Bill Maher uses humour to make a case for single people who also happen to be childless

By Nina Steele 

I have been following Bill Maher on Facebook for quite some time. I find his take on news stories highly entertaining, which is much needed, considering how depressing the news cycle has been of late. Until recently, I was only interested in Bill Maher the comedian. However, as my interest in him grew, I thought it was time to learn about the man behind the comedy. And, you guessed it, I headed to his Wikipedia page, which then led to a youtube video in which he is highly critical of society’s attitude toward people like himself, who have chosen a different path. He is childless and has never married. He is 62.

In the video, released in June 2017, Maher argues that there is a strong case for there to be a national day of celebration for people who are childless and suggested it be called ‘I didn’t reproduce day’. The video was in response to the celebrations of both mother’s and father’s day in the US. Maher also wants a shift in attitude toward people who are single. He pointed to the fact that single people were now the majority in the US, citing 2014 figures that put the number of single people at 124.6 million, compared to the number of married people, which stood at 123.6 million.

As an environmentalist, Maher highlights the fact that people without children are doing a great service to the planet. He argues that the impact of not having children is far greater than any other environmentally friendly lifestyle choice people will ever make. Of that he said: “there is literally nothing you can do that’s better for the environment than to not produce another resource sucking, waste making human being”. To those who choose to have children, and also want to do their bit for the environment, he had this to say: “You can do it all. You can get the hybrid car, do the recycling, not throw batteries in the trash. It all adds up to a fraction of the good it would do to have just one less child, because that child increases your carbon legacy by over 9,000 tonnes”. It’s all said with a lot of humour of course.

In his closing statement, Maher asks the tabloids to stop describing not being married or not having children as shocking, as some of them tend to do when discussing the lives of some celebrities, citing Jennifer Aniston as an example.