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Re: Bill Maher rocks my little world.
One final nail in this coffin??
Ysobelle at aol_com says:
>
>I love his show. I love the fact that he speaks his mind, he's a liberal in
>a world of conservatives, and he's well-read, intelligent, and fierce.
>
Well, he may be all those things to a degree, but I have to cite Kelvin when
he mentioned that he never listens. An essential skill for a debater is the
ability to listen, and I've seen Maher simply discount opposing views far
more often than concede to the possibility that they may contain even a
shred of truth. Peace on Earth may be a dream, but it will definitely never
be realized as long as people like Maher exist to glamorize the idea that
sticking to your beliefs is not only admirable, but should be carried out to
the extent that you deny other people the right to theirs.
>I saw him on Larry King the other night, and he was talking about how he
>realized how much he was letting his loathing of Dubbya colour his
>commentary, and he realized he'd have to step back. I think that's pretty
>impressive to admit that in public and not cover everything with a thick
>coat of defensiveness.
>
I'd wager that somebody, perhaps from the network or the volumes of
"complaint mail" he no doubt gets pointed out to him recently that calling
the President a "turd" on a regular basis does more to discredit him and his
points than it does to help them. Heck, it could have even been someone who
agrees with him, in an act of "damage control."
>Just out of my own personal curiosity, how many tree-hugging liberals are
>left on this list?
Ysoie, this part is the real reason I'm replying. I know how you feel. I
was the only person on the Midnight Oil discussion list to offer Christian
interpretations of their lyrics. That went over well! Now, there are many
Christians on that list who are too timid to speak their mind, but I have
been joined by one other rather vocal soul. Still, we are the "black sheep"
on a list full of liberal tree huggers. I been the victim of several
bigoted attacks. Essentially, I am being told that I have no right to my
opinion, or I'm off-topic (a MAJOR sin on that uptight list), or I'm
delusional, or I take things too literally, or I need famous people to
validate my beliefs, or that I have no right to make personal assessments of
the band members based on their lyrics, or I'm trying to "save" the listees,
or that I must think the list was mired in pointless discussion before I
came along, or...you get the idea. Discovering that fans of a band that
sings about "common ground" can be so prejudiced has proven to be quite the
exercise in cynicism for me. Anyway, Ysoie, feel free to be yourself here.
I'm sure me all can respect, in the spirit of peace and love, that you are
your own person.
BTW my favorite Oils song- the anti-racist "White Skin Black Heart"- is a
touch goth, especially on the 20,000 watt "best of" disc.
the spoil is oil,
Matt
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