The New SteveSilver.net

MY ANSWERS TO THE MAHER

MY ANSWERS TO THE MAHER QUOTES: Thanks to all who responded.

1. Religion is bad.
Disagree. Religion is good; using religion as an excuse to kill people is bad.
2. Drugs are good.
Agree/Disagree. Drugs that treat AIDS and cancer are good; crack is bad.
3. America causes cancer.
Disagree. What, people in other countries don't get cancer?
4. Longevity is less important than fun.
Disagree. What good is fun if you can't have it for a long time?
5. Young people should be discouraged from voting.
Disagree. Unless they plan to vote for Nader.
6. Stereotypes are true.
Agree, mostly. Every stereotype in history has some basis in truth, but there are always exceptions.
7. Abstinence is a perversion.
Disagree. Not quite a perversion, but still unnatural, and not very fun.
8. Bush's lies are worse than Clinton's.
I paraphrase Chris Rock: "Bush lies more, but Clinton tells the biggest lies. A Bush lie is 'I was over at Tony's house.' A Clinton lie is 'It's your baby.'"
9. There's nothing sexy about being old or pregnant.
Agree. If a pregnant and/or old woman is sexy, it's in spite of their pregnancy/oldness, not because of it.
10. September 11th changed nothing.
Strongly disagree. I used to be able to see the World Trade Center from my living room, but now I can't. That's something that changed.
11. If I had known the onset of war would add 100 points to George Bush's IQ, I would have started one.
Disagree.
12. Pornography stops rape.
Agree. Although I don't believe that child pornography stops child rape.
13. AIDS ribbons are stupid.
Agree. Good intentions aside, no ribbon has ever caused anyone to not die of AIDS.
14. Flag burning makes me feel patriotic.
Strongly disagree. I don't think it should be banned, but I find it hard to endorse the actual act.
15. Death is not the worst thing that can happen to you.
Having never been dead, I feel unqualified to answer this question.
16. People have too much self-esteem.
Agree. People with too much self-esteem cause most of the major problems in the world; those with too little are generally harmless to everyone besides themselves.
17. Being drunk is funny.
Agree. Though anyone who grew up in an alcoholic household may beg to differ.
18. Children are not innocent.
Agree. And anyone who's ever been a camp councilor can back me up on that one.
19. God doesn't write books.
Agree.
20. Jesus wasn't a Republican.
Agree. The only political party that existed at the time was the Jews (of which Jesus was of course a member).
21. I'm for Mad Cow disease.
Disagree. Just because you're against eating meat, it doesn't mean everyone who does (and the cows themselves) deserves to die.
22. I'm against suing tobacco companies.
Not sure. While it's great to see the tobacco execs taking it in the chin, the lawsuits don't put them out of business, they reward people who knew all along that smoking was bad for them, and the primary effect of the litigation has been hundreds of millions into the pockets of lawyers.
23. Girls hate each other.
Agree. While this isn't universal, my experience is that females are capable of cruelty against one another that's exponentially greater than anything they regularly do to, or have done to them by, men.
24. No doesn't always mean no.
Agree. Wish I didn't, but I do.
25. You have to lie to stay married.
Having never been married, I feel unqualified to answer this question.
26. Womens' sports are boring.
Agree. While women's sports have done a lot of great things for a lot of people and I'm glad they exist, that doesn't mean they're the slightest bit enjoyable to watch.
27. The Olympics are gay.
What would Brian Boitano do? He'd agree that the Olympics are gay!
And not only are the Olympics gay, but the Super Bowl is Gay.