In celebration of Al Gore's Oscar Win

TitusTodd · Senior Member

In celebration of Al Gore's Oscar Win

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

Well, I read somewhere late last week that the Academy was petitioned by some members to disallow the entry of Gore's movie because it was found it did not even meet the standards that the Academy has for nominees... Of course, we can see that it was not rejected because it had too much backing by "movers and shakers."

So, if it is of any value, we can take comfort in knowing that the flick was not up to par for the Academy's standards, but was nevertheless an Oscar winner... The truth comes out that an Oscar is meaningless, that it is a politiced (sic?) award. I mean, if Eddie Murphey can get upset and leave the ceremony because he didn't win in the category he was nominated for, well, harumph...

Roper · Senior Bucketkeeper

Yeah, the "human-caused global warming" theory is already being presented as scientific fact in my fourth-grade students' science books. Indoctrination of the youth--by next generation it will be accepted as incontrovertible Truth. When I taught it, I presented it as one of many theories about climate change, kinda like how there are many theories about dinosaur extinction. The other teachers on my team spewed forth the propaganda as if it were gospel, further perpetuating the inability of our students to think critically about important issues. I guess helping students become critical thinkers takes too much effort. It's much easier to just accept whatever's in the text and move quickly on to the next topic.

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

roper, don't you know that critical thinking is really just being critical of anything that is not PC?

Sheesh, get on the bandwagon!

arbilad · Head Chef

I have no respect for the Oscars anymore. BTW, this isn't the first time that the documentary award has been obviously political. Fahrenheit 911 was obviously not up to documentary standards (many, many factual errors) but I understand there was also a controversy about it not having been shown enough or in the right year or something like that to qualify for oscar consideration. But it was a political statement that Hollywood agrees with, so it got the Oscar.

TitusTodd · Senior Member

Yeah, the "human-caused global warming" theory is already being presented as scientific fact in my fourth-grade students' science books.
Boy, that's the truth. My son came home from fifth-grade spouting all the human-caused global warming tripe. I had to correct him but I still don't know if he believes me over his teacher. His teacher, by the way, is probably one of the best he has had but she seems to teach and believe things exactly as presented in the text book. Seems truth and theories are being confused. I've also had to talk to him about drilling in the ANWR. He thought it would ruin the whole refuge and kill animals. I showed him maps of the area effected and environmental impact information.

-- Edited by TitusTodd at 13:02, 2007-02-28

Roper · Senior Bucketkeeper

In reply to Cat:

Wow. And here I though critical thinking involved

analytic questions about

- goals and purposes
- prior questions
- information and data
- inferences and conclusions
- concepts and ideas
- assumptions
- implications and consequences
- viewpoints and perspectives

and evaluative questions about

- clarity
- precision
- accuracy
- relevance
- depth
- breadth
- logic
- fairness

and ethical questions about

- law
- social conventions
- theological beliefs
- bias and propaganda

and self-knowledge questions about our own

- intellectual humility
- intellectual courage
- intellectual empathy
- intellectual integrity
- intellectual perserverance
- intellectual autonomy
- confidence in reason
- egocentrism
- sociocentrism

It seems I've been wasting waaaaay too many processor cycles.

-- Edited by Roper at 13:05, 2007-02-28

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

I only believe what celebrities and those in power tell me. It's so much easier to leave the thinking to them because I really am not smart enough to figure it all out. Just pass me some more soilent green and leave me alone so I can watch more Survivor on the TV.

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

salesortonscom wrote:

Just pass me some more soilent green

It's made of critical thinkers!

arbilad · Head Chef

I'm sorry, Jason, I just can't accept your worldview until I hear it repeated by a celebrity. After all, they must be smarter because they're richer than we are.

Euphrasie · Senior Bucketkeeper

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

in response to roper's critical thinking definition...

{Patrick Star voice} That's just fancy talk! If you hold up your pinky, you'll be fancy too! {/Patrick Star voice}

Isn't it ironic how a definition of critical thinking requires further definition of every bullet point in the definition? LOL... Only in higher academia can so much ambiguity be said without actually saying much at all, but because it sounds intelligent it must be right!

Okay, maybe not only in higher academia... business is known for it as well... and government... and sports and movie / tv / stage celebrities... and theologians... and Al Gore... and ...

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

Of course if you are white and/or Christain your opinions and thoughts are not valid. If you are a white male Christain you should be taxed at 90% to make up for your evil, uneducated, unenlightened, arogance. You are a bully, polluter, homophobe, and racist just because you exist. All wars are your fault and the poor are also your fault. You want children to starve and die. It is your fault that Aids is killing people and that Condors like to eat lead. So says Hollywood, so say we all!

arbilad · Head Chef

Here's another example of Gore considering himself to be better than the peasants around him.

arbilad · Head Chef

When I have a moment I'll find the article, but I read something recently about Gore's claim that he offsets his high energy usage by paying "carbon offsets", that is, putting money towards research into cutting energy usage and finding alternative sources of energy. But it turns out that Gore's money is basically just an investment in a specific firm, and said investment gives him part ownership. This firm is poised to make buckets and buckets of money as people buy into this global warming garbage.
So, Gore is scaring people as much as he can about a coming environmental disaster, and investing in a firm which stands to profit from such hysteria. Interesting, is it not?

TitusTodd · Senior Member

Yes, I've been reading and hearing about that. He is basically selling himself carbon offsets. He is digging his hole even deeper. Maybe he won't get a Nobel prize now that his hypocrisy is apparent.

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

That won't stop the folks as Nobel.

--Ray

arbilad · Head Chef

If Al Gore had said that he invented cold fusion, the people at Nobel would consider giving him the prize for physics, whether or not there was any proof.

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

Follow the money my dad always said. But seriously, even though Algore is being underhanded and such, the media will pay it little attention because it doesn't fit the agenda.

Jason