Caveat: John Oliver properly belongs in the category of "faux leftists/faux progressives" —a specialty in which many Democrats excel.  He's also one of the three prominent comics in the nation (the other two being Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert) who are part and parcel of the Democrat noise machine, currently dedicated to obsessive russophobic campaigns, warmongering along zio-imperialist lines, the destruction of genuinely left free speech, and general defense of the rotten global capitalist status quo. All three of course are richly rewarded for their work. These people are dangerous because they are successful propagandists with large personal followings. (We have discussed these people before. See here, here, and definitely this classic analysis by satirist Steve Almond.)

With these characters living and traveling for a very long time inside a self-reinforcing bubble of celebrity and privilege, we are no longer certain whether they push the imperialist script out of personal conviction or sheer self-serving careerist hypocrisy. Probably it does not matter so much at this point, as—in any case— we need to deal with the consequences of their exertions. That said, since this universe does not seem to tolerate absolutes in the behaviour of mere mortals, from time to time, like the broken clock telling the right time twice a day, these men do come up with some noteworthy outings. This well deserved denunciation of the maggots of religiosity by Oliver, still thriving in America despite numerous exposés, including by great artists like Sinclair Lewis (Elmer Gantry) is spot on. Too bad he could not, and probably would not, deliver such enlightenng message to the audiences that need it the most, but then again, religiosity is one of those things that are, by definition, despicably immune to reason and fact, and besides, America is a nation deeply segmentalised along ideological lines. Like the Brits say, trying to open the eyes of believers is like punching on a knife. —PG