Maher’s ability to see through the clutter’s amazing.
Seems to come from a combination of intellect, insight and a damn good varied reading lists - when he was young - or maybe over a lifetime. Someone should get those lists and weave those books into school curriculum...(Oh, and Maher also has insights into some our our sides ‘fashionable’ ideas... we get skewered too)
Sometimes just not slouching as far into Gomorrah as others eagerly do around you can amount to having insight into those you didn’t keep up with.
It’s like an opposite trope of the boy who leaves his simple home to become a hero and then return home wiser and better ... one where it is the guy who stayed didn’t go stark raving mad in the company of all those who left thinking that leaving would help make them wise and good.