I have recently, through the magic of teh interwebz, been introduced to a show that up until last week I didn’t even know existed – Penn & Teller: Bullshit! It is a Showtime series, so we don’t even get it here in Canada. As a matter of fact, if you live anywhere BUT the USA, you can’t even access the show’s official website – which seems like some kind of bullshit irony to me (you know what I mean… the show is called bullshit, and not being able to access the page from the WORLD WIDE WEB is bullshit… well… nevermind).
What amazes me is that this show has been around so long and I never even knew it existed. It is bizarre, because I suddenly feel redundant. On a nearly daily basis, I end up getting pissed off and having an internal (and often external) dialogue with anyone who will listen (mostly it is just me) about the things they talk about on the show. Evidently they have been doing it for some time, and a part of me wonders if people think I have been secretly watching the show and using it to fuel my fury about idiotic topics.
I come up with this stuff myself, folks. I don’t 100% agree with everything that Penn & Teller debunk either… although scientifically speaking you can’t apply the logic that if you can’t disprove something it must be true, I reserve the right to hold off my judgment of something until I have some conclusive evidence one way or the other. I try to maintain an open mind most of the time and accept new evidence can change how things are perceived. For example, I do not dismiss the existence of aliens. I believe mathematically it is probable that aliens exist, and it is possible they have even visited Earth (even if our current understanding of physics defines “faster than light travel” impossible). I don’t accept that any of the X-Files tripe that has been presented proves that aliens exist or have visited here, I am simply keeping an open mind.
That’s where Penn & Teller and I diverge: they are pure skeptics. I approach things with a skeptical view but will generally not internal define things in absolutes. I guess they are like the criminal law version of skepticism – if there is any reasonable doubt, that requires a total acquittal or dismissal of the claims. I lean more toward the civil law model – show me a preponderance of the evidence. I reserve the right to change my mind later.
Regardless: the show is very entertaining. I have always enjoyed Penn & Teller’s brand of humour and the shock value they sometimes like to inject. I find when I am watching it that I am amazed by how much we see eye-to-eye on things, including Libertarianism. I am surprised by how badly off-target they can be with some things as well -like secondhand smoke and the absolute out-of-hand rejection of everything spiritual. I believe in Buddhism and that we may be reincarnated and have an existence of some form without our bodies, they say we are worm food. But hey, that is their opinion and they are entitled to it.
I guess I don’t have much of an audience. They are on a national American cable network, so they have lots of attention. That still makes me feel redundant, and almost repetitive when I rant about the stuff they rant about. Of course, they don’t do much anti-American government /policy ranting so I guess I still have that sector to myself (and 100 million other bloggers).
Watch Bullshit on Showtime if you have it. Get it from a torrent or something if you don’t have access to the channel. You just might learn something.
