I was mostly intending to stay quiet on the court challenge to NIWA’s temperature record on account of it being nonsense and well-covered elsewhere, but last night while watching Outrageous Fortune (NZ free-to-air = graphic rendition of a twincestuous threesome in an 8.30pm show)(scene played for pathos) I followed a link to Poneke’s blog comments, where Iwi/Kiwi advertising guy John Ansell was holding court.
He referred to the Inconvenient Truth court case in the UK: “the movie was banned from schools” he said. Another commenter challenged him: “Banned?” he was asked. “Yes, banned in its original form.” I couldn’t resist mocking this farcical display, to which he replied with further dancing around the subject and pretending “banned” was an appropriate word to use when of course nothing of the sort was ordered by the judge.
And it strikes me that this is exactly what the court challenge is designed to do – not merely to gain the oxygen of publicity, as I’ve read all over, but to provide another chunk of narrative that can be circulated through the denier infosphere, heavily manipulated into service of their pre-defined conclusions. It isn’t intended to convince anyone of anything – but a year or two down the track, *whatever* happens, this court case will be one of the talking points mentioned by the John Ansells of the world, one more factoid in the rolling maul of misinformation and disinformation thrown out by people desperate to believe in a comforting conspiratorial lie.
Coincidentally, Ansell has just now gone off the deep end on race. Charming.
(See also this headache-inducing Kiwiblog thread where friend-of-FTM Repton tries to take up a wager on the outcome of the court case. The other party has gone strangely silent as of this writing.)
Alas, you have revealed my secret shame: that I, too, read kiwiblog.
(also alas, I could have made some easy money there 🙂 )
hey now, I only read Kiwiblog when I see it mentioned on Public Address and succumb to temptation… Regular reading would I’m sure be bad for my mental wellbeing 😉
Alas, you have massively spoiled me for Outrageous Fortune. 😛
china: sorry 🙁 It was in lots of advertising so spoilerage didn’t cross my mind.
That was not supposed to be a smiley face. *sticks out tongue*
Yeah, that’s why I avoid the advertising and the next-week-ons. Oh well, never mind. *deep breath; move on*
(Btw, am I the only person who misses ascii emoticons?)
It was my fail for not thinking about it. I pledge to greater diligence from here on. *gives scouting salute*
These things happen from time to time, but thank you. Pledge appreciated. 🙂
It’s getting to the point where I feel it’s become unpatriotic to think “Outrageous Fortune isn’t that great, really.”
Scott:
Scott: I felt the same way about Flight of the Conchords. It was fun the first time, but not the subsequent hundred. And the last season of OF WASN”T that great if you ask me.
I saw an episode of Outrageous Fortune once. It seemed ok, for a tv show. I’m still not convinced that tv is any good in general, except as “comfort food”.
Speaking of which, I’m really loving True Blood at the moment.
The latest from the Kiwiblog trenches: it’s the absolutely shocking news that NIWA has responded by saying, in part, that their temperature series are not the “official NZ temperature record”.
If you want more crazy, google for “kiwigate”. I found NIWA’s actual response at climatescience.org.nz and have formed my own opinion..
I think we should abandon NIWA and get our westher reports from NWA.
Repton: *eyeroll* *pupil cycles all the way around to starting position*