Armchair Pundits

Same Stupid Methodology

When the fat artist made his galvanizing film Fahrenheit 9/11, he revealed the one strategy that works for democratic operatives. Namely, the selective inclusion and omission of contextual information, thus misleading viewers with images that appear powerful, but fail to live up to any meritorious scrutiny. Of course many in the public are just mis--or plainly uninformed, resulting in the slob making millions and many in the public working up a frothy sweat.

Former VP, Al Gore's new movie, "An Inconvenient Truth", follows Moore's playbook, and as a result is generating a lot of buzz. But how is the scientific community reacting? Perhaps surprisingly, as the ones in the know haven't lined up with the solidarity that a truly inconvenient fact would warrant.

It has been alluded to on these pages before, but the scientific community is split on global warming. There are those that deny it's existence entirely, citing recurring climatological patterns; while many others debate warming as a phenomena and challenge each others' respective assertions as to the etiology of its occurrence.

Either way, Inconvenient Truth, casts some very convenient aspersions, and summarily, the alarming evidence is no more than the same parlor tricks Moore's films are so cleverly and clearly constructed upon.

I'm relegating the science of this film to the same pop-science of "What The Bleep" (for my review see 2005 archives). It could have been much more. No pun intended.

posted by Grisby @ 9:02 PM