| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Betsy McCaughey Pt. 1 | ||||
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TW: I thought this Stewart segment with infamous NY Republican Betsey McCaughey was extraordinary:
1) This was a very detailed conversation of the type one almost never sees on TV (I embedded part 1 of 3, go to the Daily Show site for the whole thing)
2) McCaughey knew details BUT so did Stewart and he did not back down
3) Therefore, McCaughey was not able to get away with insinuation
4) The entire end of life counseling turned into death panels is based upon convoluted interpretation which as evidenced by McCaughey requires an extraordinary amount of disparate pieces to be tied together to find the "Conspiracy to kill Grandma"
5) Do folks really believe this was the Dems/Obama's intention? That is irrelevant, what matters is opposition being able to obsfucate and plant the seeds of doubt. In this respect truth loses but the McCaughey's win and build their careers accordingly. Unless...the generally passive populace pays more attention...
From the Economist on conspiracies:
"...The conspiracy is everywhere. It is all-powerful, yet it cannot be seen. Evidence of its existence is seized eagerly. Lack of evidence is seized even more eagerly, to show just how powerful the conspiracy is—it can hide its tracks whenever it chooses. Can't find the death panels in the health-care bill? That's just what they want you to think...Everyone's heard of it, no one has really read it, it's far too complicated for the laity to understand anyway, and so trusted authorities will tell you what to think about it..."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/08/the_view_from_my_holiday.cfm
From another Economist blogger post:
"...Conspiracy theorists often follow a flawed chain of reasoning. First, they spot anomalies in the official version of events. (If an event is complicated and involves multiple witnesses, there will always be some.) Second, they conclude from these anomalies that the official account is a pack of lies. Third, they pick an alternative explanation that fits their prejudices. Fourth, they congratulate themselves for seeing through the smokescreen that those in power have created to fool them.
Scepticism is a virtue, but it does not mean automatically disbelieving anything the authorities say and then credulously swallowing the most exciting alternative explanantion."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/lexington/2009/08/conspiracy_theories.cfm
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