war in Iraq… as undervalued as THAT is at ONLY $600 billion — simply got swallowed up, shrugged off and tossed back on the dinner plate of America like so much gristle should give everyone pause for thought. Substitute “completely freak out and go mental” for “pause for thought” there.
Or lower your expectations.
To what? To your level of incuriousness and nihilism?
What exactly do you know about anything, okhropir rumiani?
Well, give up cosmology for one. Or anything outside your the realm of your immediate experience.
Ti-Guy — You should have added that’s what you meant to say.
No. I said what I meant to say in response to this:
It’s difficult at times to be utterly and completely scientific about absolutely everything.
Doubt is very worthwhile thing.
I know nothing. You know this already and continue to engage me. Who’s the bigger fool?
I know nothing. You know this already and continue to engage me. Who’s the bigger fool?
I’m a teacher. That’s what I do.
Yes, perhaps I should give up on anything outside of my realm of immediate experience. That’s a great, ennobling message, isn’t it?
Yes, perhaps I should give up on anything outside of my realm of immediate experience. That’s a great, ennobling message, isn’t it?
I’d say so. What other choice do you think you have?
I bet you were a real joy in the classroom.
And I bet you weren’t, you miserable bitch.
That’s rather nasty.
I’m not suggesting that at all, obviously that’s absurd.
I was just trying to make a point about Ti-guy’s “What you know is that you have evidence for. The rest, you should be agnostic about.” by carrying it to the extreme.
The day-to-day routines of our species forces our brains to make frequent decisions based on pure instinct in the absence of evidence.
So one can’t simply act on the basis of evidence Blah, blah, blah, blah…. Let’s not talk epistemology or neurology, it was rhetorical.
Sorry.
No problem. I am in a bit of a bad mood at the moment. I have a tendency to take things as written and I can also be very literal and small-minded.