Interesting Annotation of the current State of the Environmental Debate

[SmoothedShredder]

Some interesting Stuff...

Some Mike Mooresqe editing... but certainly effective at balancing the debate on the environment. Also some good stuff on Patrick Moore and his contempary views.

Penn and Tellers: Bullshit - On the Environment

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Thanks, W - interesting bit. I didn't know they even had this show.

Whatever else might be said, it is an important (if difficult to hear) point that gets made, not to conflate too many issues without being careful to separate out the streams. Yes, there are important and central linkages between environmental degradation and capitalist modes of production, e.g., but that shouldn't force people into some stolid Marxism in response, as some people want to go (or others into other kinds of reductionistic identification). This clip did appease my frustration with the fuzzyheadedness that can be given free rein in this movement - as, I should quickly add, in any movement, be it evangelicalism, women's movements, or whatever. There's always a problem when you have a community of like-minded people that relax their communication enough, figuring they have enough in common, not to have the need to spell things out clearly, and then the ideas themselves can get sloppy.

I guess in the end what irked me most about Penn's treatment of this is that it's an issue that calls for huge sensitivity to all that complexity, and he just wants to blast people that seem not to appreciate that without digging any deeper himself.

[djmelbatoast]

Penn Gillette is a bigger asshole than Micheal Moore. The Aristocrats was funny this show is just a loud mouth calling people names behind their back. Even in that war on drugs one his first and best argument is to call people stupid.

People who attend rallies don't necisarilly know how to speak with the coherence and flamboyance that Penn does reading from his teleprompter. No shit.

The biggest arguments he has against global warming are from a guy who had a falling out with Greenpeace and Bjorn Jerkoffston the cynical enviro guy. These two are the folks who should be investigated for bullshit.