Religulous

[knowledge_of_self]

I saw the trailer for this movie and I'm really interested in seeing it. Anyone seen this yet?
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnobOORLquk

 

[theos]

Hi Knowledge,

I saw this movie a few days ago. The most that I can say is that it was "allright". Nothing earthshaking. I don't think that he went nearly as deep as one could have. Bill Maher can be funny and is seen as very "left" in a way. However, he does have his own biases that came through in the movie. He seemed to totally buy into the whole mainstream media's push to portray Muslims as terrorists out to destroy the west and kill the Jews. There were lots of images of Muslims screaming and yelling and holding uzis with explosions in the background. Of course, he believes the official 911 story (actually leaping from his desk and barreling into the audience of his show, Real Time, when someone yelled out that he should be discussing the truth) which lends nothing to his credibility, IMHO. In the movie he pointed out how Christian ministers are selling "certainty" (that their god is the one true god and non-believers will burn in hell) whereas he prefers "doubt". Yet, he doesn't see that his certainty over 911 and evil Muslim terrorists is just as dangerous a belief.
You may get a few chuckles from this movie but any regular reader of SOTT will most likely not be very moved by this flick. To truly explain the ridiculousness of the big three religions requires someone a tad more thorough than Bill Maher.

Just my brief thoughts on this film...

 

[Myth of Myself]

I agree with chachachick,

The film is rather one sided in it's portrayal of stereotypes. For instance, it plays up the "terrorist" image of Muslims openly. In one scene Bill is speaking with a Muslim cleric (I don't recall his name) who receives a text message during the interview. As he is typing away on his phone to answer it on camera, text appears on the screen which says something along the lines of,
"A: We should kill Bill :)".

Never mind that Christian children sing songs like,
"Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before."

The film breaks no new ground. In one scene where it is apparent Bill had either watched Zeitgeist or one of the sources upon which Zeitgeist is based, he corners a Jesus actor at a Jerusalem theme park in Florida about the multiple stories from before Jesus's time about other messiahs who have the same life story like Horus and Mythra.

I was hoping that he would touch on how "beliefs" are just substitutes for "truth" in our world, but it never went that way.

I'd suggest to wait until it comes out on DVD to see it unless you are really bored.

 

[Argonaut]

I just saw this movie, and found it ok but severely shallow in many ways. For one, Maher not only buys into the "Muslim = terrorist" concept as stated already, he also confronts normal, everyday people who are Muslims (some even Americans), interpreting their "it's a peaceful religion" defense as deliberate LYING. Lying to themselves, maybe, but to portray it as some kind of conspiracy involving every Muslim on Earth? That's quite a stretch.

I also noticed that Maher doesn't ask any of the hard questions when it comes to Israel. In fact, quite the opposite - he interviewed a rabbi who's in "Jews Against Zionism," and completely attacked the guy. He also tried to interrupt the rabbi constantly, but the rabbi wouldn't have it ("Let me finish, let me finish," he said throughout). Maher then walked out on the interview in disgust; it's the only time in the film that an interview provoked such a reaction from him.

Interestingly, in the DVD extras Maher interviewed David Icke, who was allowed to give a far more comprehensive defense of his Reptilian theory than the rabbi was of his anti-Israel ideas. Granted, the Icke interview didn't make it into the actual movie... but it's still interesting that Maher gave Icke a more-or-less fair hearing, yet had a strong negative reaction to an anti-zionist Jew.

Something just smells funny about this movie. If Maher is sincere, he's at least filling the "useful idiot" role very well.

 

[Gimpy]

Something just smells funny about this movie. If Maher is sincere, he's at least filling the "useful idiot" role very well.

I used to watch his show, then one night he announced that he was a member of the board of a PETA chapter, and I lost what regard I had of him. He went from 'entertainer' to 'shill' right there. Since then I've not seen his shows. I don't think this movie even played in my area, but we have quite a conservative population here.

As for his interview of Icke, it would fit his pattern to let the man "hang himself" with his theories on reptilians, since Maher puts himself in the rational camp. To him if you're going to talk about reptilians then you're automatically nuts.

 

[Rabelais]

I also noticed that Maher doesn't ask any of the hard questions when it comes to Israel. In fact, quite the opposite - he interviewed a rabbi who's in "Jews Against Zionism," and completely attacked the guy.

Maher is a blatant propagandist for all things zionist and Israel. They're everywhere.

 

[Argonaut]

[quote author=Gimpy]
I used to watch his show, then one night he announced that he was a member of the board of a PETA chapter, and I lost what regard I had of him. He went from 'entertainer' to 'shill' right there.
[/quote]

I didn't realize that PETA was such a blatant tool of the PTB. I've always thought they were overzealous and fanatical, but that their hearts were in the right place (for the most part, anyway). So if PETA member = shill, then I'm missing some vital information. I'll have to do some research on them.

[quote author=Gimpy]
As for his interview of Icke, it would fit his pattern to let the man "hang himself" with his theories on reptilians, since Maher puts himself in the rational camp. To him if you're going to talk about reptilians then you're automatically nuts.
[/quote]

That makes sense. Interestingly, during the interview Maher asked Icke two things that really did make Icke look bad. The first question was if Icke had ever received information from beyond or a disembodied voice. Icke paused for several seconds after this question, but finally answered "no." I think what Maher was referring to was an event early in Icke's career as a "truth-seeker," when he took Ayahuasca and encountered a female entity who revealed the nature of reality to him. It's odd that Icke seems to have forgotten this life-changing event. The second was at the end of the interview. Maher asked about Icke's account of once seeing the pope "shape-shift" into a lizard. Icke flatly denied that such an event ever happened. It's true that the actual event he described was less spectacular - Icke allegedly only saw the pope's eyes become reptilian. But for Icke to completely deny the event rather than just correcting the details is strange. Maybe these events he described were fictitious. Recalling lies one has told is always harder than recalling the truth. But I've always thought of Icke as sincere regardless of his errors - someone who's been lied TO, but not a liar himself. Maybe he's losing it. Or it could be his CIA mind-programs breaking down. I'm joking there, but only partly. :)

[quote author=Rabelais]
Maher is a blatant propagandist for all things zionist and Israel. They're everywhere.
[/quote]

He's clearly a propagandist. But is he doing it purposely or is it out of ignorance? I used to wonder the same about Alex Jones, but now I'm fairly convinced that he's a deliberate shill. But with Maher I've seen nothing to indicate that he knows what he's doing. And I mean that in every possible sense, lol.