http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Mon, 3 Feb 2003 15:48:32 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/02/03/154832.php Tom DiggsPenn & Teller, the famous magical duo-turned-Amazing Randi-esque debunkers, have an ambitious new show airing on Showtime. Penn & Teller: Bullshit! is an excellently conceived program targeted at skewering various forms of anti-intellectual pseudoscience, exposing money-hungry conmen and the ignorant beliefs they feed on.The first episode, focusing on John Edward, James Van Praagh, and their ilk, who profess to be able to talk to the dead, was excellent. They dummied up their own cold-reading psychic, and had him stage a demonstration reading. At the end, he had the audience (who, like most people, are already more than halfway ready to believe) eating out of the palm of his hand. When he dropped the bomb that it was all a load of hooey, the audience applauded, but was visibly disappointed.The second episode, I'm sorry to report, was not nearly as good. Penn & Teller bit off way more than they could effectively deal with in a 30 minute show dealing with "alternative medicine." Yes, everything they covered was in fact bullshit. Reflexology is bullshit. Magnet therapy is bullshit. New Age chiropractic medicine is bullshit (even if the actual practice has been shown to have some benefits...just not for the bullshit reasons they give for it. Same thing with reflexology, actually. I'm sure a nice foot massage would indeed make me feel better, but not because of some malarkey about meridians.)But what I saw in the show seemed to be this:1) Show a couple of whack-job quack "doctors." 2) Show a couple of gullible fools. 3) Show Penn self-righteously abuse 1) and 2).I want to see detail. History. Science. The evidence for WHY this stuff is bullshit is certainly there. Why not use more of it? The only thing remotely explanatory in the whole show was the scientist saying "we just aren't made of magnetic stuff," and another guy saying "reflexology meridians just aren't there."C'mon. Surely they can do better than that.There's just too much "alternative medicine" quackery to cover adequately in just one show. Perhaps they should have split it up into two or even three episodes.See, I know that skeptics are already convinced. By and large, we've seen the evidence that it's all bullshit. And I know that hardcore believers will never be convinced that it doesn't work. So there you have the two extremes.Somewhere in the middle, though, are the Undecided Masses...those people who might be persuaded to turn their noses up at this chicanery - but only if they can be reasoned with. Only if they can be shown the evidence. Only if they can be educated.I have to give episode 2 a C- at best. It was long on the preachiness, long on the abuse, long on the "preaching to the choir" factor, and very, very short on actual analysis.This critique is also posted at The World Wide Rant, so come see us! Video2996@blogcritics.org Mon, 3 Feb 2003 15:48:32 EST