The Discovery networks are really becoming ridiculous.  This even aside from the gratuitous references to “global warming” and “climate change” with the not-so-hidden message that people are the plague of the earth. I’ve gotten somewhat used to that message, really. And if you can stomach the backwards values, the shows can sometimes still provide interesting facts. Occasionally, if a more naive viewer is paying attention, he may note that a fact mentioned in connection with “global warming” provides evidence for the other side. In a recent Science Channel show about creatures that live in the mid-ocean depths, scientists were shown studying how jelly-like organisms consumed plankton and then passed droppings that would fall to the deep ocean, nourishing the creatures that lived there. The narrator couldn’t help but mention how this could “help us combat global warming” by fixing carbon in the oceans. In fact, this little piece of information serves as evidence for one of the opposing viewpoints: that Earth warms FIRST and only THEN does carbon dioxide increase in Earth’s atmosphere – after all they just explained to you that carbon is already being fixed in the ocean.

Slowly building toward the violence necessary to rid the world of those who do not share the religion, there’s Animal Planet’s Whale Wars, where fools put themselves in ridiculously dangerous situations engaging in war games with commercial whalers while soulful music plays to their horrified and melancholy faces. Now, let it be known, I love animals. It is very obvious to me that they are conscious beings deserving of respect and I am glad that there are others who agree. I am all for educating people on the subject. What appalls me is the underlying message of this show, that the best way to save animals is to risk the lives of people by engaging in physical confrontation. And this is clearly the purpose – to attract young people to stupid ways of risking their lives – and/or killing others.

And this is where it starts to get particularly egregious. For example, The Learning Channel (that’s right TLC, the network with the double-meaning of learning and tender loving care) has a new show called Police Women of Broward County. In the coming attractions for the show one of the women is heard saying this priceless gem: “There’s always a good time to use a taser.” Watch it here:

Oh yeah, she’s a “sweet old fashioned girl” alright. And I’ve no doubt this will have the desired effect – convincing the multitudes of insecure women that they don’t want to be the “sweet old fashioned girl”, they want to be the modern and tough “police” woman. The goal seems to be getting the girls interested in joining the military and police forces just like their male counterparts so they can become menaces to the rest of us. I suspect the targeting of women has to do with their relative naiveté with regard to political matters. But, note how these women treat people. In the past when I have stooped to watch one of these “real life” police shows, the male officers have tended to behave well (unlike their fictional counterparts in shows like CSI). These women have no such restraint. Perhaps their purpose is to perform those services which the men are too politically savvy to perform. I suppose you could say the female cop/soldier is also part of the socialist cliché.

On yet another Discovery network, the Science Channel, I recently came across a show discussing the desertification of northern China near Shanghai. This type of show is popular lately and I must admit they are of interest to me as I have lately taken to educating myself further in the areas of geology and geography. But, I have to watch while guarding myself against the horrid propaganda.

Northern China suffers terrible sandstorms and the intent of this show is to draw a parallel between them and the Dust Bowl in the US in the 1930’s – taking advantage of economic parallels while at the same time supporting the religion of environmentalism. In the 1930’s farmers, ignorant of the soil conservation methods necessary for farming on the semi-arid plains, loosened the soil such that when a 10 year drought hit the region, the bulk of the soil simply blew away in enormous “black blizzards” which were also particularly deadly because of the fine structure of the soil. I think it’s important to realize that the blizzards did not cause the drought. The drought, together with the poor farming methods, caused the blizzards.

In China, the situation seems to me to be somewhat different and perhaps after some study I will venture my own speculations on the matter. For now, whatever the cause of the drought, the purpose of programs such as these is to show how ignorant, stupid, and in need of government control the average farmer is. But the best was yet to come. At the very end, the producers decided to leave you with what they could only have considered the most important message of their piece. A Chinese farmer speaks in Chinese with subtitles running beneath his rugged face. He says “The problem isn’t the sand, it’s the people.”

And that about says it all, now doesn’t it?

This is such a positively priceless blunder, one has to wonder… can it really be a coincidence?

For those of you who might not get it, here is the relevant scene from the Matrix. It’s true, you have to see it for yourself.

For those of you that might have been lost by my reference to “sunglasses” in a previous post this is the movie that alludes to. Pretty funny and entertaining… but with a bit of truth???

Note: you can use the drop down box under “Google” to go directly to Google video.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the Company of Men
Sony Pictures
Neil LaBute writer/director

LaBute (writer and director) aptly sets his movie in the ubiquitous American scenes of dating and business — work and women. His scenes are all too familiar to the average American — and this is exactly as LaBute intends. Evil does not necessarily wear the guise of an SS uniform. Evil begins long before the death camps of Auschwitz or the Killing Fields of Cambodia can emerge. LaBute’s message: Evil can exist anywhere, on any scale, and men must always remain vigilant or suffer the consequences. LaBute’s story revolves around the interplay of three characters. During a business trip, two old frat buddies, Chad and Howard attempt to mutually seduce a pretty deaf girl at the office. Of course things are not as they appear. Chad and Howard are really potential rivals vying to move up the corporate ladder. The seduction of the girl is Chad’s attempt to unravel Howard and divert him from his role as the overall supervisor — a job Chad wants.

Of the trio, Chad is certainly the most tragic figure. He is the one most capable rational action and using means to achieve ends. He lectures a college intern, “I want you to know a thing because it’s true not because some man says that its right”. After the lecture, Chad finds that he can easily make the intern undress himself simply because he is told to do so. He reveals his philosophy on corporate work, “That’s what business is all about — who is sporting the nastiest sack of venom and who is willing to use it.” Despite his tragic flaws, he is the only character with any sense of integrity. The American culture of the 90’s, and the people who dwell within it, have left Chad a bitter and oppressed man. He despises whiners and affected compassion — thus he hates almost everyone.

Christine is the deaf office girl who is being seduced by both Howard and Chad. Outwardly she appears the victim, but she is playing her own game, a game that must inevitably hurt one of two men. After sleeping with Chad, she continues to date Howard out of compassion. But is that really compassionate? Although her own ends are not so well defined as Chad, they are certainly more defined than Howard’s. Howard is the most despicable character, he acts without knowing why, he does what he is told and never questions it. Seduce a lonely young girl — for the sole purpose of wreaking emotional havoc — sure why not. At least Chad had a personal motive in the seduction. Without thought and deliberation, men are incapable of purposeful action and they become automatons. Howard is the kind of man capable of anything, the kind that makes evil on a vast scale possible.

Early on Chad tells him: “Never lose control — that’s the key, Howard — that is the real key to universe — trust me.” Unfortunately, for Howard control is impossible — as it is for any man incapable of reflection. As the last scene of the movie suggests, Howard is a man totally out of control. In the end, the film delivers justice. Chad after admitting the entire plan of seduction and the real victim, contemptuously asks, “How does it feel to really hurt someone, Howard?”

What did you expect?