Pharyngula::Stupid liberals

Pharyngula has moved to http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

Friday, May 28, 2004

Stupid liberals

PZ Myers • 13 Comments

This is beginning to piss me off. I'm getting mail from MoveOn telling me to go see the latest POS from Roland Emmerich.

Dear MoveOn member,

Beginning this afternoon, millions of Americans will go see The Day After Tomorrow -- the movie the White House doesn't want you to see. Thousands of MoveOn members will be there to enjoy the show, to help get people talking about the real danger of a climate crisis, and to take action to prevent one.

Get a sense of this movie's drama and spectacular imagery for yourself by viewing the movie's trailer at:

http://www.thedayaftertomorrow.com/trailer2/

It's an exaggerated story, intended to thrill, but it will leave people wondering, "Could this really happen?" Today and tomorrow, thousands of MoveOn members will be handing out flyers, designed to answer people's questions, and to give them a way to take action.

This is an unparalleled opportunity to help people do something to prevent a climate crisis. Twenty million people are expected to see this movie.

Can you help us make the most of this opportunity? Join in the fun at:

http://action.moveon.org/dayafter/

Thanks for all you do. It makes such a difference.

Sincerely,

--Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org Team
May 28th, 2004

This will not "get people talking about the real danger of a climate crisis". It's a schlock disaster film with bad science. Did The Core get people worried about crazy militarists stopping the earth's core from rotating, and get them to commit to making a machine to drill down to the center of the earth? Did Species get the electorate to demand a moratorium on synthesizing sexy naked aliens? Did Starship Troopers convince the government to launch an orbital defense fleet to protect us from meteors farted up by big bugs on the other side of the galaxy?

Dear gog, it's based on a book written by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber. A spazzy New Age conspiracy theorist/talk radio host, and a deranged author who believes he was abducted by aliens. There isn't a scrap of serious science anywhere in this monstrosity, and I sure as hell don't want my party using this gonzo nonsense to inspire policy decisions.

This movie isn't going to leave me wondering, "Could this really happen?" Unless "this" refers to yet another case of dippy woolly-headed liberal thinking. Global warming is real, and is a serious problem. This movie and the backing of MoveOn make a mockery of an important issue.

Trackback url: http://pharyngula.org/index/trackback/739/DU0nylhO/

Comments:

#2828: — 05/28 at 09:49 AM
Stupid liberals

For once PZ and conservatives are [link="http://www.keepmedia.com/Register.do?oliID=225"]in agreement[/link]! Maybe there's more to this apocalypse stuff afterall.

#2829: — 05/28 at 09:54 AM
Dear Lord. I give up. . .

#2830: David — 05/28 at 10:34 AM
For once PZ and conservatives are in agreement! Maybe there's more to this apocalypse stuff afterall.

#2831: Ben — 05/28 at 10:44 AM
I think it's less about libs/cons than it is about shamelessly spruiking for a crappy little action film. Nothing like manufactured controversy to sell tickets. MoveOn's gotta pay the bills...

#2832: — 05/28 at 12:45 PM
I hope you wrote to MoveOn and let them know what you thought.

BCH

#2837: — 05/28 at 04:17 PM
I guess the question which pops into my mind is :

isn't there anyone associated with the upper eschelons of the MoveOn org with a decent science background? Or did all these people major in Minority Studies or some other political workshop?

What a disappointing development. Honestly I stopped reading any of MoveOn's spams after the primaries and I should probably get off their mailing list. I give my money directly to the DNC or the candidates whose campaigns I'm particularly interested in. From what I've seen, these TV ads don't have much impact unless they're presented in a foreign language (e.g., Spanish).

#2841: — 05/28 at 11:12 PM
Even the oh-so-intellectual types at Crooked Timber and fergodssakes Chris Mooney are taking this piece of tripe as some kind of serious if factually fucked up message to the world. The only folks who'll take the plot seriously are the dweebs on sci.skeptic, and they'll be arguing over whether global warming is caused by UFO's or Atlanteans under the ocean.

#2861: Gary Farber — 05/29 at 11:04 PM
"Dear gog, it's based on a book written by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber."

Don't get me started about when I was paid to work on Whitley Strieber books. If you ever meet me in person, though, ask.

When having to work on Communion, I would have been fired if I'd said anything remotely about the book. I was forced, unless I wanted to quit, to respond to queries from other employees with statements such as "my, he's certainly imaginative, isn't he?" Or "doesn't he write vividly?"

"He's a flying nutbar" wouldn't have been appreciated by the Editorial Director.

#2862: — 05/30 at 01:24 AM
PZ,

I think you really want to read this review:

http://fistfulofeuros.net/archives/000671.php

-- over at A Fistful of Euros.

"I don’t want to focus on the many things that are deeply wrong with this film. Emmerich can hope to one day be an icon of a genre, to live to see the day when his films are praised for their postmodern tackiness, and where film theory students pore over his work looking for the essence of the big budget special effects action extravaganza. God knows, he won’t be remembered as a good filmmaker. If I were to give you a simple review of this film, I would have to say that Emmerich’s latest is, like most of his work, awful by any traditional normative measure. But so what? In my mind I see Emmerich laughing all the way to the bank, saying “Do you know how much money that piece of shit made me?”

"So, instead of giving you a simple thumbs-up/thumbs-down review of the film, I want to expose you to a slightly different idea in this review, something that won’t change whether or not you want to see The Day After Tomorrow, but which might change how you see it.

"Roland Emmerich is desperately trying to be a subversive filmmaker, and he’s failing miserably. He’s not failing because he’s too subtle..."

[snip excellent discussion of how Emmerich, a Green Socialist from Germany, is trying to beat us about the head and shoulders with anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist messages, and failing because, basically, he sucks as a director]

"There is also bad science. The science is hacked together from unrelated bits of climate science coverage in the public press. It is frightfully off-base. But then, anyone going to see a Roland Emmerich film for good scientific extrapolation is too stupid to be worth explaining the real world to. It’s just not that kind of film, and Emmerich does not pretend that it is."

It's very good; read the whole thing.

Doug M.

#2868: bj delacruz — 05/30 at 01:20 PM
Maybe they'll hire YOU to be their science vetter?!?

Is there a reason why most of the scientifically trained members of Congress are Republican?

#2871: Gary Farber — 05/30 at 01:43 PM
"...awful by any traditional normative measure."

This appears to be a misunderstanding of what "normative" means. Unless the writer is Stanley Kubrick or a figure of equal standing.

Retrospectively, it occurs to me that outside the context of my own blog (in which you were mentioned in the most recent entry), I should clarify that "worked on Communion means "was the assistant editor on the publishing of the paperback."

#2876: PZ Myers — 05/30 at 03:24 PM
I noticed that you found I wasn't in Denver. Sorry about that; maybe next time, if we can stretch the meaning of "Rocky Mountains" to include "flat prairies of Minnesota". I am at least very close to the continental divide (the one that runs E-W, rather than N-S).

I'm relieved to learn you weren't actually involved in writing any of that unbelievable dreck.

PZ Myers
Division of Science and Math
University of Minnesota, Morris

#2888: Gary Farber — 05/31 at 12:37 PM
"I'm relieved to learn you weren't actually involved in writing any of that unbelievable dreck."

No, just forced to keep my mouth shut about what I actually thought of it, so long as I worked at Avon. It was a relief that when I left, I could finally observe that Whitley is a loon. (All the way to the bank, of course.)

Page 1 of 1 pages

Next entry: Bilateral symmetry in a sea anemone

Previous entry: A fine way to start the morning

<< Back to main

Pharyngula has moved to http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

Friday, May 28, 2004

Stupid liberals

Info