Editing Roger Ebert (section)

==Personal life==
[[File:Chaz Hammel-Smith, Roger Ebert, and Nancy Kwan at the Hawaii International Film Festival in October 2010.jpg|thumb|left|Ebert and his wife [[Chaz Ebert|Chaz Hammelsmith Ebert]] (left) giving the thumbs up to [[Nancy Kwan]] (right) at the [[Hawaii International Film Festival]] in 2010|alt=Three people are smiling with Hawaiian leis around their necks.]]

=== Marriage ===
At age 50, Ebert married trial attorney [[Chaz Ebert|Charlie "Chaz" Hammel-Smith]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/67702842/1991-roger-ebert-to-marry-chaz/ |title=Roger Ebert getting married |work=Messenger-Inquirer |date=July 9, 1991 |access-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602133320/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/67702842/1991-roger-ebert-to-marry-chaz/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/67703511/1992-ebert-marries-hammelsmith/ |title=Clipping from Public Opinion |work=Public Opinion |date=July 20, 1992 |access-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602133321/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/67703511/1992-ebert-marries-hammelsmith/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in 1992.<ref name=ChicagoMag/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lewine |first=Edward |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/magazine/a-film-critics-windy-city-home.html |title=A Film Critic's Windy City Home |date=February 13, 2005 |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 2, 2022 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=May 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503214300/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/magazine/a-film-critics-windy-city-home.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hunt |first1=Drew |url=http://people2014.chicagoreader.com/chaz-ebert/ |title=Chaz Ebert: The Media Mogul |work=The Chicago Reader |access-date=May 2, 2022 |archive-date=May 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526202531/http://people2014.chicagoreader.com/chaz-ebert/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Chaz Ebert became vice president of the Ebert Company and has [[master of ceremonies|emceed]] Ebertfest.<ref>{{cite news |last=Merli |first=Melissa |date=April 25, 2007 |title=Ebert will have best seat in the house |newspaper=News-Gazette |location=Champaign, Illinois |url=http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2007-04-25/ebert-will-have-best-seat-house.html |access-date=May 15, 2022 |archive-date=May 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240506051111/https://www.news-gazette.com/news/ebert-will-have-best-seat-in-the-house/article_7cb8efcf-daef-501d-9cd3-678867a58307.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Esquire">{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Chris |date=February 16, 2010 |title=Roger Ebert: The Essential Man |url=http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310 |website=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]] |access-date=February 16, 2010 |archive-date=September 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923172438/http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Caruso |first=Michael |date=January 21, 2020 |title=New year, new semester: what's in store for Spring 2020 |url=https://dailyillini.com/news/2020/01/21/spring-2020-campus-events/ |access-date=April 27, 2022 |website=The Daily Illini |archive-date=May 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518211801/https://dailyillini.com/news/2020/01/21/spring-2020-campus-events/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He explained in his memoir, ''Life Itself'', that he did not want to marry before his mother died, as he was afraid of displeasing her.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130404/MEMORY/130409989 |title=Roger Ebert (1942–2013) |first=Neil |last=Steinberg |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |via=[[RogerEbert.com]] |date=April 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407034401/http://rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130404/MEMORY/130409989 |archive-date=April 7, 2013 |url-status=dead |access-date=May 16, 2022}}</ref> In a July 2012 blog entry, Ebert wrote about Chaz, "She fills my horizon, she is the great fact of my life, she has my love, she saved me from the fate of living out my life alone, which is where I seemed to be heading... She has been with me in sickness and in health, certainly far more sickness than we could have anticipated. I will be with her, strengthened by her example. She continues to make my life possible, and her presence fills me with love and a deep security. That's what a marriage is for. Now I know."<ref name="Chicago Sun-Times Roger Loves Chaz">{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Roger loves Chaz |url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/07/roger_loves_chaz.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719072437/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/07/roger_loves_chaz.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 19, 2012 |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=July 17, 2012}}</ref>

=== Alcoholism recovery ===
Ebert was a recovering alcoholic, having quit drinking in 1979. He was a member of [[Alcoholics Anonymous]] and had written some blog entries on the subject.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/my-name-is-roger-and-im-an-alcoholic |title=My Name is Roger, and I'm an alcoholic |date=August 25, 2009 |access-date=August 25, 2009 |first=Roger |last=Ebert |archive-date=April 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427123959/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/my-name-is-roger-and-im-an-alcoholic |url-status=live }}</ref> Ebert was a longtime friend of [[Oprah Winfrey]], and Winfrey credited him with persuading her to syndicate ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051116/COMMENTARY/511160301 |title=How I gave Oprah her start |first=Roger |last=Ebert |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=November 16, 2005 |access-date=March 8, 2022 |archive-date=June 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621204816/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051116/COMMENTARY/511160301 |url-status=dead}}</ref> which became the highest-rated talk show in American television history.<ref name="Forbes Oprah">{{cite news |last=Rose |first=Lacey |title=America's Top-Earning Black Stars |url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/01/29/oprah-will-smith-business-media-0129_black_stars.html |website=[[Forbes]] |date=January 29, 2009 |access-date=September 11, 2017 |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620041722/http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/29/oprah-will-smith-business-media-0129_black_stars.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Health===
[[File:Boutte and Ebert.jpg|thumb|Ebert (right) at the [[Conference on World Affairs]] in September 2002, shortly after his cancer diagnosis|alt=An image of a woman in a red dress speaking with a man, both sitting down.]]

In February 2002, Ebert was diagnosed with [[papillary thyroid cancer]] which was successfully removed.{{sfn|Singer|2023|p=243}} In 2003, he underwent surgery for [[salivary gland cancer]], which was followed up by [[radiation therapy]]. He was again diagnosed with cancer in 2006. In June of that year, he had a [[mandibulectomy]] to remove cancerous tissue in the right side of his jaw.<ref name="email">{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=August 17, 2006 |title=Email from Roger |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060817/PEOPLE/60817001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820123705/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060817/PEOPLE/60817001 |archive-date=August 20, 2006 |access-date=January 18, 2024 |website=RogerEbert.com}}</ref> A week later he had a life-threatening complication when his [[carotid artery]] burst near the surgery site.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=June 29, 2007 |title=Sicko Movie Review & Film Summary |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sicko-2007 |access-date=February 9, 2021 |website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209054957/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sicko-2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> He was confined to bed rest and was unable to speak, eat, or drink for a time, necessitating the use of a [[feeding tube]].<ref name="blogs.suntimes.com">{{cite web |author=Ebert, Roger |date=January 6, 2010 |url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/01/nil_by_mouth.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109083637/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/01/nil_by_mouth.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 9, 2010 |title=Nil by mouth |website=Roger Ebert's Journal }}</ref>

The complications kept Ebert off the air for an extended period. Ebert made his first public appearance since mid-2006 at Ebertfest on April 25, 2007. He was unable to speak, instead communicating through his wife.<ref>{{cite news |author=Jim Emerson |date=March 29, 2007 |title=Ebertfest '07: 'It's his happening and it freaks him out!' |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20070329%2FFILMFESTIVALS06%2F70329001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114140735/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/FILMFESTIVALS06/70329001 |archive-date=November 14, 2011 |access-date=September 4, 2009 |work=Chicago Sun-Times}}</ref> He returned to reviewing on May 18, 2007, when three of his reviews were published in print.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage |title=RogerEbert.com Front Page |author=Ebert, Roger |access-date=May 22, 2007 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070521015959/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage/ |archive-date=May 21, 2007}}</ref> In July 2007, he revealed that he was still unable to speak.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070721/COMMENTARY/70721001 |title=RogerEbert.com commentary |access-date=July 23, 2007 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |archive-date=February 11, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211235435/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070721/COMMENTARY/70721001 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Ebert adopted a computerized voice system to communicate, eventually using a copy of his own voice created from his recordings by [[CereProc]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Lund |first=Jordan |url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/08/finding_my_own_voice.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815000910/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/08/finding_my_own_voice.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 15, 2009 |title=Roger Ebert's Journal: Finding my own voice 8 December 2009 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=October 17, 2009 }}</ref>

In March 2010, his health trials and new computerized voice were featured on ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]''.<ref>{{cite web |author=Ebert, Roger |date=February 26, 2010 |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100226/PEOPLE/100229986 |title=Hello, this is me speaking |website=Roger Ebert's Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309081208/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100226/PEOPLE/100229986 |archive-date=March 9, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=KenTucker>{{cite magazine |author=[[Ken Tucker|Tucker, Ken]] |date=March 2, 2010 |url=http://watching-tv.ew.com/2010/03/02/oprah-roger-ebert-oscars/ |title=Roger Ebert predicts the Oscars, movingly: 'No more surgery for me.' |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=March 3, 2010 |archive-date=March 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305081546/http://watching-tv.ew.com/2010/03/02/oprah-roger-ebert-oscars/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2011, Ebert gave a [[TED (conference)|TED talk]] assisted by his wife, Chaz, and friends [[Dean Ornish]] and John Hunter, called "Remaking my voice"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=2011 |title=Remaking my voice |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/roger_ebert_remaking_my_voice |access-date=February 25, 2023 |archive-date=February 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230225022026/https://www.ted.com/talks/roger_ebert_remaking_my_voice |url-status=live }}</ref> in which, he [[Ebert test|proposed a test]] to determine the verisimilitude of a synthesized voice.<ref>{{cite news |title=Roger Ebert Tests His Vocal Cords, and Comedic Delivery |url=http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/roger-ebert-tests-his-vocal-cords-and-comedic-delivery/ |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 7, 2011 |access-date=April 4, 2013 |archive-date=April 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405012559/http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/roger-ebert-tests-his-vocal-cords-and-comedic-delivery/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ebert underwent further surgery in January 2008 to try to restore his voice and address the complications from his previous surgeries.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20080125%2FEDITOR%2F795706793 |author=Emerick, Laura |title=Ebert doing well after surgery |publisher=[[RogerEbert.com]]/Chicago Sun-Times |date=January 25, 2008 |access-date=January 26, 2008 |archive-date=June 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622015139/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080125/EDITOR/795706793 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/thumbs-up-for-roger-ebert-after-latest-bout-of-surgery-lawyer-reports-1.695384 |title=Thumbs up for Roger Ebert after latest bout of surgery, lawyer reports |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=January 25, 2008 |access-date=October 17, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605081213/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2008/01/25/ebert-roger-surgery.html |archive-date=June 5, 2008}}</ref> On April 1, Ebert announced his speech had not been restored.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/870571,ebert040108.article |title="Roger Ebert: Let's go to the movies"; ''Chicago Sun-Times''; April 1, 2008 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=October 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080404034550/http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/870571,ebert040108.article |archive-date=April 4, 2008}}</ref> Ebert underwent further surgery in April 2008 after fracturing his hip in a fall.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=April 18, 2008 |title=Ebert recovering from hip surgery |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/ebert-recovering-from-hip-surgery |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209033027/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/ebert-recovering-from-hip-surgery |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |access-date=February 9, 2021 |website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |language=en}}</ref> By 2011, Ebert had a prosthetic chin made to hide some of the damage done by his many surgeries.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=January 19, 2011 |title=Leading with my chin |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/leading-with-my-chin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209032815/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/leading-with-my-chin |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |access-date=February 9, 2021 |website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |language=en}}</ref>

In December 2012, Ebert was hospitalized due to the fractured hip, which was subsequently determined to be the [[Bone metastasis|result of cancer]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |date=April 2, 2013 |title=A Leave of Presence |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/a-leave-of-presence |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209032510/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/a-leave-of-presence |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |access-date=February 9, 2021 |website=[[RogerEbert.com]]}}</ref>

Ebert wrote that "what's sad about not eating" was:<blockquote>The loss of dining, not the loss of food. It may be personal, but for me, unless I'm alone, it doesn't involve dinner if it doesn't involve talking. The food and drink I can do without easily. The jokes, gossip, laughs, arguments and shared memories I miss. Sentences beginning with the words, "Remember that time?" I ran in crowds where anyone was likely to break out in a poetry recitation at any time. Me too. But not me anymore. So yes, it's sad. Maybe that's why I enjoy this blog. You don't realize it, but we're at dinner right now.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=January 6, 2010 |title=Nil by mouth |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/nil-by-mouth |website=RogerEbert.com |access-date=February 13, 2023 |archive-date=February 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213232804/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/nil-by-mouth |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

=== Politics ===
A supporter of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cooke |first=Rachel |date=November 6, 2011 |title=Roger Ebert: 'I'm an optimistic person' |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/06/roger-ebert-cancer-life-cinema |access-date=February 13, 2022 |website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en |archive-date=February 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213093759/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/06/roger-ebert-cancer-life-cinema |url-status=live }}</ref> he wrote of how his [[Catholic]] schooling led him to his politics: "Through a mental process that has by now become almost instinctive, those nuns guided me into supporting [[universal health care]], the rightness of [[labor unions]], fair taxation, prudence in warfare, kindness in peacetime, help for the hungry and homeless, and equal opportunity for the races and genders. It continues to surprise me that many who consider themselves religious seem to tilt away from me."<ref name="EbertCatholic"/>

Ebert was critical of [[political correctness]], "a rigid feeling that you have to keep your ideas and your ways of looking at things within very narrow boundaries, or you'll offend someone. Certainly one of the purposes of journalism is to challenge that kind of thinking. And certainly one of the purposes of criticism is to break boundaries. It's also one of the purposes of art."<ref>{{cite video| title=Siskel & Ebert Advise Young Movie Critics| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__L9DzZIkwI}}</ref> He lamented that ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' "has regrettably been under fire in recent years from myopic advocates of Political Correctness, who do not have a bone of irony (or humor) in their bodies, and cannot tell the difference between what is said or done in the novel, and what Twain means by it."<ref>{{cite news| author=Roger Ebert| title=The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn| date=April 2, 1993| work=Chicago Sun Times| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-adventures-of-huck-finn-1993}}</ref> Ebert defended the cast and crew of [[Justin Lin]]'s ''[[Better Luck Tomorrow]]'' (2002) during a [[Sundance Film Festival]] screening when a white member of the audience asked “Why, with the talent yup there and yourself, make a film so empty and amoral for Asian Americans and for Americans?” Ebert responded that "What I find very offensive and condescending about your statement is nobody would say to a bunch of white filmmakers, ‘How could you do this to 'your people'?...Asian-American characters have the right to be whoever the hell they want to be. They do not have to represent 'their people'!"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.filmthreat.com/festivals/737/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311235020/http://www.filmthreat.com/festivals/737/ |archive-date=March 11, 2015 |date=January 19, 2012 |website=[[Film Threat]] |title=When Audiences Attack at Sundance}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Davis |first=Erik |url=http://www.movies.com/movie-news/about-that-time-roger-ebert-fought-heckler-over-justin-lin39s-39better-luck-tomorrow39/11338?wssac=164&wssaffid=news |title=About That Time Roger Ebert Fought a Heckler over Justin Lin's 'Better Luck Tomorrow |website=Movies.com |access-date=January 27, 2017 |archive-date=October 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019215808/http://www.movies.com/movie-news/about-that-time-roger-ebert-fought-heckler-over-justin-lin39s-39better-luck-tomorrow39/11338?wssac=164&wssaffid=news |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Harris |first=Dana |url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/this-video-shows-exactly-what-we-lost-with-the-death-of-roger-ebert |title=This Video Shows Exactly What We Lost With the Death of Roger Ebert |website=[[IndieWire]] |date=April 4, 2013 |access-date=April 4, 2013 |archive-date=April 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406061932/http://www.indiewire.com/article/this-video-shows-exactly-what-we-lost-with-the-death-of-roger-ebert |url-status=live }}</ref> He was a supporter of the film after the incident at Sundance.

Ebert opposed the [[Iraq War]], writing: "Am I against the war? Of course. Do I support our troops? Of course. They were sent to endanger their lives by zealots with occult objectives."<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| date=November 4, 2008| title=This land was made for you and me| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/this-land-was-made-for-you-and-me| access-date=May 6, 2024| archive-date=March 27, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327045924/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/this-land-was-made-for-you-and-me| url-status=live}}</ref> He endorsed [[Barack Obama]] for re-election in [[2012 United States presidential election|2012]], citing the [[Affordable Care Act]] as one important reason for his support of Obama.<ref name=90days90reasons>{{cite web |first=Roger |last=Ebert |title=Reason 02: President Obama faced down the GOP and the health industry to finally reform American healthcare |url=http://90days90reasons.com/02.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813211002/http://90days90reasons.com/02.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 13, 2012 |publisher=90days90reasons.com |access-date=October 25, 2012}}</ref> He was concerned about income inequality, writing: "I have no objection to financial success. I've had a lot of it myself. All of my income came from paychecks from jobs I held and books I published. I have the quaint idea that wealth should be obtained by legal and conventional means–by working, in other words–and not through the manipulation of financial scams. You're familiar with the ways bad mortgages were urged upon people who couldn't afford them, by banks who didn't care that the loans were bad. The banks made the loans and turned a profit by selling them to investors while at the same time betting against them on their own account. While Wall Street was knowingly trading the worthless paper that led to the financial collapse of 2008, executives were being paid huge bonuses."<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| title=The One Percenters| date=April 9, 2011| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/the-one-percenters}}</ref> He voiced tentative support for the [[Occupy Wall Street]] movement: "I believe the Occupiers are opposed to the lawless and destructive greed in the financial industry, and the unhealthy spread in this country between the rich and the rest." Referring to the [[subprime mortgage crisis]], he wrote: "I have also felt despair at the way financial instruments were created and manipulated to deliberately defraud the ordinary people in this country. At how home buyers were peddled mortgages they couldn't afford, and civilian investors were sold worthless 'securities' based on those bad mortgages. Wall Street felt no shame in backing paper that was intended to fail, and selling it to customers who trusted them. This is clear and documented. It is theft and fraud on a staggering scale."<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| title=Where I stand on the Occupy movement| date=December 7, 2011| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/where-i-stand-on-the-occupy-movement}}</ref> He was also sympathetic to [[Ron Paul]], noting that he "speaks directly and clearly without a lot of hot air and lip flap".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mcdevitt |first=Caitlin |title=Roger Ebert gives Ron Paul a thumbs up |url=https://www.politico.com/blogs/click/2012/01/roger-ebert-gives-ron-paul-a-thumbs-up-112544 |access-date=November 14, 2022 |website=POLITICO |date=January 27, 2012 |language=en |archive-date=November 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114000613/https://www.politico.com/blogs/click/2012/01/roger-ebert-gives-ron-paul-a-thumbs-up-112544 |url-status=live }}</ref> In a review of the 2008 documentary ''[[I.O.U.S.A.]]'', he credited Paul with being "a lonely voice talking about the [[National debt of the United States|debt]]", proposing based on the film that the US government was "already broke".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=I.O.U.S.A. movie review & film summary (2008) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/iousa-2008 |access-date=November 14, 2022 |website=www.rogerebert.com/ |language=en |archive-date=November 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114002113/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/iousa-2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> He opposed the [[war on drugs]]<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| title=Traffic| date=2001| work=Chicago Sun-Times| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/traffic-2001| access-date=May 3, 2024| archive-date=April 19, 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419071411/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20010101%2FREVIEWS%2F101010301%2F1023| url-status=live}}</ref> and [[capital punishment]].<ref>{{cite web| last=Ebert| first=Roger| date=January 12, 2012| title="Nobody has the right to take another life"| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/nobody-has-the-right-to-take-another-life| access-date=May 3, 2024| archive-date=May 3, 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503172535/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/nobody-has-the-right-to-take-another-life| url-status=live}}</ref>

Laura Emerick, his ''Sun Times'' editor, recalled: “His union sympathies began at an early age. His father, Walter, worked as an electrician, and Roger remained a member of the [[Newspaper Guild]] throughout his career — though after he became an independent contractor, he probably could have opted out. He famously stood with the Guild in 2004, when he wrote to then publisher John Cruickshank that ‘it would be with a heavy heart that I would go on strike against my beloved Sun-Times, but strike I will if a strike is called.'”<ref>{{cite web| title=Remembrances of Roger| date=April 9, 2012| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/remembrances-of-roger}}</ref> He lamented that "Most Americans don’t understand the [[First Amendment]], don’t understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don’t understand that it’s the responsibility of the citizen to speak out." Regarding his own freedom of speech, he said: "I write op-ed columns for the Chicago Sun-Times, and people send me e-mails saying, 'You're a movie critic. You don't know anything about politics.' Well, you know what, I'm 60 years old, and I've been interested in politics since I was on my daddy's knee.... I know a lot about politics."<ref>{{cite magazine| title=Roger Ebert Remembered| last=Rothschild| first=Matthew| date=April 4, 2013| magazine=[[The Progressive]]| url=https://progressive.org/op-eds/roger-ebert-remembered/}}</ref>

=== Beliefs ===
Ebert was critical of [[intelligent design]],<ref>{{cite news| last=Ebert| first=Roger| date=December 3, 2008| title=Win Ben Stein's Mind| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/win-ben-steins-mind| access-date=May 3, 2024| archive-date=May 3, 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503204052/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/win-ben-steins-mind| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Evolves>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/09/the_longest_thread_evolves.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090908043144/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/09/the_longest_thread_evolves.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 8, 2009 |title=The Longest Thread Evolves |access-date=September 4, 2009 |author=Roger Ebert |date=September 4, 2009 |work=Chicago Sun-Times }}</ref> and stated that people who believe in either [[creationism]] or [[New Age]] beliefs such as [[crystal healing]] or [[astrology]] should not be president.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/new-agers-and-creationists-should-not-be-president |title=New Agers and Creationists should not be President |access-date=May 9, 2021 |author=Ebert, Roger |date=December 2, 2009 |work=Roger Ebert's Journal |archive-date=May 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510045630/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/new-agers-and-creationists-should-not-be-president |url-status=live }}</ref> He wrote that in Catholic school he learned of the "[[Theory of Evolution]], which in its elegance and blinding obviousness became one of the pillars of my reasoning, explaining so many things in so many ways. It was an introduction not only to logic but to symbolism, thus opening a window into poetry, literature and the arts in general. All my life I have deplored those who interpret something only on its most simplistic level."<ref name="EbertCatholic">{{cite web| title=How I am a Roman Catholic| author=Roger Ebert| date=March 1, 2013| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/how-i-am-a-roman-catholic| access-date=April 23, 2024| archive-date=March 9, 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309193226/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/how-i-am-a-roman-catholic| url-status=live}}</ref>

Ebert described himself as an agnostic on at least one occasion,<ref name=ChicagoMag /> but at other times explicitly rejected that designation; biographer Matt Singer wrote that Ebert opposed any categorization of his beliefs.{{sfn|Singer|2023|p=265}} In 2009, Ebert wrote that he did not "want [his] convictions reduced to a word," and stated, "I have never said, although readers have freely informed me I am an atheist, an agnostic, or at the very least a [[secular humanism|secular humanist]]&nbsp;– which I am."<ref name="EbertGod">{{cite news |url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/04/how_i_believe_in_g.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420132015/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/04/how_i_believe_in_g.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 20, 2009 |title=How I believe in God |access-date=November 5, 2009 |first=Roger |last=Ebert |date=April 17, 2009 |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] }}</ref> He wrote of his [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] upbringing: "I believed in the basic Church teachings because I thought they were correct, not because God wanted me to. In my mind, in the way I interpret them, I still live by them today. Not by the rules and regulations, but by the principles. For example, in the matter of abortion, I am pro-choice, but my personal choice would be to have nothing to do with an abortion, certainly not of a child of my own. I believe in free will, and believe I have no right to tell anyone else what to do. Above all, the state does not." He wrote "I am not a believer, not an atheist, not an agnostic. I am still awake at night, asking ''how''?{{efn|The question ''how'' in these last sentences of the blog entry refers back to its first paragraph in which Ebert writes that as a second-grader he would lie awake at night asking himself the questions "''But how could God have no beginning? And how could he have no end?''".<ref name="EbertGod" />}} I am more content with the question than I would be with an answer."<ref name="EbertGod" /> He writes: "I was asked at lunch today who or what I worshiped. The question was asked sincerely, and in the same spirit I responded that I worshiped whatever there might be outside knowledge. I worship the void. The mystery. And the ability of our human minds to perceive an unanswerable mystery. To reduce such a thing to simplistic names is an insult to it, and to our intelligence."<ref>{{cite web| last=Ebert| first=Roger| date=August 13, 2010| title=Traveler to the undiscovere'd country| url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/traveler-to-the-undiscovered-country| access-date=May 3, 2024| archive-date=May 3, 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503204051/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/traveler-to-the-undiscovered-country| url-status=live}}</ref>

He wrote: "I drank for many years in a tavern that had a photograph of [[Brendan Behan]] on the wall, and under it is this quotation, which I memorized: '''I respect kindness in human beings first of all, and kindness to animals. I don't respect the law; I have a total irreverence for anything concerned with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and the old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.''<nowiki/>' For 57 words, that does a pretty good job of summing it up."<ref name="GoGently"> {{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=May 2, 2009 |title=Go Gentle Into That Good Night |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/go-gentle-into-that-good-night |access-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516161102/https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/go-gentle-into-that-good-night |url-status=live }}</ref> Summarizing his beliefs, Ebert wrote:

<blockquote>I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.<ref name="GoGently" /></blockquote>

He wrote: "I correspond with a dear friend, the wise and gentle Australian director [[Paul Cox (director)| Paul Cox]]. Our subject sometimes turns to death. In 2010 he came very close to dying before receiving a liver transplant. In 1988 he made a documentary named ''[[Vincent (1987 film)|Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh]]''. Paul wrote that in his [[Arles]] days, van Gogh called himself 'a simple worshiper of the external [[Buddha]].' Paul told me that in those days, Vincent wrote: 

 <blockquote>Looking at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots representing towns and villages on a map. 

Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France? 

Just as we take a train to get to [[Tarascon]] or [[Rouen]], we take death to reach a star. We cannot get to a star any more when we are alive than we can take the train when we are dead. So to me it seems possible that cholera, tuberculosis and cancer are the celestial means of locomotion. Just as steamboats, buses and railways are the terrestrial means. 

To die simply of old age would be to go there on foot. </blockquote>

That is a lovely thing to read, and a relief to find I will probably take the celestial locomotive. Or, as the little dog, [[Milou]], says whenever [[Tintin (character)| Tintin]] proposes a journey, 'Not by foot, I hope!'"<ref>{{cite book| last=Ebert| first=Roger| title=Life Itself: A Memoir| page=415}}</ref>