Real Time New Rules Aug. 7, 2009- Dumb and Dumber Edition
By Heather Saturday Aug 08, 2009 9:00am
Real Time's New Rules for Aug. 7, 2009.
Maher: Now, before I go about demonstrating how easy it is to prove the dumbness that is dragging us down, let me just say that ignorance has life and death consequences. On the eve of the Iraq war, 70% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was personally involved in 9-11. Six years later, 34% still do. Or look at the health care debate going on now. At a recent town hall meeting in South Caronlina a man stood up and told the Congressman to "keep your government hands off my Medicare!".
Which is kind of like driving cross country to protest highways. This country is like a college chick after two Long Island iced teas. We can be talked into anything, like wars. And we can be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget the town halls, and replace them with study halls.
Listen to some of these statistics. A majority of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, or explain what the Bill of Rights is. 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. More than 2/3 of Americans don't know what's in Roe vs Wade. 2/3 don't know what the Food and Drug Administration does.
Some of this stuff you should be able to pick up by simply being alive.
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Rep Kingston of Georgia is a frequent guest on Bill's show, as he was tonight. Normally, I just think he is a silly, perhaps even likeable, fool.
But tonight, he really pissed me off. Bill asked both Kingston and Issa to condemn Limbaugh's comments about Obama, Hitler, and Nazis. Issa readily condemned it. Issa gave a half ass answer, initially claiming that he did not hear what Limbaugh said. Arianna Huffington told him she assured him 100% that Limbaugh made these vile comments. Then Kingston started talking about how Dems called Bush "Hitler." But I didn't hear major Democratic talking heads saying this, like Beck and Limbaugh do about Obama. Further, previous bad behavior does not justify current bad behavior. Kingston really did not give a firm condemnation of Limbaugh.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think my head is going to explode from all of the townhall crap, the Beck crap, and the Limbaugh crap this past week.
out of the senate for his comment comparing the treatment of gitmo prisoners to that suffered by pol pot/nazi prisoners. he was thoroughly and loudly denounced by the repigs, in addition to alot of harrumphing by the media magpies.
durbin was forced to (tearfully) apologize on the senate floor.
but, as usual, maher doesn't do his homework and refute these kinds of statements. and esp irritating is his equivalence of birfers with people who think the bushies had prior knowledge of 9/11. (isn't there some dispute about the phrasing and misinterpretation of that particular poll.)
An amazing number of republicans in Georgia delegation in the House are "fools". Perhaps not stupid, or even ignorant, but fools. And they regularly pop up on the House floor (you can tell who the genuine GOP wingnuts are in the House by watching the 1 minute or 5 minute floor speeches. Painful, I agree.
Really, though, be Kingston, or Broun or Price, they're kooks.
these fucKKKheads are still 'on message'. the media show nothing but contempt for this country and Maher just makes a case for how easy it has been.
Ignorance is only a lack of education whereas stupid is the willful act of not accepting education. As they say, there is no cure for stupid and it would see the moronic Repuke base has cornered the market on it. And their stupidity knows no bounds as half the people at these "protests" seem to be old enough to be on Medicaid. That's how the Dems who are being interrupted should deal with these a-holes, have forms ready to be signed by these nut jobs requesting they be taken off Medicaid and see how many of these protesters will show up.
WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAA, I want my America back some stupid b%!%h whined the other day; what about all sane thinking people who wanted their America back after Bushco stole the his first election. You lost, live with it.
Medicare is for all Americans over age 65. Medicaid is income-based, but applies to all Americans regardless of age.
When you spell it out like Maher did, it really helps explain it all. Hell, what is the number? Something like 40% of Democrats don't believe in evolution.
http://www.pollster.com/blogs/poll_gallup_evo...
According to your poll:
68% of Republicans DON'T believe in Evolution.
40% of Dems DON'T believe in Evolution.
Sad statistics.
I had no idea there were that many vapid Dems... But, as usual, the CONs win in terms of blind devotion.
a great number of these people are proud of their ignorance.
My Daddy didn't need no book learnin' and he was a good man. I seen all those pretty boys what with their degrees in this and that. Give me a real American like Palin or Bush any day!
or something like that...
There's a difference though between being proud of one's commonality by knowing that's what one is
And thinking one's educated when one is not.
and their guts. So indeed, they are proud of their ignorance.
It's all that home schoolin'. I betcha most of it is bible readin.'
As someone looking in from the outside I see Americans as being ego centric, inward looking people, not interested and very suspicious of anything beyond their shores. Maybe it was because some damn fool dreamed up that manifest destiny.
Our geographical isolation and our lack of war at home helps explain our attitude IMO. Also, life has been way easy for some time here so you can get by without having to know too much. The worm will turn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbDiujuv6rQ
"Some of this stuff you should be able to pick up by simply being alive."
By osmosis?
But I dread to imagine what the mental processes are of the ignorant, it must be like walking around in a mental fog 24/7 with occasional glimpses of reality like Survivor and Idol.
Maybe Beck could explain...
24 and Touched by an Angel.
What Touched by an Angel reminded me of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwivHPit22A
LOL. Thanks for that!
Na... by talking to people, watching TV (not American Idol) and hanging with people who are smarter than you.
1:30 EST
It was the two choices you have to cross a river.
No one ever lost a plug dollar betting on the stupidity of the American people. And Bush and Cheney knew that, too.
And Homer insisted it was his choice.
the Swine Flu was made in an Obama Germ Warfare Laboratory for the purpose of destroying the White Race?
Sheesh
You probably gave them an idea that is now in the works.
me.
Obama was about 15 during the Ford years.
I know that offends some folks...usually the morons. But simply explained, we have MORE PEOPLE who are dumber than bat shit than any other place on the planet.
Of course we have folks who are intelligent. Of course we have some great folks all over the country...EVEN IN TEXAS; but compared to any other civilized nation on earth, we have more people walking around with their heads up their asses...shouting (as best they can)that we are #1.
What a bunch of dim witted idiots.
Check out any other country where religious fundamentalists rule.
Afghanistan, Arab countries...
FIFY
Of course,,, but we have more people to begin with. So it is no suprise that this country has a lot of mental lightweights. But at the same that would also be true that we also have a bunch of folks with brains. Play into it the size of this country,,, then one may realize that stupidity and intellect are spread pretty thin in both regards.
And what has been said on Bill's show is correct in that the pockets of stupidity do exist. For example,,,and I am not doing nothing than stating a conversation I had with my spouse and daughter. My spouse and I basically started life in the same upstate NY area. My spouse's family moved here to Florida when my spouse was just starting school. I moved here to Florida when I was in my Twenties. The difference(and I screwed around in high school) between my spouse's education and mine is shocking to me. My spouse went to college and I did not. My daughter said to me the other day is that sometimes I speak words that she doesn't understand,,, and my spouse say the same as such.
So case in point,,, stupidity is everywhere. But it can be said that it is concentrated. Ignorance is truly bliss,,, now hand me a beer,,,Skoal brother.
I think we're closer to actual homicide over this debate than a lot of us realize. You stir up passion with ignorance and no good can possibly come of it.
Looking at those statistics that Bill Maher provided, it really makes my job of defending my fellow citizens that much harder. I live abroad and I typically get to be the whipping girl for all things anti-American, until we did the "right" thing and elected Obama. I generally have to let the people of the UK that everything is not as rosy as they think it is, and there are quite a few stupid Brits. Some people that meet me are shocked that I know as much about the world as I do. I've never understood people that were proud to be stupid. Some of them are even college educated!
I remember talking to a couple of Hindus on ocassion, and they're surprised I even know about the tale of King Vikram and the Baital, the Ramsay Brothers and how the RB's horror movies they use the Aum symbol as we use crosses, and his trishul as we use wooden stakes or what not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1LCjhh123U
http://www.dollsofindia.com/dollsofindiaimage...
One Islamic associate was surprised I even knew of the existence of the Five Pillars of Islam, although I was forgetting one, and that I have no interest in converting to any religion (he doesn't know I've been a practicing Witch for some decades), I just simply want to know and understand.
While others sit on their hands and do nothinng you have some impressive people out there doing their home work and pusing back against the lies:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/8/762288...
then comes out with facts proving it....sorta
americans arent stupid...just wilfully ignorant
it makes life easier to deal with
just think of the mass suicides that would occur were most people to truly realize that they have no control over their own thoughts
we live in a real life matrix
how else can people be so afraid of a simple word like socialism...especially when the majority have no clue what the word even means
as they say , "ignorance is bliss".
and the majority (percentage wise) live in Dixie, go to a megachurch and have a Confederate flag hanging somewhere in the house.
And tend to not live in a large urban area.
don't want to be reminded how stupid we are.
"After all, America is the best country,
The politicians say so and they never lie..."
If we collectively stop saying that the USA is the best and start trying to PROVE it by needed action,,,things would be so much better for the USA and the rest of Earth.
When virtually every major newspaper has a daily astrology column and virtually none have even a weekly science column?
Note: I say this as a frequent wiewer of Real Time who ususally enjoys the show a lot:
Although he frequently have some good points and can be quite funny, don't mistake Maher for a true liberal.
1: He has a very dark and misanthropic world view. He seems to hate the general public for their weaknesses such as ignorance and stupidity.
2: He automatically thinks he understands things that other people don't and is smarter than almost anyone. This goes for any issue nomatter how much information he really has, while at the same time...
3: ...he talks in absolutes and with utmost certainty about things unknowable. His absolute beliefs as an atheist are just as much a rigid belief system as that of any hardcore religious person.
4: His mind seems closed to new ideas, and he frequently lashes out in anger at that which & those who challenge his world view.
Four signs of a conservative mind right there.
And no, the fact that he talks freely about the pleasures of smoking pot and a free-flowing sex life doesn't make him a liberal. That's the tabloid version of "liberal" and it sucks.
A hallmark of Mahers limited mental capabilities and his sometimes sock puppet behaviour can be found in this clip. I find it funny that the issue about 9/11 for him is weather Bush knew. Bush of course rarely knew anything as the useful idiot he was/is. Look how riled up Maher gets when cutting down this straw man argument. The question is of course wether Cheney knew.
We have as much evidence supporting an given religion as we do supporting the existence of Santa Claus. Yet, we do not have people demanding our country be run by to rules of Santa or that Santa talks to them (at least and are taken seriously).
Rationality is to base belief proportional on the evidence and existence claims require proof or have no place in rational discourse.
Maher's fierce conviction about the problems of religion are precisely because people are terrorizing rational innocent people all in the name of an intangible entity (might as well be the Spaghetti Monster) with no evidence to support their claim. It is not that the atheist and a religious person are the same based on their conviction. Maher is just passionate about hundreds of years of religion being crammed down our throats irrationally while causing immense suffering.
If we can get past that...
If Americans would be willing to vote an atheist president...
(yeah, we are more hated than any other religion! http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1487...)
If we could have a government that does not try to force our children to pray to a god everyday with a socialist pledge that never really included it...
If churches were not using their pulpits to push political agendas..
Maybe Maher would back off a little on his hard core disgust with religion and you would not see his passion...
OF course. as a rational person, he would still ask for proof in the intangible thing in the sky that religeous folks believe in so well.
I agree completely on most of the points about religion.
Only one area where I think you are missing the mark. It's where you say:
If we limit rationality to only that for which we have irrefutable proof, or in scientific terms, that which we cannot disprove though empirical research, most of us aren't capable of much rational thinking, nor action. There is simply no time in real life. This is where the often misused "common sense" and learning though experience comes in. We cannot know exactly what will happen next, but a well informed mind with life experience will probably choose the most RATIONAL choice.
For instance: Einstein didn't have proof for his theories when he first got the ideas. But rational thinking about the mysteries which science had yet to explain lead him to those trains of thought which later have become strong scientific theories. At some point, we must imagine and think outside of the well known box, or we stagnate. Einstein said this of himself:
My point I made regarding Maher was that a true liberal rarely thinks in absolutes or presume to know everything. What someone would deem a religious conviction or the existance of some sort of God comes down to the definition and how advanced knowledge of the universe a person has. Believing and KNOWING that there are things we cannot know or comprehend is important.
Where you draw the lines between the supernatural and the natural only comes down to on what level of understanding and scientific progress you are. We don't know everything, and Arthur C. Clarke was right that:
We should approach our understanding of the universe in the same way.
Imagination can act in a rational manner too. Believing that we exist in a world much, much bigger than us, where time and space is one and where it curves, and that our brains can't really comprehend or visualize anything outside of that leads to conclusions which you nor i are able to claim are rational or not. If someone wishes to call something, or everything God, who are you to say otherwise?
Celsius, you nailed it.
Like Bush, Maher can "play dumb" on 9/11, either because he hasn't done his homework or he chooses to remain willfully ignorant. To say the attack was a 'complete surprise' to the Bush Administration is absurd. We even simulated attack drills for these exact scenarios. Scan the History Commons : 9/11 Timeline (all verifiable media reports)
http://www.historycommons.org/project.jsp?pro...
A very small sampling below...
October 24-26, 2000: Pentagon officials carry out a "detailed" emergency drill based upon the crashing of a hijacked airliner into the Pentagon. [Military District of Washington News Service, 11/3/00] The military conducts exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass casualties. One imagined target is the WTC. [USA Today, 4/19/04] After 9/11, a Pentagon spokesman will claim: "The Pentagon was simply not aware that this aircraft was coming our way. I doubt prior to Tuesday's event, anyone would have expected anything like that here." [Newsday, 9/23/01]
June 2001: German intelligence warns the CIA, Britain's MI6, and Israel's Mossad that Middle Eastern terrorists are planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as weapons to attack "American and Israeli symbols." [Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 9/11/01, Washington Post, 9/14/01, Fox News, 5/17/02]
Late July 2001: The Taliban Foreign Minister learns that bin Laden is planning a "huge attack" on targets inside America. The attack is imminent, and will kill thousands. He sends an emissary to pass this information on to the US consul general, and another US official, "possibly from the intelligence services," also attends the meeting. The message is not taken very seriously. The emissary then takes the message to the Kabul offices of UNSMA, the political wing of the UN. They also fail to take the warning seriously. [Independent, 9/7/02, Reuters, 9/7/02]
Late July 2001: Just days after Atta returns to the US from Spain, Egyptian intelligence in Cairo says it received a report from operatives in Afghanistan that 20 al-Qaeda members had slipped into the US and four of them had received flight training on Cessnas. They pass on the message to the CIA, fully expecting Washington to request information. The request never comes. [CBS, 10/9/02]
Late summer 2001: Jordanian intelligence makes a communications intercept deemed so important that King Abdullah's men relay it to Washington. To make doubly sure the message gets through it is passed through an Arab intermediary to a German intelligence agent. The message states that a major attack is planned inside the US and that aircraft will be used. Christian Science Monitor calls the story "confidently authenticated" even though Jordan has backed away from it. [International Herald Tribune, 5/21/02, Christian Science Monitor, 5/23/02]
August 2001: Russian President Putin later says publicly that he ordered his intelligence agencies to alert the US of suicide pilots training for attacks on US targets. [Fox News, 5/17/02] The head of Russian intelligence also states, "We had clearly warned them" on several occasions, but they "did not pay the necessary attention." [Agence France-Presse, 9/16/01]
Early August 2001: Britain gives the US another warning about an al-Qaeda attack.The previous British warning on July 16th was vague as to method, but this warning specifies multiple airplane hijackings. This warning is included in Bush's briefing on August 6. [Sunday Herald, 5/19/02]
The rest of Bill's rant:
. . .
Nearly half of Americans don't know that States have 2 (two) Senators.
And more than half can't name their Congressman.
And among Republican Governors, Only three (3) got their wife's name right on the first try.
. . .
The average voter thinks Foreign Aid consumes 24% of our Federal Budget. It's actually less than 1%.
1/3 of Republicans believe Obama is not a Citizen.
And 1/3 of Democrats believe that George Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. Which is an absurd sentence... because it contains the words "Bush" and "Knowledge."
. . .
Sarah Palin said she would never apologize for America, even though a gallup poll says 18% of us think the SUN REVOLVES AROUND THE EARTH!!!
No, they're not Stupid... they're Interplanetary Mavericks.
And I haven't even brought up Religion. But here's one Fun Fact I'll leave you with: Did you know only about half of Americans are aware that Judaism is an older Religion than Christianity? That's right, half of America looks at books called the Old Testament and the New Testaments and cannot figure out which one came first.
I rest my case.
I read (?) where Gallup had admitted the question on Bush and 9/11 was poorly worded....that in fact it was "knowledge" that is the key word. I doesn't mean for some that he had specific information, but for a goodly number of us it can be interpreted to me was he aware of the possibility of an upcoming attack. The answer is YES, as evidenced by the Aug. 24 memo......Anyway, I don't think that example of a 1/3 answer is as clear cut an example of "ignorance" as the others....
i.e., Bush's stupidity, not because he seriously thought it was an example of the country's stupidity. You're absolutely right about the PDB giving Bush and Rice a direct "heads up" about an imminent danger which they then ignored, and obviously Maher knows all about that.
i know my congressman because he makes sure to stay in the news all the time (waxman) i know both of my senators (feinstein and boxer) cuz they irritate the shite out of me
i know my guv's wife's name (maria) cuz she is a fucking hottie and i still cant figure out what she saw in ahnold (unless he has a supersized schvantz)
i know that bush had no prior knowledge about 9/11 because he had to lie about seeing the first plane crash on tv
who dont know that jesus was jewish
it just shows how far away modern christianity has come from its roots in judaism
I'm surprised the numbers are that low ..........
Please tell me what you are quoting is a reflection of the Ignorant, Indifferent Hate Mongering Nazi, White Supremacist White, you know the inbred clowns that support Traitors like cheney, bush, gonzales bolton, libby Oh! don't forget the christian right you know those idiots that believe the earth is only 2000 years old that fantasize about sleeping with the members of their family (the devil made me do it). I know Bill this is and what you said are about the Racist Nazi Committee and the Goofy Opposition Party (RNC,GOP). No self respecting AMERICAN could be that dumb just had to be the right.
The above gentleman can call a swath of society 'inbred clowns' and other things, but I cannot respectfully disagree regarding a part of Bill's piece without having my post removed. (even citing another debate Bill had on the issue, which I will not mention for the sake of being censored again)
I would appreciate some mutual respect on alternate viewpoints, which are completely related to this piece. This website is one of the few who seems to wish to bring criminals to justice, and I appreciate that. I have nothing but respect for what you gentleman and ladies go through, but a bit of balance with regards to your delete button would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
I think 'they' believe the Earth is around 6000 years old or so.
MUCH more reasonable then 2000, don't ya think? ;)
Maher's delivery is a little heavy handed but he's pretty much always dead on.
Who are the 2 suits? They're kinda creepy looking sitting there side by side.
issa is creepy...aint he
Nope, they are both, ignorant and stupid for the most part.
And it makes life much worse for all. But as long as a few amercons get to be rich and mess the world over doing, then it's all OK isn't it ........
25% of America is stupid and stark raving mad.
How else could you explain 8 years of the bush/chenny nightmare?
The debacle that keeps on giving!
republicanism is a mental illness!
Oh it's a MUCH higher % than that.
is constitutionally guaranteed is it not? Who knew that so many Americans had achieved such blissful nirvana?
Does that mean we get to marry Courtney?
Just about all of the real world knows every time then encounter an american usually.
The loudest, most obnoxious and relevant to this, ignorant, tourists on the planet.
I think many of us are as suspicious of things inside our borders as with the things outside. The thing we have not been able to accomplish is pointing out just who "the government" is. Big money runs the show, on both sides. Is that suppose to be a secret or something?
Bill Maher sure is very smart, so I wonder if he is a member of MENSA.
Anyway, what I might add to what he mentioned about Judaism coming before Christianity is that Judaism has NOTHING to do with the Old Testament - it's, of course, the Torah, Tanakh, et al. The Old Testament and the New Testament in the Christian bible circumstantially contradict themselves. Nonetheless, we do have religious freedom, and Christian radicals shouldn't take that away from the rest of us folks of not just faith, but reason.
Still, it's amazing that idiocracy always seems to trump a real, true, intelligent, and functioning democracy. - Reminds me of the test Luke Wilson took in the movie "Idiocracy" - "If I have a bucket with 5 gallons and another bucket with 7 gallons, how many buckets do I have?" - "2?" - LOL.
(parody) : YEAR (2015) -- Maher: Now, before I go about demonstrating how easy it is to prove the dumbness that is dragging us down, let me just say that ignorance has life and death consequences. Back IN 2009, 70% of Americans thought THEN president Obama was born in the United States. Namely Hawaii. Now, Six years later, 34% still do. Now, years after the Nazi regime took over our country, tore down our borders, enslaved all dissenters and formed the world government we STILL have stupid people who think the Hawaii birth 'receipt' was real. Lou Dobbs is still being ridiculed by the 'dumbed-down' masses, and now that Schwarzenegger is President we can all rest easy in the knowledge that we are all fucked. Wait wait... let's not acknowledge the 'birthers'. This one is not credited to them. We can give our thanks to all the 'certificators' for that one. You know,the ones who accepted the 'mainstream media' information about the birth certificate without having a true police investigation concluding in a true fact-driven conclusion. After all, the media is the last word in this country. Always has been. Just more evidence that 'dumbess' is dragging us down.
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