NewsReal Sunday: Bill Maher Reveals Himself To Be A Horrible Human Being with an Empty Soul
I distinctly remember one day when I was in the seventh grade and my father and I both had an appointment with a new dentist. (We’d recently moved back to Indiana after living in California for many years and had to find a new family dentist.)
So we went to a dentist whose name I now mercifully forget. Both my Dad and I were a bit put off by several things. First was the sloppy dental hygienist who left us both with sore gums. Second was when the dentist tried to encourage my Dad to stop the orthodontics treatment I had already started because apparently there were cheaper ways to straighten my teeth. (Y’know, ways that this dentist could do to make a little more money for himself.)
But the deathblow to the Swindle family selecting this guy as our family dentist came when he asked my Dad this, “So what do you do for a living? Not a lawyer or a used car salesman are you?”
As my Dad drove me back to school he explained to me one of those lessons that has stuck with me ever since: “As soon as someone makes fun of the last name it immediately identifies them as a jerk.”
Ever since then I’ve come to understand my last name not as a curse but as a tremendous blessing. Do you know what it means when I meet someone for the first time, tell them my name, and the first thing that pops into their head is to make a joke at my expense? I then know immediately that this is a horrible human being whose soul is a cesspool of emptiness and misery. They’ve actually done me a favor: I can now completely write them off and ignore them. They’ve identified themselves as a Person of the Lie, M. Scott Peck’s first stage of spiritual growth — chaotic/anti-social. They care only about themselves, live a life based on lies, and continually need to hurt other people in order to fill the vacuum in their being.
I wouldn’t have this distinct social advantage if I was David Smith. Without the benefit of the last name it might take longer for a jerk to reveal himself.
This whole narrative of thoughts came to mind as I was watching last Friday’s episode of “Real Time,” the HBO political chat fest hosted by leftist comedian Bill Maher. For his opening interview Maher had on Congressman Anthony Weiner (NY-D) to talk about the virtues of socialized medicine. Maher introduced him:
Maher: So I’ve wanted to have you here for a long time, I’ve seen you on television… I think people say, “Unlike a lot of people Weiner stands up…
*Audience Laughter At the Juvenile Joke*
Maher: … for the right things!
Weiner: I heard my last original Weiner gag in the fifth grade. So I’m not sure it’s y’know… [Weiner charitably trails off]
Remember, this is how Maher treats the people who agree with him!
If a person doesn’t even know enough to be able to learn how to transcend their own evil and selfishness then what can they know of value? What can they contribute to the political discussion or to the betterment of our society? In Maher’s case not much apart from a few laughs and a platform that occasionally allows smarter people the chance to talk.
(Stay tuned here at NewsReal! I’ll have another Maher rebuttal soon taking on the lie he told in this week’s New Rules segment! It’s a bigger whopper than when he attacked Sarah Palin 3 weeks ago!)
If the only reason we write about Maher is because of a mental malady, let him fade gracefully.
The orfice in front should be in the rear: vis-a-vis.
David:
In yesterday’s blog:
“A Comment That Touched My Heart Today”
You criticized me for saying that there was no way that I could be friendly with anyone with a FAR-left philosophy like Obama. Even if they were not in a position to harm me, I find their incredible arrogance and self superior attitude to be offensive in the extreme, and I therefore won’t have ANYTHING to do with them.
In this blog, you seem to be expressing a version of the same sentiment.
There’s a difference between someone just being an insensitive jerk, and being “a horrible human being whose soul is a cesspool of emptiness and misery”
In this case, I happen to agree with you that Maher is indeed a horrible human being whose soul is a cesspool of emptiness and misery, but what if you had never heard him speak about his political philosophy, is it fair to immediately categorize a comedian that way, whose job is to make jokes, for making shallow jest of a name like Weiner, which clearly has other connotations in our lexicon ?
Looking way back, I remember kids whom I grew up with frequently making those kind of sophomoric jokes about other kids with names like that. Many of those childish lines were not even meant to be insulting, and many of the kids who made them turned out to be fine adults.
I can easily understand why you’re more intolerant about this than I am. You must be thoroughly fed up with that kind of humor, and I’m guessing that it was far worse for you than for Mr. Weiner, as the Weiner connotations are far less offensive than what you suffered, since you’re were dealing not just with an innocuous double entendre, but with one that by its very nature impugned you character and integrity.
But you’re still young, and those memories are still quite fresh in your mind, so I suspect that you’ll probably soften a bit as you get older…
In leading the interveiw off with a silly comment, renders the credibilty of any further statements or opinions ineffectual.
Bill Maher gets waaaaaaay more airtime than he deserves. He should be ignored for the bore that he is…
Oh yes – I never thought anything when I first saw your last name, and I actually grew up with a boy named David Weiner, and honestly can’t remember any of us poking fun at his name.
That makes me either incredibly dull or very nice. I vote with nice…
Point taken, but the joke about the law firm of Dewey Cheatum and Howe is still funny!
David, would your views remain the same if Maher had introduced Mr. Weiner as someone he was “Keen as mustard to have on the show?” You know someone with whom he “relished a conversation.” I don’t mean to make light of what you write, as your comments on your name are bang on the money and a great insight into the persons you meet. But to me the difference is positive versus negative reenforcement. On meeting someone for the first time, or in this case itroducing him to an audience, the stress should always be on the positive.
Unfortunately, most children make fun of each other’s idiocyncrasies because they themselves have endured the same ridicule while growing up.
The military uses this form of harassment to teach one that they are part of a team and their personal traits are melded into the unit. The nickname becomes a moniker taken with pride.
Sport teams abound with various nicknames for player who encourage the tradition.
This practice has openly fallen by the wayside due to political correctness, but privately, it will never stop as long as you react negatively about it.
Frank Sinatra and his cronies always made light of themselves, never would they be tolerated on national TV in this ridgid contrite world we have come to believe is “The Land Of The Free”.
Just ask Imus about political correctness and MSNBC’s hypocracy.
Amen, David, put it to rest.
Maher has become a bottom feeder in the world of comedy. He knows he’s nobody. His shock jock style isn’t cutting it, is it? He picked religion for his movie to get mainstream attention of the moral society. It went south, nobody saw the movie.
So, what’s left for this excuse of a comedian who should’ve quit while ahead sometime ago? The negative reaction he gets from all of us seems to infuse him with renewed abusive energy. What a loser and waste of intellect. His audience must be flashed a card to “laugh” at his classless, tasteless dribble. Maher competes with Olbermann in shrieking negative outbursts at Sarah Palin. They recognize in slow burn she’s so much more and Maher piggybacks Olbermann sinking lower than whale feces.
So can a loser be rehabilitated?
An Observation: Maher defined the word, “mean”when he called Susan Boyle ugly…
A blogger friend responded: Bill, let’s face it, you are pretty short and have a large schnozz. You’re no Brad Pitt, but you could be the character he played in Buttons ; see, we all have something different about us, it makes us interesting.
Now here is what Bill’s last name means in Hitchcock’s Bible Name Dictionary, LOL:
Maher-shalal-hash-baz = making speed to the spoil; he hastens to the prey.
Truer words were never spoken. No wonder he’s so driven and traumatized!
That’s interesting. I also never made the connection regarding your last name until you brought it up in the post. Does that mean I’m a wonderful human being with a full soul?
Connecting obvious last names with alternative meanings, and yes making a joke of it, doesn’t make you anything. Adding this to other personality traits and character flaws or just ignorance does.
Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and look past it. Bill Maher is however, an ass.
Jeff
As we say in England, the lowest form of wit is sarcasm and if the only way a person can earn a living is by making nasty comments about anyone he doesn’t like and cause that person to be the butt of his nasty jokes, then he is a sorry character indeed. Whenever I have heard Maher he is sarcastic about almost everything and he is no longer any part of my personal entertainment. Switch him off folks – he’s horrible. I find him a very unsavoury character. No wnder he’s not married what woman in her right mind would want that.
This comment of Maher’s about the Congressman’s last name was NOTHING compared to the demeaning insult he leveled earlier against all opponents of health care. Refering to them as “stupid”, Maher theorized that opponents just needed to “be dragged kicking and screaming” to reform and not asked for opinions.
I feel sorry for Maher. He may never have a chance in this life to realize what a wretched lackey he is. Maher is a paid shill, nothing more.
Bill Maher should not be allowed to speak in public, as he really has nothing worthwhile to say, and nothing worthwhile for anyone to listen to.
He is such a jerk!
Crime by association, when correlation implies causation
At 7 years old, little David is the victim of an incompetent dentist who makes a childish joke of his last name. In the emotionally stressing situation provided by a dental practice, both father and son soon learn to categorize people who joke about their name as jerks or horrible human beings “whose soul is a cesspool of emptiness and miseryâ€. Beside the unsubstantiated claim that ethereal things such as souls *filled* with *emptiness* exist (*, mutually incompatible notions), these condemnations can only be delivered by God who is the only expert in the unseen and therefore the only judge in the matter.
Two things characterize this particular situation (dentist office): an impressionable child is subjected to an ill-intended individual (dentist) and a joke. The child inexorably links the two together and ascribes an exclusive cause and effect relationship between them regardless of the situation. With this sort of logic it thus becomes obligatory that anyone who practices the joke is a wretched soul.
Most should understand that the situation is entirely different between a comedian and his guest. Nonetheless, little David remains in the dentist office.
And the question becomes, why such unmitigated vitriol?
I’d give a person some slack for a dumb name joke, since a lot of people go into “Help Me Rhonda” when we meet, though not as many as used to. As for Bill Maher, years ago I used to watch his show, until one evening when he was seriously discussing the idea that the legal age of consent for sexual activity should be lowered. I’m not sure what age he had in mind, but he wasn’t joking and it was creepy.
As a woman named Justin, I know exactly what you’re talking about. When you’re a kid you think there’s something wrong with you when adults question your name or mock you, but you get older you realize that adults who do that should not be allowed anywhere near children. Now it functions as an instant IQ test. I think nothing of people who do a double take or initially think they heard me wrong, but when people ask me if that’s my real name, I know to write them right off. Even if it weren’t the name my parents gave me, which it is, no such thing as a ‘real name’ exists in the free world. If I were to wake up tomorrow and decide that everyone needs to address me as Muhammad Ali, then they would need to accept that and respect it. End of discussion.
I was one of those 60s radicals who never swallowed a lot of the extreme leftist crap that was the currency of the more violent fringes of the movement and was quite impressed with David Horowitz’s subsequent repudiation of the ideologies and tactics of the time.
However, I think this comment by David on Maher is way over the top of the mountain he has made of not even a mole hill. It was simply a joke on the guys name for heaven’s sake. Even charitably granting that it could be considered mildly discomforting, comedians make jokes like that all the time, often with a large percent of those jokes of the juvenile kind. So what? It is a far cry from making them horrible human beings with empty souls. Come on David lighten up. Hopefully you were joking.
Why would you even comment about this guy? He stuffed his nose with the white stuff made from when he was a no talent cutsey kid ..it blew out all sense and he hasn’t regrown them
He is an act..simple..a has been who got a chance to make the dough again.
Mr. Swindle so sorry about the pain the jokes on your name brought you …your dad was right about one thing…jerks who open their mouths leave you no doubt they are jerks. I had to introduce a Dr. Taha in public way back when was a younger woman. And I got to the ta part and broke into giggles…I apologized but I would do it every time..it was like saying Ta was priming my giggle pump I finally said,, please let me introduce you to my honored neighbor the doctor. Iwas simply mortified.
My name was never pronounced right or spelled right by a teacher my whole elementary school experience.. And it was such an ANGLO name. But they managed to mangle it and I was shy and humilated. But at least no one ever giggled over it from the podium.
But back to your blog…power is in the hands of those who hold the camera and the mike..and this guy is soooo hungry for his limelight. I mean..the guy is UGLY by any standard..and he isn’t a comedian …but because he spouts out and insults conservative values he is valued by the left.
Maher’s comedy is often quite lowbrow and/or unamusing (the two are not necessarily incompatible). As one with a “unique” last name, I know how easily others can use it as the “go to” tactic to get under someone’s skin. Maher often derails an otherwise interesting discussion with an attempt at a cheap laugh. I thought Rep. Weiner handled it with dignity and sidestepped what could have prevented him from being as informative as he was.
Where Maher shows his true colors is on 9/11 gatekeeping (which is one reason he will be forgiven many other stumbles). He is a self-professed skeptic that just happens to believe in ghosts. And the conspiracy theory he buys into is the official one put forth by the 9/11 Commission.
Bill Maher,the toadish playground bully. If you are nice to him, maybe he will let you in on his monlogue/rant. David, you need to be paid more just for the pain of watching Maher in our stead. It will be impossible to keep him honest,since I don’t believe that he has that gene.However, I do appreciate your sacrifice for mankind. Now, if someone could please give Mr. Maher an integrity and truth transplant we could all rest easy.
Maher is decidedly a third rate comic – he must grab his material as best he can -hence the totally cheap shot on Weiner’s name.
And the audience laughed – proof again that the masses are asses.
Edwin, wow, I am impressed and will use that in the future, with your permission of course.It’s like agent J said in Men In Black: “A person is smart, people are stupid”.
Judy – I copped it from some old ex-communist I heard long ago – by now its public domain
It looks like you’re answering yourself, David. Relax and get ahold of yourself, there’s still hope socialism hasn’t enveloped us.
How can you talk about that multi-annual HBO event?
I always liked the Mother Theresa comment that guy made.
Enough in his case is too much.
Maher’s sin here has nothing to do with politics.
“is it fair to immediately categorize a comedian that way, whose job is to make jokes, for making shallow jest of a name like Weiner, which clearly has other connotations in our lexicon?”
This isn’t a stand-up comedy routine he’s doing. (If it was I’d be more forgiving.) He’s talking to the man to his face and trying to have a serious interview about health care. And how does he start out? Mocking him about his last name.
Perhaps my headline is a tad hyperbolic but I’ll stand by it.
SWEMSON: I am in full agreement with in relation to what you call extreme left wingers or radicals. I CALL THEM CRIMINAL COMMUNISTS AND I DON’T WANT ANY OF THEM HAVING TO DO WITH ME OR MY FAMILY.
To have one near you is like having to share space with a RABID DOG.
Luis El Cubano
I vote nice too.
David;
“Maher’s sin here has nothing to do with politics”
I actually think the two are somewhat related..
It’s the smug, arrogant and self superior attitudes of people from the far left that makes it easier for them to talk down to and make fun of everyone else.
I think of David Letterman and see the same smug & arrogant attitude in him as well…
Other comedians, like Don Rickles make fun of people’s looks, & names all the time, but we know that they’re not looking down on us because they lack the smug & arrogant attitude that we see in Maher. I recently saw a tape of him going after Sarah Palin again, and it was very obvious that he really does hate her deeply.
Being compared to a hot dog is not like being compared to a penis. Commenting on one’s last name in a positive fashion is different. If Maher had on Larry King and said that he wore CNN’s crown then it wouldn’t be an insult. It’s just common sense and decency: if someone has a last name that’s synonymous with something bad then don’t give them crap about it unless you want to be regarded as a jerk. People with such names have had to deal with it all their lives.
The problem with Maher is that he has never resisted a negative comment in pursuit of a laugh, which makes him at best indiscrete and at worst the jerk you so rightly claim his is. The reality is when meeting people we should feel privileged to be in their company and not assume they are privileged to be in ours, which is implicit in Maher’s attitude to most of his guests. There is time enough after such encounters to decide if we want the acquaintanceship to continue.
Actually there’s more to this “joke” of Maher’s. His guest was immediately disarmed by Maher’s statement that included an unwritten message to be very careful not to intimidate or cross this host or he will revert back to the Weiner jokes…something I’m sure this man would willingly avoid.
I unsuscribed to HBO from the moment this COMMUNIST JERK started his diatribes on that network.
It is not his fault that he is still around, the sponsors and especially the viewers are to blame.
Luis El Cubano
Are you serious? You cancel HBO because you don’t like 1 show on it? C’mon there’s plenty of good stuff on HBO. “Eastbound and Down”? “Flight of the Conchords”? My wife loves “True Blood” and while I usually can’t stand it (it’s like a campy soap opera sometimes) the season finale last night was actually pretty good.
1. You’re not reading very carefully which suggests to me that you’re not really thinking very clearly which suggests that this response is probably a waste of my time. Never the less I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. I wasn’t 7 years old, I was in the 7th grade which would have made me probably 13 or 14 at the time.
2. You’re missing the point. When you meet someone for the first time and want to establish a positive relationship why would you make fun of someone’s last name if you weren’t a jerk?
3. This principle has served me in my years on this planet. There has virtually always been a clear correlation between someone making fun of the last name and someone being a jerk. And it’s a correlation, not a causation. Jerks make comments about last names. Making a comment doesn’t make someone a jerk. They were already a jerk to begin with, which is why they made the comment. Having lived my life with my name you can either take my experience as somewhat informed or you can just casually reject it.
4. Do you disagree with my assessment of Bill Maher’s character or lack thereof?
semiotic analysis? how passé.
I would cancel paying any network that goes beyond it’s intent to provide entertaining shows once it uses itself to promote radicals to gain ratings. It is why we reject the bias at MSNBC and let them know we are tired of it by not supporting them.
If you found one out of hundred Democrats plausable, would you join the party?
Damn, you made me look up the word, “semiotic” in the dictionary!
Thank you David for granting me the time of a response despite my confusion about the exact “âge of raisonâ€. I am glad we both grasp the concepts of correlation and causation.
I would like to stress that the nature of the situation in which a joke surfaces will in part determine the emotional impact on the recipient(s). In Maher’s context, both protagonists are no strangers to each other, and Maher and Weiner have met prior entering the set. However, before writing your entry, I submit that you already knew (“They were already a jerk to begin with, which is why they made the commentâ€) that Maher was a jerk, a horrible human beings whose soul is a cesspool of emptiness and misery. And by that transcendent truth, the self-fulfilled prophecy can be dispensed and be another motive for personal attacks. That is fine by me, the obviousness of it betrays your honesty.
I cannot conjecture on your past experience and will have to take it on the face of it. I can only assume that your undeniable and rich experience must have been quite traumatic as to have you condemn in the harshest words the perpetrators of such cruel misdeeds.
As for point 4, we both agree that the ultimate question is why. Why such vitriol on your part and why am I not partaking in the condemnation?
I disagree on your assessment of Bill Maher’s character and particularly the means you use to reach your goal. The type of crime by association tactic and character bashing is usually used by people on the left side of things and largely appeals to an audience motivated by hate. While this emotion can be a useful tool depending on the situation, it tends to cloud one’s judgement and have non-sensical manifestations. I expect higher standards from the right.
If there was a channel that had dozens of shows and movies that I liked and one that I did not I’d probably still watch and enjoy the channel. I just wouldn’t watch the show I didn’t like. What’s so hard about that?
Besides, as you know from reading my posts about Maher’s show he often has conservatives on and does frequently allow for some good debate and discussion. Don’t through the baby out with the bathwater as far as Real Time is concerned.
Jonathan,
Pleasantly surprised and pleased with the thoughtfulness of your reply.
“The type of crime by association tactic and character bashing is usually used by people on the left side of things and largely appeals to an audience motivated by hate. While this emotion can be a useful tool depending on the situation, it tends to cloud one’s judgement and have non-sensical manifestations. I expect higher standards from the right.”
I’d suggest you take a look at my previous day’s blog post which addresses this subject of rhetoric and why some on the Right should use more heated language:
http://newsrealblog.com/2009/09/12/understanding-accepting-and-finally-celebrating-the-conservative-chessboard/
When someone says or does something which reflects negatively on their character (as Maher does here) then it’s acceptable to call them out for it.
The title of the your blog suggested the man is a horrible human being, yet you defend his shows existence. It use to be that moderators remained neutral in political debates, but now, we no longer enjoy that luxury.Everything is scripted to the right or left to satisfy the news outlet access.
The freedom to choose what entertainment we watch is an issue in so far as those chooses are not restricted by government decree and babbling horrible human beings.
Yes, I’ll call him out for being a jerk and a leftist but defend his show’s value. Too much cognitive dissonance there?
David Horowitz didn’t write this post. I did — David Swindle.
Yes, it’s something small but it reveals something far larger. And context is everything here. If it’s a stand-up comedy monologue and he makes the joke then it’s one thing. But when he’s talking to the guy to his face and having a polite conversation?
Further you completely disregard the personal argument that I bring to the table. Look at the whole picture.
YES! I was hoping someone else with a similar name would show up to voice support.
It doesn’t really bring pain. I’m genuinely thrilled when it happens because it empowers me.
Somebody has to blog about him and call him out. It just so happens he’s one of my “beats” here at NewsReal. I blog about every episode of Real Time. I’ll have a more substantive post about his New Rules segment later today.
I conclude by the absence of a clear response that my assumption was correct. The reason behind the 9/13/09 blog post against Bill Maher is either based on hate and bears no objective arguments or is the product of a larger character assassination campaign. Again, this is fine by me as it is as transparent as it is obvious.
I read the 09/12 post. The so-called conservative media strategy will arguably bear the fruits desired by its proponents. I do not know what will be its results and I’d rather not be caught confusing the desirable from the real. Looking at its outward aspect, what looks like a strategy, with a planner, tactics and projections, may actually be the unintended product of the sum of individual activities with no or little encompassing coordinated efforts.
Watching media mediocrity spreading to the right is causing me to reject both outlets on equal grounds. The wee difference between diet pepsi and diet coke is fading quickly but the entertainment value remains.
I don’t hate Bill Maher. Sorry you couldn’t handle my hyperbole. Looks like my initial estimation of the potential in this exchange was correct.
It’s not character assassination. He’s the one committing character suicide here. I’m just pointing it out. I haven’t lied or smeared at all — just made a legitimate argument about character. Sorry you don’t have the stomach for it.
The Left and the Right are not diet pepsi and diet coke. More like Everclear and milk if you like such metaphors.
“proof again that the masses are asses.”
THAT, my friend, is perfect. Thank you for a delightful witticism.