Alan Alda - one of us?

[Susan Gerbic]

Just noticed this interview on Yahoo news. While reading about Alda's near death, I noticed that he never mentions God or any kind of belief.

Whatya Think? Is he one of us?

Susan

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/09/27/alan.alda/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

[shalomsteph]

As a recent survivor of a near death experience, I am also not feeling the god thing. Thanks for posting that. I loved this:

So, for all of his own rigor, did Alda come to any conclusions about the meaning of his life?

He pauses.

"I think I come to some odd conclusions that sort of bring me back to where I was in the beginning," he says. He believes there's more to that existential interpretation: "I think that what they were constantly saying was that life is meaningless, except for the meaning you bring to it by the choices you make and the things you do."

Indeed.

[Bell]

Oh crap... phew...

I thought it said "While reading about Alda's death" and thought damn... how come I missed that? Had to check Wikipedia to make sure. And then reread your post to see my mistake.

ETA: I think Hawk One is Alan Alda, or atleast - iirc - he sported an Alda avatar a while ago :)

[Cleon]

ETA: I think Hawk One is Alan Alda, or atleast - iirc - he sported an Alda avatar a while ago :)

Yes, I suppose one might wonder why Hawk one would sport an avatar of Cpt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce. Complete mystery, there.

[Bell]

I was not recalling correctly.

The member sporting the Alan "Hawkeye" Alda avatar was Class (http://forums.randi.org/z/index.php?z-profile=Class).

He changed it to the Santa Claus avatar around christmas, and appearantly hasn't been on here since. Maybe Santa Claus took him with him to the Northpole?

[RandFan]

Alan Alda is one of my heroes. He hosts a PBS series Scientific American (http://www.pbs.org/saf/). It's fantastic. Alda is clearly a critical thinker and a skeptic. I haven't heard him refer to himself as an atheist but if not he's no fanatic either.

Alda was asked about playing a Republican in the Aviator and on West Wing. He talked about how a lot of his friends would ask "how can you play a Republican?" He noted that no one ever asks how an actor can play a serial killer. That's acting.

Alda is, I believe, liberal. But he said something that really struck me, are we so sure that the blue states are always right and the red states are always wrong? Skepticism. :)

[Gravy]

Just noticed this interview on Yahoo news. While reading about Alda's near death, I noticed that he never mentions God or any kind of belief.

Whatya Think? Is he one of us?

SusanI think you shouldn't assume that "us" means atheists. :)

Here's a Randi commentary item (http://www.randi.org/jr/073004an.html#2) on Alda's 2002 Caltech commencement speech: this part's about the certainty of pseudoscience vs. the doubt that's necessary to science. Very nice.

[Puppycow]

Yeah, Hawkeye is one of the good guys.

[KoihimeNakamura]

(apologies to those who read this and don't get the refrence)

One of us! One of us! o_o

But that is pretty interesting, yes.

[zombiebex]

Gooble gobble, gooble gobble!

[Miss Anthrope]

I wonder if he's changed since this experience....I had the displeasure of doing business with him more than once in LA. He was a total diva. I won't argue with anything regarding his skepticism, but, when he calls ahead to have a parking space pressure washed so he can talk to you like you're dog poo on his shoes, I can't say he's a great human being on a personal level. Among all the "celebrities" I've had to do business with, Alan Alda ties with Jack Palance for being the most arrogant and demanding.

Good for him for pursuing a skeptical and fair path. I can only hope he's applied his critical thinking while looking in a mirror.

[shalomsteph]

I wonder if he's changed since this experience....I had the displeasure of doing business with him more than once in LA. He was a total diva. I won't argue with anything regarding his skepticism, but, when he calls ahead to have a parking space pressure washed so he can talk to you like you're dog poo on his shoes, I can't say he's a great human being on a personal level. Among all the "celebrities" I've had to do business with, Alan Alda ties with Jack Palance for being the most arrogant and demanding.

Good for him for pursuing a skeptical and fair path. I can only hope he's applied his critical thinking while looking in a mirror.

He can't be as bad as Rachael Ray. I used to wait tables and she came in our restaurant with her...entourage. This was WAY before her own daytime talk show, and I honestly didn't know who she was. She did NOT tip. No...I didn't mean she didn't tip well. She didn't tip AT ALL. Twelve people, $1500 tab, $0.00 tip. The gratuity was added to the bill at 15%, and she subtracted that amount. No, she was not displeased with the service. She just DID NOT BELIEVE IN TIPPING.

[ponderingturtle]

He can't be as bad as Rachael Ray. I used to wait tables and she came in our restaurant with her...entourage. This was WAY before her own daytime talk show, and I honestly didn't know who she was. She did NOT tip. No...I didn't mean she didn't tip well. She didn't tip AT ALL. Twelve people, $1500 tab, $0.00 tip. The gratuity was added to the bill at 15%, and she subtracted that amount. No, she was not displeased with the service. She just DID NOT BELIEVE IN TIPPING.

You would think that would make it more into her $40 dollars a day show.

[pgwenthold]

You would think that would make it more into her $40 dollars a day show.

Well, she never actually specifies the tip. She just says, "with tax and tip, that comes to XXX"

It's lot easier to make her $40 budget if she isn't tipping.

[ponderingturtle]

Well, she never actually specifies the tip. She just says, "with tax and tip, that comes to XXX"

It's lot easier to make her $40 budget if she isn't tipping.

Well it does show it on the bill. I will need to look at the more closely.

[pgwenthold]

Does it separate the tip from the other stuff? (like tax?)

[ponderingturtle]

Does it separate the tip from the other stuff? (like tax?)

I can't remember. I never liked Rachel Ray enough to watch that show. Her on screen persona is way to saccharine sweet for me.

[HarryKeogh]

When I saw Richard Dawkins speak in downtown Manhattan last year (he was speaking at the New York Academy of Sciences or something like that...I became a member for the day to see Dawkins speak and get my book signed) Alan Alda (along with Brian Green) were in the audience and both asked questions of Dawkins at the Q&A after the reading.

[Puppycow]

I wonder if he's changed since this experience....I had the displeasure of doing business with him more than once in LA. He was a total diva. I won't argue with anything regarding his skepticism, but, when he calls ahead to have a parking space pressure washed so he can talk to you like you're dog poo on his shoes, I can't say he's a great human being on a personal level. Among all the "celebrities" I've had to do business with, Alan Alda ties with Jack Palance for being the most arrogant and demanding.

Good for him for pursuing a skeptical and fair path. I can only hope he's applied his critical thinking while looking in a mirror.

What? You mean he's not like Hawkeye IRL? :( I'm disappointed. I still like Hawkeye though, if not Alda.

I heard a recent podcast of him on the Diane Rehm show, and he was talking about how his mother was psychotic, so that gave him a head start on skepticism because he realized early on that his mother was saying things that just weren't true and he learned to rely on his own judgment instead of simply taking what his parents said at face value.

[RandFan]

I wonder if he's changed since this experience....I had the displeasure of doing business with him more than once in LA. He was a total diva. I won't argue with anything regarding his skepticism, but, when he calls ahead to have a parking space pressure washed so he can talk to you like you're dog poo on his shoes, I can't say he's a great human being on a personal level. Among all the "celebrities" I've had to do business with, Alan Alda ties with Jack Palance for being the most arrogant and demanding.

Good for him for pursuing a skeptical and fair path. I can only hope he's applied his critical thinking while looking in a mirror.Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that. It's too bad.

[pgwenthold]

Alan Alda is one of my heroes. He hosts a PBS series Scientific American (http://www.pbs.org/saf/).


Isn't this technically something like "Scientific American Frontiers"?

I usually find that a pretty interesting show.

[RandFan]

Isn't this technically something like "Scientific American Frontiers"?:p Not just technically but it is actually.

[boloboffin]

He can't be as bad as Rachael Ray. I used to wait tables and she came in our restaurant with her...entourage. This was WAY before her own daytime talk show, and I honestly didn't know who she was. She did NOT tip. No...I didn't mean she didn't tip well. She didn't tip AT ALL. Twelve people, $1500 tab, $0.00 tip. The gratuity was added to the bill at 15%, and she subtracted that amount. No, she was not displeased with the service. She just DID NOT BELIEVE IN TIPPING.

Oh, no, [rule 10] no. The worst service I ever received got 15%, because servers work for less than minimum wage precisely because they get tips. I regularly do 20%-30% because I used to wait tables myself.

That's just low.

[Wheezebucket]

One of 'us'? Ack. It's like people who bond over marijuana - 'oh you smoke weed, too? We must be best friends then, let's all wear retarded t-shirts and laugh when the clock hits 4:20!' vomit vomit vomit.

Alan Alda's a hack, MASH can suck it! I don't want to be part of any group with him in it! It's bad enough we're both humans...

[bigred]

One of 'us'? Ack. It's like people who bond over marijuana - 'oh you smoke weed, too? We must be best friends then, let's all wear retarded t-shirts and laugh when the clock hits 4:20!' vomit vomit vomit.

Alan Alda's a hack, MASH can suck it! I don't want to be part of any group with him in it! It's bad enough we're both humans...
LMAO

I liked MASH and he was far from a "hack" but bravo anyway.

Never did like Hawkeye though. What a naive, self-righteous ahole. Person-wise gimme Col Potter or Radar any day. (Well OK more literally gimme Hot Lips in her prime :cool: )


Whatya Think? Is he one of us?Thanks for reminding "us" JREF isn't an atheist site. :rolleyes:

I couldn't care less about his beliefs.

[Charlie Monoxide]

I never liked Alan Alda because of the character he played on MASH. I listened to his autobiography (narrated by him), "Never Get Your Dog Stuffed" and was very entertained and impressed. I don't recall any religion, but he was Italian and his parents were in vaudeville and probably weren't religious. I recommend the book.

Charlie (ex-Alan Alda hater) Monoxide

[alfaniner]

Probably one of the first exposures I had to real skepticism was the show where he visited a Chinese herbalist. The guy made a diagnosis by looking at his tongue, and prescribed certain "ancient Chinese secrets". While Alda didn't totally blow him off, it was clear that he thought it was nonsense. It may have been my first clue to what cold reading (diagnosis) actually was.

[Susan Gerbic]

Probably one of the first exposures I had to real skepticism was the show where he visited a Chinese herbalist. The guy made a diagnosis by looking at his tongue, and prescribed certain "ancient Chinese secrets". While Alda didn't totally blow him off, it was clear that he thought it was nonsense. It may have been my first clue to what cold reading (diagnosis) actually was.

I'm glad to hear this. A very popular high school teacher (many many years ago) did not say "under god" when we said the pledge. He told us that he did not believe in god or gods, I don't remember any other discussion, maybe he told us that he was an Atheist. I had never heard this concept before, and looking back it probably was the first time my eyes were opened that there was something people were not telling me, that there were others who doubted that someone was listening when we prayed.

My point being, that IMO we need to be more out there. You can't know who you might influence to think more critically about the world. Maybe Alan Alda isn't doing it for you, but then again he might. As more and more people open up and discuss their values and beliefs those that are beginning to question will not feel so alone.

There is talk about Bill Gates being an atheist, and I'm sure to some that will settle matters as they already know he is Satan reborn. And to others they will think about the humanitarian efforts that he and his wife are engaged in, and maybe they will think that atheists arn't so horrible.

The more positive coverage critical thinking can get, the better. And if Alda helps then that's great.

Susan

[zooterkin]

Alan Alda was on the radio just now, talking about his latest memoir ("Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself "), and he did just say that he's not a believer. (You can listen again for the next week at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/past_programmes.shtml)

[Charles Livingston]

I wonder if he's changed since this experience....I had the displeasure of doing business with him more than once in LA. He was a total diva. I won't argue with anything regarding his skepticism, but, when he calls ahead to have a parking space pressure washed so he can talk to you like you're dog poo on his shoes, I can't say he's a great human being on a personal level. Among all the "celebrities" I've had to do business with, Alan Alda ties with Jack Palance for being the most arrogant and demanding.

Good for him for pursuing a skeptical and fair path. I can only hope he's applied his critical thinking while looking in a mirror.

I want more gossip (good and/or bad) about your celebrity experiences.

Edited to add: I'm in no way referring to sexual "experiences".