Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Buckley: Joke Night (Foggy Thoughts From Bill Maher)
Universal Syndicate ^ | October 18, 2005 | William F. Buckley

Posted on 10/18/2005 7:47:07 PM PDT by RWR8189

The rhetorical blur decalcifies straight thought. William Bennett thought he was being asked about crime rates. Well, he was being asked about crime rates, but the blur took over and the world found itself deliberating whether he wished to abort all children of black mothers.

So he had to begin not with the point he had set out to make, but by affirming that not only was he against aborting black babies, he was against aborting any babies. Ah, but that statement bumps squarely into Roe v. Wade, which, invoking the right to privacy, entitles mothers to abort their children without any reference to their ethnicity.

But how did we get into all this? By egging on foggy thought -- especially if it can be said to defend against ethnic slurring or challenges to the new constitutional postulate on abortion.

Poor Mr. Bennett was driven to saying: Look, if you want to end all crime you can do that by aborting all babies. That sounded ridiculous enough to slow down, if only for a minute, the posse determined to find him guilty of racist thought.

But the argument had many tentacles. A few nights later, Bill Maher, who chops logic on HBO, worked up a frenzy of scorn for his guest Andrew Sullivan for refusing to ascribe to poverty full responsibility for crime. Maher does not advance his thought methodically, but here is the rough sequence intended:

If there is more crime committed by black Americans than by non-blacks, it is on account of poverty.

Poverty is what happens when Republicans control Congress and the White House.

The latest poll reveals that endorsement of White House policies by black Americans is 2 percent. Endorsement of Bush by whites is 45 percent.

The difference suggests the victimization of black Americans by White House policies.

These policies result in poverty, which results in crime.

Therefore it is correct to say that poverty equals crime, and correct to say that blacks suffer more than whites from poverty, but not correct to say that blacks engage in more crime than whites do.

Abortion is a constitutional right and the exercise of abortion must not be disdained or criticized, but abortion must not be recommended as a step toward diminishing either poverty or crime. Even if it does.

On the program in question, Mr. Sullivan suddenly turned to Mr. Maher and said, "You just called me stupid."

What made Sullivan stupid in the eyes of Maher wasn't that he questioned that poverty was the whole of the explanation for crime. It was that belief in religion is, according to Maher, "stupid." Since Mr. Sullivan believes in religion, that makes him, by deduction, stupid. Maher did not pull away from Sullivan's deduction, at least not directly. He settled for saying that religion was stupid but people are perfectly free to do stupid things.

This calmed Mr. Sullivan down, and he settled for saying, Is it stupid when Christians feed the hungry? When they shelter the exposed? When they preach love of fellow men? Everybody laughed.

It doesn't matter what Maher says, they laugh. It would have been good to hear from Mr. Sullivan the words of Belloc, but they might have ruined the fun. Belloc once observed that "We sit by and watch the Barbarian, we tolerate him; in the long stretches of peace we are not afraid. We are tickled by his irreverence, his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creeds refreshes us; we laugh. But as we laugh, we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile."

Copyright 2005 Universal Press Syndicate


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bennet; billmaher; buckley; maher; williambennet; williambennett; williamfbuckley
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last
To: perfect stranger
This makes me ask why Buckley would waste his time commenting on a TV show, much less a show by such an obvious half-wit as Bill Maher.

To put it on the record so if Mahr moves the huge audience of available half-wits to societal destruction, he can't say, "But nobody told me."

Buckley's mean that way.

21 posted on 10/18/2005 9:32:50 PM PDT by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: RWR8189

As I said before, what drove Bennett to say black babies was political correctness, he had to make the abortions black because "racism" is THE sin of the established religion that has taken the place of Christianity in the West, and the mores of that religion dominates all public debate.


22 posted on 10/18/2005 9:33:15 PM PDT by jordan8
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: perfect stranger

---Please feel free to include her last name in the future if you can back up any of that statement.---

You didn't catch what's her name on Maher's little program, calling Miers the "cleaning lady" and yucking it up with Maher and his very liberal friends?

I look forward to meeting her someday so I can ask, "Didn't you used to be somebody?"


23 posted on 10/18/2005 9:58:25 PM PDT by claudiustg (Go Bush! Go Sharon!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Blind Eye Jones
that he [Maher] be a glorious HBO sinner.

I've seen him in action several times. His so-called "wit" comes across to me as "self-defeating". He throws some mighty jabs, but near immediately shows his yellow underbelly, usually by "mugging" at the audience as tho looking for support, as in "Didn't I do good, Ma?" The man needs approval. Which tells me he has little to no self-confidence. He brandishes disdain in order to keep his own doubts at bay. Not my brand of "entertainment". ick.

24 posted on 10/19/2005 4:27:40 AM PDT by Alia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: RWR8189
Still pondering that quote from Belloc. This just in via email:

***
As many are aware, the French government recently announced a raise in its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The normal level is "General Arrogance", and the only two higher levels in France are "Surrender" and "Collaborate". The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability

It's not only the French that are on a heightened level of alert:

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate military posturing". Two more levels remain, "Ineffective combat operations" and "Change sides".

The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdain" to "Dress in uniform and sing marching songs". They have two higher levels: "Invade a neighbor" and "Lose".

The British are also feeling the pinch in relation to recent bombings and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved". Soon though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross". Londoners have not been "A Bit Cross" since the Blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "Bloody Nuisance". The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the Great Fire of 1666.

25 posted on 10/19/2005 5:41:48 AM PDT by Alia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RWR8189

Excellent.


26 posted on 10/19/2005 5:46:52 AM PDT by Constitution Day (When life hands you lemons, just shut up and eat your damn lemons.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RWR8189
Maher = Town Idiot (......who will not be remembered 5 minutes after his little soapbox gets taken away from him)

I daresay Buckley will be remembered for quite some time.

Bump.

27 posted on 10/19/2005 6:00:13 AM PDT by DoctorMichael (The Fourth-Estate is a Fifth-Column!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoctorMichael; All

Does anyone know what Maher's ratings are? An official source, link would be great.

An acquaintance is actually convinced he's more popular than Rush.


28 posted on 10/19/2005 6:13:03 AM PDT by Let's Roll ( "Congressmen who ... undermine the military ... should be arrested, exiled or hanged" - A. Lincoln)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Kenny Bunk

Solomon (who may have been wiser even than Bill Buckley) said "the fool said in his heart-there is no God". Maher claims there is no God-therefore Maher is a fool in my book.


29 posted on 10/19/2005 6:17:37 AM PDT by westmichman (I vote Republican for the children and the poor!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: alcuin

Please see my post # 29. Where is your quote from?


30 posted on 10/19/2005 6:19:44 AM PDT by westmichman (I vote Republican for the children and the poor!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Kermit the Frog Does theWatusi; RWR8189; Alia; cpforlife.org

re: Bill Maher.

[Sigh...]

We almost need a new taxonomical category to do justice to the absurdity
of the Bill Maher phenomenon.

How about "The Remedial Left"?

31 posted on 10/19/2005 6:27:14 AM PDT by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RWR8189

Maher's flow of logic reminds me of Animal House:


"But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals.

For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system?

And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general?

I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society?

Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America."


32 posted on 10/19/2005 6:28:43 AM PDT by DonnDe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IncPen
If Roe v. Wade is reversed -- and all indications are that it will be within the next few years -- the left in this country will be whipped to a frenzy even exceeding their current levels of anti-religious zealotry.

It has to be said today, as you have said in the past, a civil war is possible over abortion in this country, and folks like Maher are the left's reconnaisance troops, sent into the forward areas to feel out the enemy, and test our level of resistance. Sullivan of course is a weak advocate for religion, at best.

I like the idea of Bill Buckley calling him on his ugly hate speech, and pointing out the dangers it poses.

Its more than vitally important that these guys be met in every venue with counterargument.

33 posted on 10/19/2005 7:22:28 AM PDT by BartMan1 (...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: IncPen
If Roe v. Wade is reversed -- and all indications are that it will be within the next few years -- the left in this country will be whipped to a frenzy even exceeding their current levels of anti-religious zealotry.

It has to be said today, as you have said in the past, a civil war is possible over abortion in this country, and folks like Maher are the left's reconnaisance troops, sent into the forward areas to feel out the enemy, and test our level of resistance. Sullivan of course is a weak advocate for religion, at best.

I like the idea of Bill Buckley calling him on his ugly hate speech, and pointing out the dangers it poses.

Its more than vitally important that these guys be met in every venue with counterargument.

34 posted on 10/19/2005 7:22:38 AM PDT by BartMan1 (...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: BartMan1

Exactly why we can't be nice abou this anymore.

I read an article by a lefty, I think, not too long ago in which the author was lamenting the loss of the old, stodgy Republicans who didn't give you much guff

As as acerbic as Limbaugh and Coulter are, they are exactly what is needed to repel this nihilist agenda; if America falls to liberalism we might as well write off generations to come


35 posted on 10/19/2005 6:43:59 PM PDT by IncPen (Because it's not your money, Senator Kennedy. It's mine, and I'd like to keep it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: IncPen

As as acerbic as Limbaugh and Coulter are, they are exactly what is needed to repel this nihilist agenda; if America falls to liberalism we might as well write off generations to come>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Isn't that rather like saying, "if hurricane Katrina strikes the gulf coast"?


36 posted on 10/20/2005 3:11:22 AM PDT by RipSawyer (Acceptance of irrational thinking is expanding exponentiallly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson