I don’t really agree with the tone that Bill Maher sometimes takes with religious people. But I see it less as an effort to generate backlash and increase his ratings than as a genuine sense of outrage that people both believe in Biblical literalism and take those beliefs into the political arena in an effort to impose their beliefs on the rest of us.
Maybe I am not cynical enough. Who knows?
But, either way, I think it’s wise for people to think about whether they are being deliberately baited into feeling outrage. You don’t want to be a puppet on a string. Some attention-getters are better ignored, unless you can gain some kind of advantage over them by pointing out their bad behavior. Trying to get Bill Maher fired only makes sense if it works. Otherwise, you’re just helping his ratings.
