"Who on earth decided this would be appropriate viewing on an airplane?"
Someone so infected with BDS that no lie, no matter how obviously false and beyone the pale, is too great not to pass on. I will never again fly on a Virgin plane or buy any product or service associated with Richard Branson.
Wasn't Branson also involved recently in the launch of the "flick off" silliness?
Posted at 2007-05-02 16:57:39 [PermaLink]My libertarian side suggests that anyone who doesn't want to watch this film (I haven't seen it, not likely to) can ignore it.
As to the broader cultural implications of this, if the US government hadn't done such a colossally bad job of communicating the facts around 9/11, and if they hadn't been shown to be bald-faced liars in the runup to invading Iraq, and if they weren't botching Iraq so badly, they might not have squandered their credibility so totally that silly conspiracy theories and theorists would be seen as cranks and crackpots.
Nonsense, Bobby. The accurate story of 9/11 is widely available. I'll repeat what I wrote in another post, the 'tough questions' are only tough to the willfully ignorant. Unfortunately, there are many of those; the kind of idiot who just prefers to believe that there are evil puppet-masters and secret cabals running the world. Look at the wild popularity of gibberish like The Da Vinci Code. There are hordes of these morons, and no facts will ever sway them.
And, by the way, Bobby, if you think the lack of credibility is an issue, may I point out that you're an enabler of the truthers on that issue when you insist in perpetuating falsehoods yourself, like when you say the US government lied in the runup to the Iraq war.
Bob,
Some of what you say may be adding to this phenomenon, at least in this case. However, there seems to be a larger cultural, let me just say it, post modern deconstruction going on.
JFK was one example. This is another.
Then there was the rumour that the Jews were warned before 911. That's not Bush's incompetence. Or that some Muslims believe that simultaneously OBL had nothing to do with 911 and yet struck a blow in their honour. That too is not Bush's doing.
I'm sure we could go on listing example after example of conspiracy theories and flat out lies flooding our world that have absolutely nothing to do with Bush.
So when's Branson gonna run Protocols of the Elders of Zion on his airplanes? After all, the public should make its own mind up...
Posted at 2007-05-02 18:27:22 [PermaLink]"deconstruction". The unintended accuracy of that term never fails to delight. 8b, three cheers.
Posted at 2007-05-02 19:16:37 [PermaLink]We have some tools for our own counter offensive: Popular Mechanics had a long article debunking the 9/11 conspiracy myths ([External Link]and we can also support the truth by buying and showing films like "United 93" and "World Trade Center" wherever and whenever we can.
Boycotting people who show conspiracy films is also a good idea (and boycotting Richard Bransen is also appropriate for his hypocritical stance on "Global Warming")
Conspiracy theorists are a lost cause, we need to ensure the rest of the people know the facts and are reminded constantly
This phenomenon seems to demonstrate hallmarks of a mental disease. Any event can function as a Rorschach inkblot test for a paranoid schizophrenic. 9/11 serves such a purpose for much of the Left and many Islamists. I recall an anecdote about a group of psychiatrists attempting to treat a woman who believed she was a ghost. One doctor thought to ask her whether ghosts bleed. "of course they don't," she replied. The doctor pricked her finger and she bled. "How about that. Ghosts do bleed.," she observed.
Posted at 2007-05-02 20:03:48 [PermaLink]Thucydides:
"boycotting Richard Bransen is also appropriate for his hypocritical stance on 'Global Warming'"
Oh, I don't see the hypocrisy. True, he's made so much money burning jet fuel, he can afford to offer a small fraction of the profits to capture some of the exhaust. Particularly since--as the minimum energy required to recapture a billion tons of CO2 per year for ten years costs more than he's offering--his prize is unlikely to be collected anytime soon.
What's hypocritical about that? (Or did you mean something else?)
"And, by the way, Bobby, if you think the lack of credibility is an issue, may I point out that you're an enabler of the truthers on that issue when you insist in perpetuating falsehoods yourself, like when you say the US government lied in the runup to the Iraq war.'
Wasting your time, Crispy.
One can dismantle and discredit the religion of the "Bush Lied" zombies with the facts, but nothing can be done to prevent the zombies from obliterating these force fed facts from their memory by the next day.
In answer to your question about who decides; I'd say the market decides.
Unscrupulous film-makers will do a "documentary" knowing that there are huge gaps in both the logic and the facts, will market it, and then make shitloads of cash.
These days it's a case of ANYTHING for a buck...even bad entertainment packaged as serious fact-finding documentary.
Greed at the service of utter stupidity.
The US administration didn't lie? Hm. What about ... [External Link]Where ARE those pesky WMDs?
Thanks for the new name, 'toastie'; I'll stick with Bob, and perhaps you can stick to hiding behind a pseudonym.
Damn! And I've just switched my cell phone service to Virgin.
Posted at 2007-05-03 08:45:58 [PermaLink]"The US administration didn't lie? Hm. What about ... [External Link]Where ARE those pesky WMDs?"
*Yawn* Another MoveOn.org smart ass weighing in on a subject he knows next to nothing about.
Why don't you ask these folks where those pesky WMDs are, Bob:
[External Link]
[External Link]
Get back to us when you figure out the definition of "lie," Bob.
I'll give you a hint; A lie is what comes out of your mouth when you accuse Bush of lying about Saddam's WMD capabilities.
Branson is using the climate change hysteria to make money. He is attempting to portray Virgin as the most carrying & sharing airline going in order to attract the "climate guilt" lot onto his airline. Cynical and mercenary but quite clever.
Posted at 2007-05-03 09:25:25 [PermaLink]