From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon Jan 27 2003 - 16:01:36 MST
I discovered this weekend something that should cause rational
thinkers everywhere to rejoice: a new television series from
Showtime with Penn & Teller, called "Bullshit!". The show
promises to debunk and ridicule much of the popular nonsense
tolerated, even celebrated, by our culture.
The first show "Talking to the Dead" took direct aim at psychics
who claim that ability. Naming names and pulling no punches,
they took on Jonathan Edward (host of "Crossing Over") and James
von Praagh (host of "Beyond") directly, showing how they used the
techniques of cold reading, how they gather information about
their audience from outside sources, how the shows are edited to
show only successes, and how they go out of their way to avoid
scrutiny. They even debunked the idea that they offer harmless
entertainment, with Penn Gilette offering a heartfelt tirade
about how these con artists are robbing people of the honest
memories of their dead loved ones by filling their heads with
bullshit.
Future shows promise to take on alternative medicine, alien
abductions, second-hand smoke, and other topics. I'm glad
Showtime showed a little backbone in producing the show and in
keeping the title; I hope they show similar courage in footing
the bill for the inevitable legal challenges that will follow.
It's probably too much to hope that many true believers will be
enlightened, but at least some of the con artists who prey on
the weak and gullible will be exposed to the light of day, and
perhaps it will encourage other media outlets to show some
brains and integrity and stop pimping these charlatans.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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