The Public Intellectual: Bill Maher

Public Intellectual:

Bill Maher

            Bill Maher has opined on the numerous political, religious, and social issues that have arisen in the greater part of the last three decades. Bill Maher has voiced his thoughts and influenced public discourse, most notably, with respect to the presence of religion in government, and more generally, with respect to the government in general. He has used his TV show “Real Time with Bill Maher”, as well his books, documentaries, guest appearances and own status as a public figure as a forum to share his more liberal ideology – challenging and questioning conservative, and conservative theocratic ideologies, which resonates powerfully with the younger demographic. Bill Maher is one of the most prominent political intellectuals and commentators of the current generation because of his high stature and visibility – which allows him the ability to heavily scrutinize politicians, lobbyists, religious figures, government organizations, and anything or anyone in between for their religious, moral, social, political, and ethical beliefs.

            In 2008, Bill Maher’s documentary, “Religulous” examined and challenged the religion and religious beliefs in various regions of the world. Traveling to destinations including Jerusalem, the Vatican, Salt Lake City, London and so on, he interviewed believers of the Jewish, Christian, Mormon, Scientology and Muslim faiths, attempting to understand why these people believe what they believe, however irrational, while challenging the legitimacy of the various faiths. By combining “religion” and “ridiculous”, Maher highlighted the anomalies of these religions and urged people to seriously consider all aspects of religion, including these anomalies. However, his comedic approach struck a sensitive chord among groups from all sides of the spectrum, including the left wing, right wing, people of faith, and non-believers. Although the documentary received generally positive reviews from both audience members and public officials, many critics labeled Maher a religious bigot for his “one sided” attempt to exploit the inner workings of the various religions. Maher’s seemed to be misrepresenting the views of the people he interviewed – for someone who claimed to be searching for credible reason to consider religion, he seemed to be interviewing the wrong people.[1]

            Due to Bill Maher’s show serving as his greatest forum of political discourse – which brings about + 4 million viewers a week – an argument can be made about the liberal/democratic ideologies he asserts. His ideologies should not be mistaken as merely conforming to his large audience base, but similarly to “America’s own liberal history” discussed in Wicked Paradox: The Cleric as Public Intellectual. In the discussion of Peter Beinart’s justification for why the anti-evangelical bigotry was not really bigotry in public debate – stating that it’s best in public arguments to ground your religious beliefs in replacement of reason and evidence in order for true debate through common political language – the “dialogic neutrality” he calls upon may be equally unreasonable. Ideally, the notion of neutrality when discussing politics and policy sound very reasonable, the history of America’s own democratic track record should not be mistaken for pure neutrality. Just as there is a similar bias amongst the mainstream public – exaggerated in the younger demographic – for liberal ideals that factor into public and political discourse. For one to expect people of faith to sanitize their “political rhetoric of all religious assumptions ‘amounts to a demand that religious believers be other than themselves and act publicly as if their faith is of no real consequence.’ It’s not only absurd but unfair, some argue, to ask religious intellectuals to disarm their political speech of its fundamental moral rationale”.[2] “Religulous” not only attempts to understand the legitimacy or expose the illegitimacy of religion, but similar to Beinart’s point, strives to surface the religious bias that may be factored into the political sector of our own country. However logical the idea to engage in public discourse with common language may be, it may also be considered unfair with the long lasting presence of America’s liberal foundation.

            A public intellectual, according to “The Decline of the Public Intellectual”, is not defined by the excessive amount of ones wisdom, nor is it their gifted position that equips them with social and political power. A true public intellectual learns the processes of criticism with regularity, as well as highlighting the most important issues being raised. [3] Ultimately, creating greater public discourse begins with another important issue, Healthcare. Maher has expressed his hatred for the pharmaceutical and health care industries as a result of the unnecessarily, immense, profit margins created. Maher maintains that the mass consumption in unhealthy foods that these entities urge upon the public is the culprit behind American’s obesity and even drug problem – creating a dependency for pharmaceutical drugs that are not the solution to health issues. On Real Time with Bill Maher, he presented statistical evidence that showed the incredibly larger positive affects of diet and exercise on all physical and cognitive aspects, as opposed to the dependency of healthcare – in turn, avoiding prescription drugs for minor things ranging from depression to heart disease.[4]  Many of Maher’s critics who attack his stance on pharmaceutical drugs come from the National Institutes of Health, characterizing him as “anti-science”, uninformed and potentially endangering the health of fans that take his "non-medical" advice.[5] Maher had responded to the critics by stating of the vaccinations he was against, "what they think I'm saying is not what I've said. I'm not a germ theory denier. I believe vaccinations can work. Polio is a good example. Do I think in certain situations that inoculating Third World children against malaria or diphtheria, or whatever, is right? Of course. In a situation like that, the benefits outweigh costs. But to me living in Los Angeles? To get a flu shot? No." Although his stature and prominence as the figure he is does allow him to create debate and respond to criticism, his ability to consistently raise important questions and create the topics of discussion has resulted in his notoriety as a public intellectual.

            Bill Maher’s large fan base throughout the years – formulated from his comedy stand up, his collaborations with David Letterman and Larry King, as well as his first show “Politically Incorrect” – has allowed for him to advocate for policies and leaders most politically sound, while spreading awareness of the issues at hand. With the November primaries only a few months away, Maher has begun to intensify his support for Hillary Clinton and intensify the scrutinizing of Donald Trump. Urging his viewers, guest speakers and all other audience members to vote for the Hillary Clinton, he is insisting that this election will be a referendum on decency and that electing Donald Trump would resemble Nazi Germany’s electing of Hitler.[6] Maher tries to surface the double standard that appears to be in this election in favor of Trump, using George Allen as an example of a Presidential candidate who was immediately shunned for using the racial term “macaca”, while Trump’s road to presidency is not affected negatively by any racial comments he continues to make. Another one of his many racial comments made throughout his campaign was calling Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” and a “total failure” due to her self proclaimed Native American heritage, while Hillary Clinton has continued to be demonized for being a woman, and the controversy surrounding her emails.[7] Similarly to when Bill Maher had supported President Obama in 2008 with his $1 million dollar donation to his Super PAC, he recently made donations to Hillary Clinton’s Super PAC for the upcoming election; he has publicized these donations to justify to viewers unaware of the Citizens United case and the merit it possess, as well as defining what the purpose of a Super PAC is for unaware viewers.[8]  Maher’s support for candidates in the past, by donations and discussions involving their policies, has had a positive track record of elected candidates and highlighted awareness of the important issues at stake.

            Bill Maher’s most recent contribution to political discourse has been the rallying of the Bernie Sanders supporters to get behind Hillary Clinton. Maher, along with many other public figures who were upset that Bernie was out of the race, were quick to suggest that the primaries were not over and that Hillary Clinton was more than qualified and just as viable of a candidate. A month after Bernie had left the race for candidacy, he was a guest on Real Time, where he personally encouraged the voters to get behind Hillary Clinton and called Donald Trump “the most dangerous Presidential candidate that we had ever seen” – suggesting that the backing of Hillary Clinton is aimed at the larger picture.[9] As inconceivable and unrealistic this continues to sound to most American’s, Donald Trump has only 1 person remaining in the way from becoming the leader of the free world. America is just that much closer to electing a narcissistic racial bigot as it’s next President, and public intellectuals like Bill Maher are doing their best in order to prevent this catastrophe from occurring.

            Bill Maher is very much a public intellectual who has employed many different strategies for political, public and religious discourse. Maher’s ability to engage audience members in all sorts of dialogue has resulted in a heightened awareness of religion, politics, policy and other major issues that are happening all around the country. Aside from his notoriety, his prominent guest speakers and panel members of his show help assist in further captivating the interest of the viewers while diversifying the topics being discussed. Real Time with Bill Maher serves as a forum that establishes the common language between all viewers and listeners in comedic manners, helping easily translate the important issues that arise in our country. Although this comedic approach may often times get him into trouble with the people of faith and other conservative members, it still manage to bring recognition on the manner at issue. Aside from negative backlash, “Religulous” is still the top 50 documentaries grossing in the world today, consistently influencing and engaging the public toward the conversation of religion – whether agreed or disagreed. The documentary was extremely affective in creating discussions involving his attempt to find legitimacy in these different religions around the world. What makes Bill Maher a public intellectual is not his publicized and advantageous position as a commentator/comedian, but because of his consistency over the last 3 decades in highlighting the important issues facing our country, using the advantageous position he has to further raise the matters in question.

---

[1] Dybing, Gabe. "Questions of Audience and Purpose Surrounding Bill Maher’s “Religulous”." Gabe Dybing. N.p., 22 Apr. 2015. Web. 07 Sept. 2016.

[2] Mack, Stephen. "The Cleric As Public Intellectual." Www.stephenmack.com/blog/. N.p., Jan. 2007. Web. 7 Sept. 2016.

[3] Mack, Stephen. "The New Democratic Review: The "Decline" of Public Intellectuals? (repost)." The New Democratic Review: The "Decline" of Public Intellectuals? (repost). N.p., 13 Jan. 2011. Web. 07 Sept. 2016.

[4] Real Time with Bill Maher; September 28, 2007; HBO

[5] Swiss, Jamy Ian. "Overlapping Magisteria". JREF. Retrieved 2013-03-20.

[6] Whitlock, Scott. "Bill Maher: Republicans Are Retarded Nazis; Election Is a 'Referendum on Decency'" NewsBusters. N.p., 22 July 2016. Web. 07 Sept. 2016.

[7] Matthews, Chris. "Bill Maher on the Double Standard in This Election." Msnbc.com. NBC News Digital, 13 July 2016. Web. 07 Sept. 2016.

[8] Concha, Joe. "Did Bill Maher Lie to Assange, Viewers about $1 Million Clinton Donation?" TheHill. N.p., 2016. Web. 07 Sept. 2016.

[9] GAUTHIER, BRENDAN. "Bill Maher Smacks down Sore Losers: Sanders Voters Can’t Say It’s “fair When You Win and Rigged When You Lose”." Saloncom RSS. N.p., 10 June 2016. Web. 07 Sept. 2016.