FEBRUARY 2014 BONEHEAD ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH

There were three Bonehead Absurdity candidates for February:

From Clint Eastwood:  "I voted against that incompetent, lying, flip-flopping, insincere, double-talking, radical socialist, terrorist excusing, bleeding heart, narcissistic, scientific and economic moron currently in the White House!"

Rocker Ted Nugent: Nugent called the President a "communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured, subhuman mongrel."

Richard H. Black, Republican state senator from Northern Virginia, said: a statue of Lincoln had no business going up to Richmond because it would be "sort of like putting the Confederate flag at the Lincoln Memorial."

Because Nugent is a well-known fascist, and Black a certified idiot, Phronesis decided their utterances, while absurd, were too typical to warrant the bonehead label (even Texas governor, Rick Perry, said about Nugent's venom: "That's just Ted").   Eastwood's seemed more bonehead worthy, so we have selected Clint Eastwood as our February winner.  

NOTE:  Should you hear or come across any bonehead absurdities, please send them to me.  Phronesis is always on the lookout for worthy candidates.



HIGH NOON: A FILM COMMENTARY

 

 

By Ronald Fox

I recently re-watched the 1952 film, High Noon, starring Gary Cooper.  I'd seen it before, years ago, but hadn’t remembered much about it other that it was introduced by a catchy tune sung by Tex Ritter and that the good guy, Cooper, prevailed in the end. The film won four academy awards, including a best actor for Cooper and a best song for Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin', which was written by Ned Washington from Dimitri Tiomkin's haunting melody.  It might have won more had it not gotten swept up in the anti-Communist hysteria of the time.  Watching it this time, I was able to apply a broader perspective that comes with age as well as insights drawn from many years of studying and teaching post-World War II cultural history. There’s much more to this film than I originally realized.

CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL: FOLLOW THE MONEY

 

By Ronald Fox

In an earlier post, Chuck expressed shock that, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, there are some politicians, think tanks, “scientists,” and average Americans who still aren’t convinced that global warming is real and human caused (see: The Climate Change Saga: Oh My, What is Wrong with Us?) This skepticism challenges the consensus opinion of 97% of climate scientists as well as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which gives a 95% guarantee of human causation of global warming, a rare consensus among scientists on any natural phenomena.

 

Just 63% of Americans believe climate is changing, and of these only 47% of believe the change is human caused (this represents a decline of 7% since 2012). These numbers stand in contrast to IPCC findings as well as public opinion in European nations, where governments have made far more significant strides in phasing out fossil fuels. Why do so many Americans disregard climate change science? Why are so many indifferent to a global crisis of such monumental proportions?