Bill Maher on France

In this YouTube video, comedian Bill Maher creates a “New Rule” in which conservatives cannot describe something as being French to win an argument. Maher develops his argument by comparing and contrasting France to the United States and showing that Americans could learn a thing or two from the French. Firstly, Maher uses examples of France making better decisions than the United States, such as not being involved in our “wonderfully conceived and brilliantly executed war in Iraq”. While somewhat of an easy shot to take on the United States government, Maher also points out a key difference in French elections: they vote. In fact, Maher states that 85% of the population takes part in the electoral process and are not concerned with irrelevant issues such as whether the candidate would be someone with whom they would have a croissant. Whether Maher brings up the issue of foreign oil dependency, poverty rates, or health care, he effectively presents examples for why calling something French is not an automatic argument winner.

Being that Maher is a comedian, a large part of his effectiveness is based on his use of humor in his argument. As this segment of his show is called “New Rules”, he is pointing out aspects of American society that he finds ridiculous and using incongruity to differentiate between good and bad behavior. What is so interesting about this is that he uses incongruity to point out absurdities in society that are only seen as being absurd when people take the time to think and dissect these social actions. For example, Maher points out that the French are much more respectful of politicians’ and celebrities’ private lives. While it is an accepted norm in our country to follow public figures around with cameras, Maher uses humor to show how ridiculous this socially-accepted act is. Further, Maher makes the notion that France has nude beaches because “they’re not a nation of six-year olds who scream and giggle if they see pee-pee parts”. Although this could be the fallacy of argument in using a hasty generalization or a faulty analogy, Maher’s funny comparison of Americans to six-year olds persuades the audience to act in a more mature manner towards nudity.

Ultimately, Bill Maher does a nice job of furthering his point that you cannot win an argument by claiming that something is French. Maher argues his point effectively by incorporating sarcasm and pointing out aspects of our society that are a little on the absurd side. Moreover, in order to maintain a balance of delivering his message and creating laughter, Maher transitions nicely between important issues such as health care and the fact that France does not have talk shows with Dr. Phil. While Maher bashes aspects of the United States to get his point across, he is not guilty of writing off an entire country like those he is criticizing. Rather, Maher understands that we can all learn something from one another.