Bill Maher on his "stupid country" remark

Bill Maher breaks it down for those offended by his "stupid country" remark.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Bill Maher
• Sarah Palin
• Stupid Country
• America

[Tibberclaw]

@Encom7 The overall point being this: there is no reasonable doubt within the scientific community that evolution happens. The minor points of contention between scientists are in the details of the theory (i.e. how much of it is driven by natural selection vs. genetic drift, etc.). Darwin's original theory has been refined considerably in the last 150 years. The fact of evolution is basically a settled matter that no reputable scientist worries about; it has been experimentally confirmed.

[Tibberclaw]

@Encom7 That is the layman's definition. The scientific definition is in no way "conjectural." Theories are the unification of facts into a seamless and coherent explanation. Theories arrive AFTER a sufficient amount of testing, not before any testing. Your definition of a theory is more in line with the scientific definition of a "hypothesis." Theories don't graduate into facts. You're engaging in a semantical argument about words you don't even understand.

[tc413141]

@evilemperordude the problem isnt necessarily that people don't know these things, but rather that they debate about them without knowing anything.

[MrNicMachiavelli]

@johnedwards1968 whenever people say Stephen Gould doubted evolution, given his contributions to its understanding, it is like saying Einstein doubted gravity. You are wasting your time with dumb asses.

[LukeLewisAnimation]

One of the smartest guys i've seen on US tv fair play. Hi from Wales proud exporter of US presidents :)

[tuck295q]

@MurderInkRecords I'm Thai, but I am smart enough to know that "Bush knowledge" is an oxymoron :D

[53dumey]

Bill leads the Country in Stupidity.

He voted for Obama !!!!

[evilemperordude]

Overall, I agree with Maher's assessment but, honestly, I don't think not knowing a couple of these things makes you stupid. I can never remember my Congressman's name even though I'll admit I probably should. And I probably wouldn't remember the content of Roe v. Wade off the top of my head unless I actually involved myself in the whole abortion controversy.

[sccitylhh]

@johnedwards1968

Gotcha. That was my understanding from his writing. It's been awhile though, I need to revisit it. I'm not scientifically trained, it's more of my favorite hobby, or pastime, if you'll permit me a pun. Thanks for the conversation, I'm used to getting into ad hominem attacks with insecure creationists that can't handle scrutiny.

[johnedwards1968]

@sccitylhh To be honest, I've never heard of anyone in the scientific community, who claimed that evolution was a smooth, consistent process in the fossil record. Even in 'The Origin of Species', Darwin argued that it wasn't.

Punctuated Equlibrium is NOT spontaneous development.  That's the silliness that the ID advocates have come up with.

[johnedwards1968]

@sccitylhh Your defintion is fairly sound. Long steady periods of evolution, along with moments of rapid evolution. I think most people choose to ignore the long steady evolutionary periods as static, and Gould NEVER argued for that.

Punctuated equilibrium is AN evolutionary mechanism, not the only one.

Be careful when researching this online. Creationists have an intense disinformation campaign going on about this topic.

[sccitylhh]

@johnedwards1968

Punctuated equilibrium was his theory which contrasted against the claim that evolution was a smooth, consistent process in the fossil record. In PE, evolution is marked by lengthy periods of steadiness with occasional cladogenesis. That's clearly his theory, is it not?