Despite my spiritual beliefs, I’ve always had a soft spot for a particular type of grumpy atheist. And although I’d never let myself be yoked with an atheist, I’ve often had a bit of an “older man” love on Bill Maher. His expression may be a result of his telling a especially corrosive joke. or how much better than the typical Democrat he comprehends the desires of evangelicals. Or maybe it’s that he admits to wearing a tobacco coat, Henry Higgins- like, in the evenings after labor. In our reactionary time, Christopher Hitchens was not Christopher Hitchens ‘ sad absence, but Maher has satiated a need for a sleek, irascible heretic.
Maher, 68, was born Catholic and afterwards learned that his mother’s extended family was Jewish. He began his stand-up job in New York City before establishing a strong reputation as an harsher thinker’s late-night number on Socially Wrong on Comedy Central and presently Real Time on HBO, on whose crown he has presided over for 21 years. His new book, What This Artist Said Does Shock You, contains the final editorials from his most recent show and is intended as the evening’s closing statement. It is organized by topics. You’ll get herein assorted thoughts on the press, cancel culture, guns, competition, health, and yet for abstract topics as “time” and “fragility”.
One of the charges Maher’s critics consistently make against him is that “he’s older.” His objections against new social activities in America, they claim, are nothing more than the kvetching of a grumpy, crumpled top unwilling to accept the fact that the country has changed. But this is a misstatement of Maher’s communication. And yeah, there can be heavy price in listening to our mothers. It’s something American youth does n’t do enough of. If you do n’t mind getting sand between the pages of a hardcover, this book makes a great beach read: It’s both fun and full of nuggets of wisdom.  ,
For example, he demands to hear how” the group of FDR and JFK is transforming into the group of LOL and WTF” in the Democratic Party. He defends innovative independence, warning that” art and force is a poor mixture”. He laments the inability of the individual in a society that is harmful, saying,” You can place a healing glass up your ass, but there’s no escaping the culture we all live in.” He attacks the large enthusiasm movement:” You’re not a freedom warrior because you want to maintain eating cakes”. Along with that, there is surprisingly wise advice:” The answer is n’t to insist that everyone in society love you the way you are; it’s to learn to tell the ones who do n’t that you do n’t need them.” And he is absolutely correct when he says millennials are emotionally squeamish, which any woman can attest by looking at the thousandth photo of a dating-app douchebag who claims to be looking for” good vibes only.”
Maher supports a number of principles in his book that might be characterized as Christian and yet profoundly Christian despite his long history as a notorious and ardent atheist. Who knew a libertine could offer such spiritual guidance? His wondering exhibits a strong anti-utopian bias. He repeatedly makes the case that society is imperfect and that people are not normally noble. He dislikes the oversanitization of our time, preferring to see the world” as it is, noisy and dirty,” rather than” the world as it is.” He is profoundly humanist, insisting that” this new concept that each tradition must be in its own individual silo is no better, and it’s not improvement” . ,
Maher, in quick, believes in justice and improving existence conditions for our own citizens, but he could not be called a liberal. In a 2019 speech, he demonstrated an uncanny knowledge of spiritual conservatives, pinpointing a frequent cause for Republican political success:” They’re certainly babies who think they can have everything. Evangelicals are aware that Donald Trump ca n’t even pass a church without igniting it, which is a trait that evangelicals hold dear. However, he appointed two justices to the Supreme Court. On economics, he’s surprisingly based ( as the children say ), declaring that” the real issue” in America today is” class, not race”. He has no problem alerting incels ( whom he hilariously terms “digital eunuchs” ) that it might be time to take down their Ayn Rand posters:” Somewhere along the way libertarianism morphed into this creepy obsession” with a” selfish prick” version of “free- market capitalism”.
I’ll admit that I first started watching Real Time a few years ago because I liked the delicious progressive overreach. Maher presents himself as a moderate who encourages regular people to laugh at all those who appear to have lost their minds on both the Left and Right. At heart, he’s an Enlightenment stan: He believes in reason and common sense. Fair enough. But ours is an age of reenchantment, not rationality. Individualism is resembling solidarity in both positive and negative ways. And Americans, of all people, are yearning for constraint.  ,
What This Comedian Said will Shock You is a collection of monologues that span ten years. Since none of them are dated, it’s difficult to tell the exact political environment that each monologue addresses. However, one particular is undoubtedly out of date: the article in which Maher claims that “nones,” or those with no particular religion, are the “fastest-growing religious group in the United States.” According to data analyst Ryan Burge, the number of nonreligious people is no longer growing as of May 2024. In a Substack post titled” The Nones Have Hit a Ceiling,” Burge explains that Generation Z, the newest adults, are experiencing the biggest decline in none. Signs of spiritual resurgence are everywhere. A charismatic revival known as the” Asbury Awakening” took place last year at a Christian university in Kentucky, where many young intellectuals are Catholic or wholly receptive to Catholic ideas.  ,
Writing in the Guardian, Ross Barkan calls this a new Romantic age. Trust the science is no longer an enforceable mantra, he says, and young people today, like the Romantics in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, are seeking” spiritual realms” that reach beyond “rationalist precepts”. Are you a heathen seeking a piece of honey? You might find it interesting to learn that almost half ( 49 % ) of people in a recent survey by the Survey Center on American Life claim they would be less likely to date someone who does n’t believe in God. And well-known atheists like Richard Dawkins and Ayaan Hirsi Ali are becoming Christians or coming to terms with their cultural significance.
For his part, Maher does acknowledge the presence of the ineffable when he speaks about romance, calling it” the last mystery”. He makes a strong argument that office love affairs should be less regulated, especially given that we’re experiencing an epidemic of loneliness. In the book’s last chapter, he gets shockingly kumbaya for a cranky libertarian, urging peace, stability, and unity. ( Those fervent Catholic convictions are difficult to shake. ) His deep and moving love for America is obvious. There’s a warmth in his message and a spirit of toleration in his voice, for all his jibes.  ,
These days, everyone is writing about either dissent or divorce. You might as well anticipate reading Elon Musk’s essay in The Cut about how moving to Mars and removing the third rock from the sun “found himself” Maher advises us to maintain our vigor and embrace being on Earth. ” I do n’t want to hate half the country, and I do n’t hate half the country”, he has repeated in interviews this summer. Maher wants America to stay together, and so do I. We are doing a good thing here.
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Emma Collins is a writer based in Washington, D. C. You can find her newsletter, A New Heaven, on Substack.
