[Buddha-l] Be good for Godsake

[Alberto Todeschini]

Dear Richard,

> I haven't seen this particular Maher piece, but in general I find Maher
> very tedious. I'm probably becoming a prude in my old age, but I really
> find gratuitous swearing tiresome. In what I've seen, Maher can't get to
> the verb of a sentence without tossing in several pointless adverbs that
> he seems to think make him look very hip and cool. 

I've since looked him up on Wikipedia, the ultimate arbiter of 
everything worth knowing. Maher seems to be a peculiar fellow. Judging 
by the movie I'm not surprised that he gets tedious quickly.

> When seeking
> intelligent critiques of religion, I'll stick to Hume and Nietzsche.

Sounds reasonable. The interesting bits of Maher's movie aren't really 
the bits when he's doing the talking but the replies that he gets from 
the colorful people he meets. Some of them seem genuinely caring and 
well-meaning but I'm sure I disagree with about 99.92% of what they 
think. Other seem to simply be charlatans who swindle believers out of 
millions. Also, there are a number of highly intelligent people in the 
movie, such as Reginal Foster (Pope's principal Latinist) and George 
Coyne (former director of the Vatican Observatory). Foster in particular 
is very refreshing, but I wonder if he still has his job after what he 
said on camera.

To his credit, most of the time Maher isn't too confrontational or rude. 
Also, quite frequently the target of his jokes is himself.

And Joanna,

"I was being ironic --guess irony doesn't come across in email. I
haven't seen the film yet but certainly intend to, even if I have
to wait to get it on Netflix."

Sorry, I missed the irony completely.

Some of the most bizzarre parts are the interviews that are included in 
the DVD but didn't make it in the actual 
movie/comedy/documentary/whatever it is. For instance, one guy knows of 
several eye-witness reports that G. Bush senior is a shape-shifting 
reptilian. You can probably find his books about the reptilian 
conspiracy, which also includes the British royal family, Tony Blair and 
others. There are also more sinister or downright frightening people 
there, like the interviewee who thinks it's good to shoot people to 
prevent abortion.

If you do see it, let us/me know what you think.

Best,

Alberto