Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:37 pm
Not that Jillette has ever been a particularly political comedian.
Someone has never seen their Vegas show or watched Bullshit! They're overtly political. Just not in the Republican vs. Democrat way.
Not that Jillette has ever been a particularly political comedian.
What I have a problem with is not so much religion or god, but faith. When you say you believe something in your heart and therefore you can act on it, you have completely justified the 9/11 bombers. You have justified Charlie Manson. If it's true for you, why isn't it true for them? Why are you different? If you say "I believe there's an all-powerful force of love in the universe that connects us all, and I have no evidence of that but I believe it in my heart," then it's perfectly okay to believe in your heart that Sharon Tate deserves to die. It's perfectly okay to believe in your heart that you need to fly planes into buildings for Allah.
When I finally got around to watching clips of Jillette on these shows, which admittedly didn't happen until I did research for this interview, I realized that it wasn't nearly as morally catastrophic as I'd been led to believe. Even when he smiled politely and pretended that Glenn Beck isn't a frothing-at-the-mouth loon, Jillette was an equal opportunity offender. He trashed Bush as much as Obama, preached nonviolent resistance (which was especially awkward during his via-satellite interview with Beck at a Tea Party rally at the Alamo), and while he sometimes sucked up to the ultra-conservative host, he also openly mocked the "funny underwear" worn by Mormons, forcing us to imagine Beck in his Church-approved skivvies.