Maher vs. Science

[BraidedLily]

A girl I knew in HS planned to become a pharmacist. The actual pharmacists do go through rigorous training in college and take many if not all of the same courses as pre-med students. The reason they work at drugstores is because.....that is where people need to go to get the Rx filled. Who wouldn't want to go to a place close to home to get a Rx? Do you want to go to a clinic every time you need to get these things?

[chicago6584]

The effects of swine flu were grossly over-exaggerated in order to scare people into buying their drugs.

[hyde1886]

@chicago6584

i think you'll find that the fearmongering was not pharmaceutical companies trying to make more money ... it was pharmaceutical companies trying to spread more autism ...

[Cacacos]

I don't know how can a smart guy, really intelligent guy as Bill Maher can be that stupid in regard this matter...

I guess it's like the head o Genoma Project... brilliant scientist, but christian... believes in hocus pocus stuff and yet, a good scientist...

How can that be?!

It really amuses me!

[MrRaphal]

I am also a fan of Bill Maher but his position on medecine is simplyt wrong. He is all for alternative medecine, but what has alternative medicine done? Western medecine created pennecilin, cured countless diseases and is working towards a cure for AIDS and cancer. What has alternative medecine done?

[jimbrown257]

Cont from below:

It just occured to me the real reason why Maher is an asshole and a total hypocrite in this clip. He belittles the pharmacist and says they are not the experts; the doctors are the experts and they are the only ones who should be giving medical advice.

Well, the exact same thing be said to Maher; he should quit giving medical advice (in this case against vaccines) because he is not a doctor and not an expert.

It hurts to write that because I normally love Bill Maher.

[jimbrown257]

Go look at a chart of average life expectancy through the last 100 years. You can pinpoint when penecillin and vaccines began to be used.

Maher is also mistaking pharmacists with pharmacy technicians. Actual pharmacists have to go through a respectable amount of school and training. He's also being an asshole with how he's insulting people with honest jobs.

I do, however, agree with him that there fundie pharmacists who refuse to fills Rxs because of religion dogma should just quit.

[kubek]

Well now we know the swine flu was a hoax so...

[hyde1886]

@kubek

no, i don't think it was a hoax, i think there really was a strain of flu called swine flu, what if anything we now know is that the extent of the outbreak was overestimated in some quarters ...

[jimbrown257]

@kubek

"Well now we know the swine flu was a hoax so.."

...Wtf are you talking about? Could you give a source for that (World Net Daily doesn't count)?

The fact is, there was, and still is, a potentially fatal virus known as swine flu. What was BS was the idea the virus could easily transmit to humans and it would become the next pandemic. H1N1 still exists and with the quickly evolving nature of viruses, it will always be a potential pandemic; it should never be dismissed as a hoax.

[LetLightReign]

Every year they tell you to get flu shots. I haven't had a flu shot for as long as I can remember. For thousands of years we didn't have vaccines we made it pretty far without them, we made it through the Bubonic Plague without vaccines. I didn't get the h1n1 vaccine and I didn't get that particular flu. The fact is we need these viruses to help our immune system evolve. I don't think they are necessarily a conspiracy, but they aren't exactly needed, except for those given when your a child.

[irishbluejay]

Bill Maher is not against vaccines... he has actually said when it comes inocculating children in Africa against certain diseases he is all for it. His beef with Swine Flu was the claim that every single person everywhere needed to get a shot. The fact is that Swine Flu had a greater chance of affecting you kids and seniors. He is neither

[therrydicule]

@irishbluejay He is getting clause to a senior, he is 55 years old... A senior is 65 in usa, and 10 years is not that long (just think, 10 years ago it was 9/11).

[Baldingchimp]

I'm not invested too much in Bill Maher. He has some decent points from time to time, but he's not as smart as he thinks he is. He wants to think because he's agnostic-atheist that he's as smart as Richard Dawkins... but this is not the case.

Watching this video just makes a case for something we should already know. Because someone is famous, doesn't mean they're right.

[thisisonlyatest1]

@Baldingchimp Bill is extremely intelligent, he's well informed on a variety of discussion and is able to communicate facts. He doesn't aspire to be like Dawkins. Dawkins is a scientists, Bill is a comedian. He acknowledges that. Don't cluster all of us atheists together in what our profession should be, we're regular people.

[Baldingchimp]

@thisisonlyatest1 Yes, he can illustrate facts in an illuminating way. I see this as part of the responsibility of a comedian, but in this video, assuming the chopping of the video didn't take what he's saying entirely out context, he's making a fool of himself. He might as well quote Bill O'Reilly here and say, 'Tide goes in, tide goes out... vaccinations are a conspiracy.' (Watch the Bill O'Reilly vs dave silverman video._)

I respect Bill Maher a lot, but he dropped the ball here.

[yuri35435]

It is possible reckless flu vaccinations of pigs and stuff in those megafarms is what allowed swine flu to be created in the first place, it required four different flu strains genetic material to be available and it was included in the vaccinations. The vaccinations were also overkill because they vaccinated for flus that were predominately not present in north america aswell.

[marquoth]

I agree that his anti-vaccination stance is stupid, but I'm totally with him on the pharmacists issue. They are not medical professionals, they have no right to deny you the medication that your *doctor* has prescribed. If they have an issue with that then they need to get another job.

[Mrparrot73]

@marquoth Well, I guess Maher's point is fair. Medical school professors are all "vaccinists". They should "teach the controversy" when it comes to vaccinations. I think they should give "equal time" to the other side of the debate while talking about vaccinations.

[hyde1886]

@Mrparrot73

perhaps they should give time that is equivalent to the relevance, accuracy and intellectual merit of their argument and position rather than just divide the time up equally ... not every issue has equal merit for the pro and anti position ...

-

people for vaccination - 98% of the time

people against vaccination - 01% of the time

people on the fence in vaccination - 01% of the time

[ComicallySanePolitic]

Alright people: the whole segment being there is irrelevant. On the substance everything is clear. Bill Maher is an idiot as far as modern medicine goes and Bill Frist went to one day of medical school. Vaccines are the biggest achievement in saving lives as far as "Western Medicine"goes, the single highest life saver - probably followed by antibiotics. Regardless, the comment about Bill Frist was right on. I was just thinking, Bill Maher managed to make Bill Frist look somewhat smart, how sad.

[UnluckyGambler]

that was a stupid video... i dont even get the point of it, just a bunch of random clips cut out from the context. waste of time.

[AnonymousWhitePerson]

Bill Maher looks like a Salamander.

[sirhs6991]

1:Bill Maher

2:Doctor

3:Nurse

4:Pharmacist

5:Glen Beck

[edwinshap1]

the seasonal flu kills 300,000 people anually. H1N1 killed like 200? total?

[InsaneGoonRules]

Maher 100% correct. H1N1 turned out to be a total flop. Most people didn't get it, and it didn't do squat compared to the normal seasonal flu.

[cherylwens]

I share your disappointment.

[italoirish888]

I've been waiting for someone, other than myself, to call Maher out on his unscientific anti-germ theory nonsese. How can someone claim to be sucha fan of evolution when medicine and germ theory are such a big part of evolutionary biology? Maher dismissing medical science like this is the same as the flat earthers claiming the world is 10,000 years old

[atmark666]

medical science is not exact science.

polio virus and influenza virus are different.

flu virus can change and once the sequence have been changed vaccine will not work.

bill have a point.

[asphyxiafeeling]

kinda wish the whole segment was here. i know somebody else uploaded but with all the jumping around this clip feels like it's trying to push stuff out of context. I do agree with you though, Bill is wrong. I can't believe he has that position!

[Nogger86Germany]

@asphyxiafeeling

Well, in the end he was right. I didnt get a vaccine shot... my government doenst know what to do with the millions of shots still left over... ;)

[Lucasjamespetersen]

I have not heard that swine flu is more deadly to pregnant woman. I mean i had it but is was nothing and passed in a few days.

[bigbengamer]

well this video is so chopped up that its hard to gather all of the context of what is being said here. why don't you played it straight through like a real truth seeker would. just seeing this here makes me doubt it and doubt you

[hyde1886]

Simply reducing the length of the clips, removing irrelevant Maher quips, focusing on the central point (the efficacy of vaccinations) and highlighting Frist's support of the scientific consensus and Maher's rejection of it.

I take it it is the first set of clips you feel is misleading as a result of my summarization.

The full clip is now in the description for all you "real truth seekers TM" out there.

[bigbengamer]

well when i post my make my own videos, i try to keep as much of the original footage as possible. it helps to keep its context intact as well as maintain the credibility of my intentions. i simply use the same typical arguments that other half wits will use to make sure that informative people like us keep on our toes, as well as keep the standards high enough so that not as many can have valid arguments against us

[Peanutbutterbucket]

@bigbengamer  agreed.

[benens]

i have to say i agree with maher on almost everything, but on this as well as on the death penalty he's just plain wrong. i find it especially ironic that of all people it's him that just ignores science on a specific field, that being medicine. yes, bill, we eat crap, but that doesn't mean all of western medicine is crap also. here's news for you: recent studies show that organic food is NOT healthier for those who eat it, only for nature, which is actually the reason we do grow organic food.