I enjoy Bill Maher. For years I watched his show on network TV, and found it to be entertaining, sometimes enlightening, and occasionally challenging.

After Maher was chased from network TV, he started up on HBO, which I don't get, so the only place I see Maher now is on the occasional YouTube clip.

I recently watched this one, and was curious to see how others here would respond to seeing it.

If you can respond in the form of Haiku, then by all means. But methinks a sonnet might work best. Or maybe (Heaven help us) a Ghazal.

I guess the question that is tumbling in my mind is, "is this alright?"

Assume belief in a cause,

Assume live TV is actually live,

Assume that just about anybody can get passes to view live TV being broadcast . . .

Is it okay that a group with an agenda swarms a broadcast like this?

A couple of followup questions beg to be asked: If it is okay to swarm a live broadcast and insist upon your message, then what will be the future of live broadcasts? Won't they inevitably become non-live broadcasts? Have they already done so?

If live broadcasts move toward becoming non-live broadcasts because protesters won't let the showpeople do their business, is that evidence of a media conspiracy? Could it just be that live broadcasts don't work unless the audience shuts itself up during the broadcast?

If the audience truly feels it has a message that must be heard, then is it okay for it (the audience, collectively) to shut itself up in the interest of decorum?

In between my headphones, something shudders when I try to weigh these questions.

Anyway, here's the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5BJzEshMes

Herring405