Over at Street prhrophets there is an article by Frank Cocozelli that I think needs a little rebuttal. It's not that I disagree with him entirely, just....mostly.
The thrust of his article is that Bill Maher "helps out the very folks he abhors - the Religious Right and movement conservatism. He does it by mocking people of faith whom he generically paints as delusional." In short, because Bill constantly dismembers the religious far right, this somehow will "skew the neo-atheist argument against faith by trying to paint it as being irreconcilable with science and reason." Mr. Cocozelli then goes on to state that, "His relentless degradation of poor and working class whites compound Maher's counter-productive attack on faith. During any give broadcast of Real Time the host's constant drumbeat of proclaiming "American dumbness" or description of supposed ignorant toothless rubes is ever-present. If anything he risks turning himself into the posterboy for what movement conservatism says is wrong with liberals."
While Mr. Cocozelli spends a fair amount of time basically calling Bill Maher an idiot he does cut him a little slack with this, "Maher's neo-atheistic pronouncements are of course protected by the First Amendment, and so no matter how bigoted, ignorant or counterproductive, he has every right to say what he says." Well thank you very much.
Well now to Bill's defence....mostly. But first a bit of a disclaimer. I like Bill Maher. I think he is funny, caustic at times for a good reason, and pretty much right on with his slicing and dicing of the religious right. When Bill goes after the people who want to re-write history to put in God and take out facts I agree with Bill. When there are people out there who want to replace solid scentific fact with amusement parks full of humans and dinosaurs frolicking together I agree with Bill. When you have people out there who condem abortion but refuse to teach sex Ed. I agree with Bill. When you have those who would stop medical research that could save or vastly improve the lives of millions I gotta agree with Bill. When there are folks who are actively wishing for the destruction of the world through the "End Times" or the "Rapture", I really agree with Bill. When some folks think that all the progress women have made in the last hundred years is a "moral mistake" and that it "subverts the just position of the male as the head of the household", I agree with Bill on behalf of my nine year old daughter. When there are a group of people who would be more at home in the time of the Inquisition because of the way they would enforce conformity and destroy dissent, I realy, really agree with Bill.
Now here is where I actually agree with Mr. Cocazelli. Bill does provide a lot of material for the religious right. But, it is not so much that Bill Maher provides gist for the religious far rights' mill, it's that the religious far right needs to be ground in Bill Mahr's mill. And often.
Benign religion, which at it's heart, all western based religions are in concept, is harmless, and in most cases provides a level of comfort and serenity for alot of people. But the folks Bill goes after are anything but benign. They are a virulent manifestation of the worst that any religion offers, the radical zelot. They must be shown for what they are, and as often as possible.
While Bill may not go after the leaders as often as he should, he is correct in his assessment of the followers. They are the "one tooth"'ers. Those who believe blindly, those who are unwilling or unable to think for themselves. Birthers, teabaggers, C Street'ers, "GodnGuns".
Mr. Cocazelli, in my opinion is an enabler. It is an attitude similar to the "Don't make fun of the crazies, they're really harmless after all and they have a right to be crazy." Well yes, they do have a right to be crazy, as long as they keep their particular brand of crazy to themsleves. Which as we all know, the religious right absolutely refuses to do.
I suspect that Mr. Cocazelli's outrage at Bill Maher is more due to the truth that Bill speaks to religion in our country than any other reason he may give in his article. He is offended not by what Bill actually says, but by the fact that Mr. Cocazelli is embarrassed by the truth of it all. As we all know, most any religious zelot can never stand up to the truth.