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Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:43 pm
by rotten
You are probably familiar with the magicians Penn (the big loud one) and Teller (the little quiet one) and maybe familiar with there showtime tv show entitled "bullshit"
The show is all about busting psychics, astrologers, global warming, all kinds of fringe pseudo science and just whatever they think is, well BS. If you aren't watching it already, you should be.

One of the latest episodes was on video game violence. There stance is that there is no proven link between video game violence and violent behavior. I kind of wondered how they would pull this one off, but like always they did a real nice job.

Close to the end Penn does a little speech about pretending that there is no such thing as football. The schools have video game competitions for a hundred years, then football is invented, people get hurt and even killed playing this game, all in the name of school spirit. He elaborates a bit more. It nearly brought me to tears hearing someone else say the things i've felt for so long.

I've always been a big Penn Jillete fan, but this really solidified things.

Here's a youtube clip of the show, the part i spoke of above is at about 5min 50 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o2ygCRpxKw

Enjoy

Re: Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:07 pm
by Ray
thanks! 665 kids killed by sports since 1931?! Holy cow! And people are worried about VIDEO GAMES?!

Re: Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:07 pm
by rotten
Ray wrote:thanks! 665 kids killed by sports since 1931?! Holy cow! And people are worried about VIDEO GAMES?!
Oh no! 665 deaths just from football! He didn't tell us the total from other sports too. I'm sure football is probably the highest, but i'm sure other sports are significant too.

Re: Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:46 am
by Earl
Wow! Not to mention those who were or have been maimed.

Re: Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:52 am
by Ray
rotten wrote:
Ray wrote:thanks! 665 kids killed by sports since 1931?! Holy cow! And people are worried about VIDEO GAMES?!
Oh no! 665 deaths just from football! He didn't tell us the total from other sports too. I'm sure football is probably the highest, but i'm sure other sports are significant too.
damn --that's just from FOOTBALL?! Yeah, there must be a significant number from other sports too. Yep, common sense indicates sports need immediate attention --long before explicit lyrics, video games, or rap music!

Re: Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:48 pm
by resolvent
Big problem I have with P&T: I cannot tell when they are being sarcastic and when they are being sincere. I can never tell when they are going to take the conventional common public-consensus side of society or when they are going to take the underdog side.

Re: Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:17 pm
by Ray
I don't see them on TV very often but I know what you mean. They're kind of odd.

Re: Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:52 pm
by rotten
They are comedians, so yes they joke around, but when it comes to political views they don't take peoples views on anything, it's not about people it's about ideals. They are hardcore libertarians so if you know much about that then it is quite easy to see when they are being truthful, and what their perspective is.

Re: Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 10:14 pm
by Polite24
Don't watch these guys, and have nothing to say about this topic, but from their commercials they seem like the type of guys that think they have an inside track on everything that's going on, but really don't. I don't know, I may be wrong.

Bill Maher is a guy I like though.

Re: Penn and Teller BS anti sports speech

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:44 pm
by rotten
You are right about being wrong. They actually research stuff, and make very good arguments. They even admit that they are telling you their side, unlike your beloved tv news (which is mostly sports anyway).

but thanks any way for butting in to tell us that you
have nothing to say about this topic
I also like how you jump in here to tell us someone you do like. How is that related to Penn and teller? Thanks for the o/t