The World Tour Part 5 - TAM Day 2

Okay, on to the second day of TAM, I’ll try to keep it a bit briefer so that I can continue on blogging about my life in general. I think TAM is important though, if only so that someone reading this might think “Hey, that might be worth checking out next year”.

Peter Sagal, NPR Radio host of Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, a radio game show involving recent news stories and other trivia.

One of the few speakers whose talk was really related to the main theme of TAM - “Skepticism and the Media”. But can I remember exactly what it was he discussed? No. Sad, isn’t it? I recall that it was about media and the public but none of the specifics. I do remember being impressed by his presentation skills, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that he is a good speaker given that he hosts a radio show. Sorry for my bad memory Peter!

Scott Dikkers, Editor for The Onion.

If you’ve never heard of the Onion then add the link to your favourites, it’s a favourite of mine. If you’re a regular reader of it then his talk was nothing exciting, essentially showing a number of slides with some of the Onion’s crazy stories, as well as discussing some of the feedback The Onion has received from people/media who actually believed a story the Onion made up. Underlying message: people need to really think critically about the media otherwise they’ll read papers like the Onion and figure it’s real news. The fact that there are people out there who have believed that an Onion story is real news does not surprise me but saddens me nonetheless. Hilarious site, check it out at least once a week.

Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy.com

Phil’s website is already on my link list and he is a TAM regular. Phil spends a lot of time debunking woo astronomy that always circulates around, usually involving UFO’s, astrologers, the Moon Landing Hoax believers, or doomsayers that are big into making predictions about the end of the Earth (you know the types: “Comet XYZ will collide with the Earth on April 12, 2008. We’re all doooooooooomed! But buy my books and DVDs before we go!”)

Phil discussed the many Moon Hoax myth perpetrated by Moon Hoax conspiracy theorists and why they are wrong. I stepped out for a bathroom break and snack so missed much of it but I knew the stuff already from hanging out at badastronomy.com forums and clavius.org

John Rennie, editor of Scientific American magazine

An interesting talk about some of the debunking work that SciAm has done over the years (including when it didn’t go so well, such as an investigation into a medium back in the 1920s who seduced one, maybe two, of the investigators). Also reviewed some of the scathing mail it receives from godly-inspired critics of mainstream science theories like evolution. Did you know the Unibomber loved reading SciAm and sent letters to them? They didn’t either until the FBI came knocking. Great talk.

Christopher Hitchens, journalist

Love him or hate him he’s an interesting speaker. He is another TAM regular and I looked forward to his talk. His talk at TAM3 ranged from an extensive dissing of Mother Teresa to his support of the Iraq War. Controversial, but unlike many he appears to research and know his stuff before spouting off about it. I have one of his books, Love, Poverty & War, a collection of articles he has written over the years, and it is an enjoyable read that offers insight into the man.

His talk was primarily about Islam and how fundamentalists are intimidating the media in the West, the prime example of course being the Muslim cartoon controversy. He pointed out that certain mullahs deliberately orchestrated the mass outrage at the printing of the cartoons – and while expressing outrage and threats of retaliation against papers that publish them were handing copies of the cartoons out themselves to Muslims so that they could be outraged as well. Meanwhile most of the media towed the line in fear of retaliation. Christopher showed great concern over the Western media allowing themselves to be intimidated by religious fundamentalists and what that might bring in the future. I’m concerned as well.

I don’t think I agree with many of Christopher’s views but I would need to do a lot of research to determine why, because the man knows his stuff. And he’s a good writer to boot. Skim a couple of his books next time you’re in a bookstore to see what you think.

Adam Savage – Mythbusters

The Mythbusters have a huge fanbase at TAM, and they themselves are big fans of critical thinking. Their show is one of the few that teaches people the value of thinking critically, not believing everything you hear, and the value of testing/research to determine whether something is a hoax or not. Adam and Tory (not Jamie, who couldn’t make it this year) did a presentation on the show and had a Q&A with the audience. You know the show so nuff said.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone – South Park

If you stop to think about it, South Park is a show that is part comedy, part gross-out, and part critical thinking. Stan & Kyle are always the voice of reason to Cartman and the adults in South Park who are generally pretty gullible and ready to buy into everything. And South Park’s parodies of popular icons and religions is hilarious! So coming to give a talk at a TAM about media and skepticism was right up their alley.

Penn (of Penn and Teller) interviewed them on stage for a while about the creation of South Park and the resistance they have received from some of their shows and movies. A Q&A with the audience followed, which I recall included a mix of on-topic questions with some inane fan-boy stuff, but not as bad as the Penn & Teller Q&A from the previous day. In essence, there are people who dislike South Park because it attacks them or their treasured beliefs, but the studio is pretty good about letting Trey and Matt have free reign over what they produce. It was surprising to find out that many of their support staff were believers in a lot of woo nonsense that Trey and Matt ended up attacking, like John Edwards talking to the dead - T&M were surprised when some of their staff said, “his powers are for real – aren’t they?” (for the record – NO!)

Finally came the Panel discussion with most of the speakers from today. Highlight was Scott Dikkers placing some of the blame for world woes on American foreign policy (this and the rest of the paragraph is a BIG general summary by me recalling what happened over a month ago, do not take it as verbatim), then Hitchens verbally went after him on it, basically saying that was liberal crap. Things got a little heated but John Rennie challenged Hitchens in a polite manner, implying that Hitchens comments on Islam appear to paint all Muslim nations with the same brush without taking into account the various differences between the individual countries. Moderators cooled things down and moved on. In discussions I had afterward some conference attendees thought Hitchens was too harsh in his rebuttal to Dikkers, while others supported Hitchens’ right to “call it like you see it” on general unsupported comments. Hitchens is not one to blunt his commentary anyway.

Whew, Day 2 done, but there is one day to go, the paper presentations for Day 3, summary coming up in the next entry but don’t worry - I’ll keep it short. There is definitely one website you gotta check out from Day 3!