Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Of swine and cows

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  • Alastair Jamieson,

    I hesitate to spread this around, but if it's conspiracy theories you're after, get a load of this:

    BTW, he's not really a 'climate change expert'....

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 99 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    BTW, he's not really a 'climate change expert'....

    You get that. Here's Fox News recently with an "infectious diseases specialist" who actually turns out to be an anti-ageing quack who peddles magic potions:

    Nearly half a million views of that one so far ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Rather than having a piss-up a with a blogger to prematurely celebrate a "political victory"

    Who goes to a bar, makes a bad joke at someone else's expense, high fives around the table, and then hurries home to post it on their blog? Is this common in Wellington these days?

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Probably my favourite conspiracy website is Cryptogon. It's a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

    It represents what is a fairly common opinion, although one that is significantly underrepresented in American politics.

    The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.

    Source: Change We Can Believe In: Obama Honors George H.W. Bush for Public Service

    And among this population is where, I think, people like Glen Beck get their traction. Although his audience and that of Cryptogon are mostly different, they both represent the extreme disconnect many feel for Washington politics. When people get marginalised, they revolt, or they retreat to their opiates - religions, conspiracies, and other outlets that allow them to rationalise a world that otherwise would not make sense.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    do you mean Vicki Hyde of the NZ Skeptics?
    (and how come they don't use the British spelling of sceptic?)
    anyway, I don't recall her appearing in The Skeptics AFFCO clip... :-)

    hope you'll be giving that conspiracy theory of
    "19 mostly Saudi men taking over 4 planes and managing to engineer the demolition of 3 steel framed skyscrapers (WT1, 2 & 7) in one day, killing several thousand people as well as punching a smaller than 757 hole in the recently fortified wall of the Pentagon - actually into the offices of the people who were trying to find the several trillion US$ missing from pentagon budgets as announced by Donny Rumsfeld the day before (Sept 10, 2001), and strangely never really returned to..."
    a good going over...
    it is risible really, and no facts or paper trail to back it up
    - just that it's the official word...
    don't ask questions...
    don't poke at the holes...

    yrs
    Dour Ting-Thomas

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    On a vaguely related note, marvel at the sight of actual scientists trying to rebutt hysteria around Roland Emmerich's latest disaster porno...

    Normally, scientists regard Internet hysteria with nothing more than a raised eyebrow and a shake of the head. But a few scientists have become so concerned at the level of fear they are seeing that they decided not to remain on the sidelines this time.

    "Two years ago, I got a question a week about it," said NASA scientist David Morrison, who hosts a website called Ask an Astrobiologist. "Now I'm getting a dozen a day. Two teenagers said they didn't want to see the end of the world so they were thinking of ending their lives."

    If that's for real, I'm moving past "bemused at the folly of mankind" and into the realms of wanting to bring some apocalyptic wrath to whoever is responsible for marketing at Columbia Pictures.

    BTW, Russell, weren't you trying to get Ben 'Bad Science' Goldacre out here for the next Great Blend? How's that coming along, if it is and/or you can say anything... At least people like Beck are going to keep his column running for the foreseeable future...

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    BTW, Russell, weren't you trying to get Ben 'Bad Science' Goldacre out here for the next Great Blend? How's that coming along, if it is and/or you can say anything...

    It's looking hopeful for early next year, just quietly (he says on a public website).

    But look out before that for a Christmas Great Blend!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    Or how about a big crazy dose of Jonathan "it's become more and more apparent that it is a Satanic agenda" Eisen? Not sure how to embed this ...

    http://uncensored.co.nz/2009/02/05/media-revolution-news-interview-with-jonathan-eisen-part-1-of-2/

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    I keep seeing free screenings of something called Zeitgeist advertised around campus. Haven't seen it but it's available online and looks fairly crazy.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    But look out before that for a Christmas Great Blend!

    Tentative date? Y'know, for those of us who are making travel plans...

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Sarah Wedde,

    sciencebasedmedicine.org is good when you need a pep up dose of anti-quackery.

    Lower Hutt • Since Nov 2006 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Or how about a big crazy dose of Jonathan "it's become more and more apparent that it is a Satanic agenda" Eisen?

    How about I get my colon irrigated with a water blaster full of battery acid instead -- it would be a quicker and less painful way to cause permanent brain damage.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Zeitgeist

    I'm guessing it's not the Adventures of Phoebe Zeitgeist from 1968 - created by writer Michael O'Donoghue ( National Lampoon, Saturday Night Live ) and illustrator Frank Springer (Marvel) first published in Evergreen Review in which the hapless heroine is tromped on by multiple tropes - a metaphor for modern times no less...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Or how about a big crazy dose of Jonathan "it's become more and more apparent that it is a Satanic agenda" Eisen? Not sure how to embed this ...

    That's actually a wee bit disturbing.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • ScottY,

    Rather than having a piss-up a with a blogger to prematurely celebrate a "political victory", the Maori Party might be well advised to look to the Act Party for lessons in how to exercise leverage as a minority support party. Because they got dicked, again.

    But National is closer ideologically to Act than to the Maori Party.

    Key and co probably won't be too upset if Act "forces" them to move towards privatising ACC, for example.

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    That's actually a wee bit disturbing.

    I had to turn it off when he started doing the Darth Vader voice.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    I have passed news of this week's Media 7 on to Dean Ballinger, who is close to finishing a PhD on conspiracy theories, at Waikato.* I reckon it will be a very good thesis, too

    * Which has its own share of such theories.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    It's interesting how often the words "former ACT MP" correlate with "mad as a bag of kittens with serious psychiatric issues".

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    do you mean Vicki Hyde of the NZ Skeptics?

    You mean, Vicki Hyde the Founder of KAOS? "Interesting" how that doesn't rate higher on her CV, isn't it? I'm just saying, it's 'interesting'.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    It's interesting how often the words "former ACT MP" correlate with "mad as a bag of kittens with serious psychiatric issues".

    It's interesting how often the words "former MP" correlate with "I am backing toward the nearest fire exit and praying for my life". I think it was Auberon Waugh who said wanting to enter Parliament is a sign that you're not entirely sane, and I've had cause to wonder if he had a point.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Katie Brockie,

    Check this out for tin-foil-hat nuttiness:

    General Albert Stubblebine features largely in Jon Ronson's "The Men Who Stared at Goats"

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 19 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Because they got dicked, again. I certainly have sympathy for Maori Television: not much at all for those involved from the Maori Party.

    Meh... I always say if you're going to behave like an arsehole, a rough dicking is probably exactly what they deserve. If anything, I'd say MTS and the Maori Party (particularly Sharples) should thank whatever higher powers they believe in that they didn't catch their fair share of the fallout from this shit storm. To put it bluntly, I think they've both got questions to answer about what they really told people, and when but instead they got away with playing the racist card and the MSM like a cheap fiddle.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Aston,

    Backmasking in music is fertile soil for conspiracy theories.
    Backmasking is simply playing a piece of music backwards to reveal ...hidden messages.
    The conspiracy part comes in when some say these were deliberately created to pass on subliminal messages.

    Here's the famous Stairway to Heaven revealed as containing - shock horror - Satanic messages. Hey our teachers always told us Rock was evil.

    Northland • Since Nov 2006 • 510 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Maori is now supporting the ACC bill through the first reading too.

    I suddenly thought of the Minister in In The Loop, constantly claiming to be playing a long game while not keeping up. I haven't though carefully about how fair that is.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • LIISA,

    Wow, Vicki Hyde is the head of KAOS??
    I never would have picked it. - do you mean Mr. Big or Ludwig von Siegfried?

    Zis is KAOS! Ve don't conspire here!

    Wellie • Since May 2008 • 46 posts Report Reply

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