Talk:Bill Maher

Public Errors

Maher has from time to time made public errors of fact.

First case.

I heard him state on one of the Sunday Morning Political shows that Brazil had solved their oil problem by their use of ethanol.

That was a gross distortion of the facts. In fact in addition to a successful market based ethanol strategy Brazil is drilling for oil off shore as fat as it can. As far as I can tell there are more wells being drilled offshore by Brazil than in the Gulf of Mexico Brazil offshore production is expected to surpass Gulf production soon.

I believe there are other examples.

This issue clearly needs more specific information, that I don't have, although the information should be available and verifiable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rsteinmetz70112 (talk • contribs) 04:09, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a place for rebuttals, it's an encyclopedia. If there are any reliable secondary sources dealing with controversy around Maher, those may be added to the article if sufficiently notable. Otherwise, it's not the place of an encyclopedia to provide point and counter-point. Besides, he talks a lot. Dayewalker (talk) 04:29, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Politics? Conservative? Libertarian? Socialist? Liberal? Libertarian-Socialist maybe?

There seems to be a lot of debate about his political views and he has expressed praise for European style Social Democracy or Socialism but the politics section just claims him as a libertarian without any mention of this. I understand in the States libertarianism and socialism are usually seen as polar oppositeness so I would have thought that a self described libertarian praising socialism would've gotten a mention. Here a link to a site with some mention of the issue http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/05/lawrence-odonnell-definition-socialism-bill-maher-hospitals-schools-prisons-military-pinhea/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.126.25.46 (talk) 13:25, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

If there is one thing Maher is good at, its stirring up debate. He's also difficult to pin down with a specific political label, because his political leanings can range from one end of the spectrum to the other end, depending on the specific issue being considered. The link you've provided shows Maher defining an -ism, but doesn't provide any detailed information about his personal politics; it tells us much more about O'Donnell. Xenophrenic (talk) 18:59, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

There seems to be a current trend to describe Maher politically with "Maher previously described himself as a libertarian. Although he has since renounced the economic aspects of Right-Libertarianism and on Real Time with Bill Maher has identified with more social democratic economic policies." If he's actually renounced libertarianism, that's something that should be properly cited and put in the article. However, identifying him with social democratic policies (or anything else, really) seems to be original analysis of him unless we've got a proper source. Dayewalker (talk) 15:26, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

First and foremost, before pinning any political affiliation upon Maher; he is not a politician, he is a professional comedian. Stealing from the definition of such--"Stand-up is an art form that is openly devoted to getting immediate laughs from an audience above all else . . ." His brand of comedy does take a political stance, but he has never said he has the solution to the world's problems, he has never been a candidate for political office and he has no authority to do anything other than speak from a platform on a TV show or a theatrical stage, from which he express his one person's opinion, which is frequently short sighted in pursuit of his professional obligation--to make people laugh. Unless he himself chooses to state a political affiliation, he's just like any other person on the street with an opinion. Its subject to personal interpretation. We on WP should not get into the game of categorizing him into a box he deliberately avoids placing himself in.Trackinfo (talk) 00:58, 28 May 2011 (UTC)

Described himself as "progressive" 00:21 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obEQE4CtI1Q though he backs Ron Paul --TheAmericanizator (talk) 10:35, 18 June 2011 (UTC)

Influences list seems arbitrary

What evidence is there that his notable influences include Chris Matthews and Christopher Hitchens? --Javaweb (talk) 14:55, 7 October 2011 (UTC)Javaweb

Whoa! Why does Wiki say Maher is of "Irish" descent and not "Jewish"?

Bill Maher's mother is Jewish. That makes him eligible for citizenship in Israel. I see no connection whatsoever with being Irish, especially his contempt and hatred for Catholicism. MickeyDonald (talk) 07:26, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Read the section "Early life and education" and you will see he didn't even know about his mother's religion or perhaps former religion until he was a teenager. He was raised Irish Catholic, giving him plenty of exposure to the religion and an educated reason for the "contempt" you suggest he has for it. From the things I have heard him say, he does not have a specific contempt for the Catholic religion. He has said "All religion is bullshit" and things to the effect that more wars have been fought, more people have been killed in the name of religion than anything else. That doesn't seem to be singling out any one religion. Trackinfo (talk) 07:43, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Even the Irish prime minister attacked the Vatican and he is Irish. --Javaweb (talk) 08:17, 30 December 2011 (UTC)Javaweb

OK, So Bill Maher has contempt and hates Jews and Judaism too. I get that, but the article should state that he's Jewish in an addition to being Irish.MickeyDonald (talk) 04:13, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

The article says his dad was Irish-Catholic and in his teenage years he learned his Mom came from a Jewish background. These are backed up by reliable sources. Looks fine to me.

Being an atheist and a comedian, he sometimes makes jokes about Judaism. Please produce the reliable sources that prove that he hates Jews, including his own mother. --Javaweb (talk) 07:41, 3 January 2012 (UTC)Javaweb

The whole idea that he "hates" anybody, followed by MickeyDonald's multiple Jewish categories, sure seems like he is pushing an agenda, not based in anything of Maher's doing. Maher clearly calls attention to the the hypocrisy of all religion. When he singles out a particular religion, he shows the ridiculousness of their story. He shoots holes in their beliefs, usually with biting humor. Maybe that offends you, but never have I heard him say anything about his hatred for anybody. Trackinfo (talk) 08:55, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

OK, I see your point there on that. It just doesn't seem accurate to list him under categories relating to inherited biological descent for "Irish" from his father's side, but not include similar and equal one's from his mother's Jewish side. (This is a totally different issue from Maher's stances against all religions whether they be Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc. etc. and the ridiculousness of their stories.)MickeyDonald (talk) 06:32, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

American people of Jewish descent is already there. However, I am assuming you would like to add American Writers of Jewish descent as well as comedian or delete the corresponding 2 Irish descent categories. I don't see his writing/comedy coming out of either tradition so perhaps American writers/comedians of Irish descent should be deleted. In any case, he is as much descended from one group as the other. --Javaweb (talk) 09:42, 4 January 2012 (UTC)Javaweb

Death Penalty

This sentence seems to imply that abortion and euthanasia are forms of a death penalty.

"Maher supports the death penalty, the legality of abortion and euthanasia. "

I believe this is quite misleading. What do you guys think?

Janechii (talk) 16:06, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

I moved the medical issues to "Health Care". --Javaweb (talk) 19:57, 6 March 2012 (UTC)Javaweb

Santa Maria Sensationalism

I think this article is generally on-point. I object to the segment which discusses Maher's personal life, in which Cara Santa Maria is given the title of "neuroscientist." Santa Maria has an M.S. in neuroscience and works as a lecturer at the highschool and baccelaureate level. Santa Maria is not a professor of neuroscience; nor does she work as a researcher; nor does she hold a Ph.D. I believe Santa Maria should be called an "educator in neuroscience," or simply a "science teacher."

For the sake of accuracy I think this article should challenge rather than reiterate the sensationalism the media has stirred around Santa Maria by calling her a "neuroscientist" and thereby implying she is a known entity in the field. Santa Maria is a young woman who earned a master's degree in her early twenties. Nothing so unusual about that. Sarayan (talk) 01:10, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

She isn't "given the title of neuroscientist", she is described as a neuroscientist (note the wikilink). I checked that wikilink, and the description appears applicable. The definition does not state that one need be a Professor, or that one be a "known entity in the field" to be a neuroscientist. Nothing at the Cara Santa Maria bio, as well as her personal web site, gives me any pause in referring to her as a neuroscientist; I see she also self-identifies as such. I don't understand what prompts you to equate descriptions of her as a neuroscientist with "sensationalism the media has stirred around Santa Maria". Is there something I'm missing here? Xenophrenic (talk) 02:36, 1 April 2012 (UTC)