Bill Maher really gets me worked up sometimes, but usually I give him the benefit of the doubt because he is funny and I think his show serves as a great forum for exposing everything that is extreme and radical in supposedly 'mainstream' America. However, I will not give him a pass tonight after hearing him assert that Pat Tillman "voted for John Kerry" when criticizing the portrayal of Tillman by the Bush Administration. I wonder how Tillman voted for Kerry considering he was killed in April 2004, several months prior to the 2004 elections.
Having researched the claim that Tillman voted for Kerry, I found that in fact Maher's comment is based on an article published in The Nation in 2005, in which it is claimed that Tillman urged his fellow soldiers to vote for Kerry before his death. Interestingly, John Kerry was not even the official nominee for his party until late-August, and though it may have been that Tillman was encouraging his fellow soldiers to vote for Kerry in their respective state primary, that is certainly not how it has been portrayed by Maher.
Another claim made by Maher to back up his claim that Tillman must have been a compassionate liberal like himself is the fact that Tillman read Noam Chomsky. I read Noam Chomsky, as does anyone else who is thoughtful or curious about intellectual issues, but by no stretch does that mean I endorse everything that Chomsky thinks or stands for. The fact is that nobody should be speaking for Tillman, and those that do are just as guilty for dishonoring his memory as the Pentagon. Maher is a good guy, but I think he should choose the issues he covers more carefully because sometimes he comes off sounding like a hack.
Having researched the claim that Tillman voted for Kerry, I found that in fact Maher's comment is based on an article published in The Nation in 2005, in which it is claimed that Tillman urged his fellow soldiers to vote for Kerry before his death. Interestingly, John Kerry was not even the official nominee for his party until late-August, and though it may have been that Tillman was encouraging his fellow soldiers to vote for Kerry in their respective state primary, that is certainly not how it has been portrayed by Maher.
Another claim made by Maher to back up his claim that Tillman must have been a compassionate liberal like himself is the fact that Tillman read Noam Chomsky. I read Noam Chomsky, as does anyone else who is thoughtful or curious about intellectual issues, but by no stretch does that mean I endorse everything that Chomsky thinks or stands for. The fact is that nobody should be speaking for Tillman, and those that do are just as guilty for dishonoring his memory as the Pentagon. Maher is a good guy, but I think he should choose the issues he covers more carefully because sometimes he comes off sounding like a hack.
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1 comment:
Anyone who is thoughtful or curious about intellectual issues reads Chomsky? Well that's good to know. I guess I've been considering some pretty unworthy people to be intelligent. Thanks for setting us straight Brian.
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