The Day After Tomorrow

[Kennedy 0]

OK, so the day after tomorrow a movie by that title comes out.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-05-24-michaels_x.htm

'Day After Tomorrow': A lot of hot air
By Patrick J. Michaels

As a scientist, I bristle when lies dressed up as "science" are used to influence political discourse. The latest example is the global-warming disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow.

This film is propaganda designed to shift the policy of this nation on climate change. At least that's what I take from producer Mark Gordon's comment that "part of the reason we made this movie" was to "raise consciousness about the environment."

Fox spokesman Jeffrey Godsick says, "The real power of the movie is to raise consciousness on the issue of (global warming)."

'Nuff said.

Oh, the plot. Global warming causes the Gulf Stream to shut down. This current normally brings tropical warmth northward and makes Europe much more comfortable than it should be at its northerly latitude. The heat stays stuck in the tropics, the polar regions get colder, and the atmosphere suddenly flips over in a "superstorm." The frigid stratosphere trades places with our habitable troposphere, and in a matter of days, an ice age ensues. Temperatures drop 100 degrees an hour in Canada. Hurricanes ravage Belfast. Folks in Japan are clobbered by bowling-ball-size hailstones. If we had only listened to concerned scientists and stopped global warming when we could.

Each one of these phenomena is physically impossible.



Patrick J. Michaels is senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute and author of the upcoming book, Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians and the Media.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[RoadRash 0]

I personally think that taking care of the environment is important, however, overdramatization is old news and a movie is a movie.

Movies intentionally stretch the truth or just don't bother with fact and go straight for fiction. This movie, from the article, is no exception.

As far as I am concerned, a movie is pure entertainment...if it raises issues that I am concerned with, fine, make comments on the issues, but to believe everything you see, including in a movie...whatever......


~R+R...my lousy $0.02...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fly the friendly skies...^_^...})ii({...^_~...

[Jib 0]

Hollywood trying to talk about something they know nothing about. The scary thing is the number of people that will think it could happen.

I think McCain's SNL skit was the best. He was singing Streisand songs (intentionally worse than expected) and suggested that he had no more business singing than Babs had in politics.

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the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[quade 4]

Attention everyone!

It's a freekin' movie.

I doubt many rational people will be swayed in their views of the possiblity of this happening in their life as they were by other science fiction disaster films such as "Godzilla", Armageddon" or "Plan Nine from Outer Space".

Anyone thinking this movie is propaganda is not thinking rationally. It's a Memorial Day, beginning of summer, pop-corn flick. Nothing more.

If Mark Gordon actually made the comment, it was -only- for the purpose of hyping the flick. Get real.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Kennedy 0]

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Attention everyone!

It's a freekin' movie.

I doubt many rational people will be swayed

I would have thought this as well. Then I saw people's reaction to Bowling For Columbine....

(please, let's keep that movie's merits, or lack thereof, in a Moore thread)

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

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Attention everyone!

It's a freekin' movie.

I doubt many rational people will be swayed in their views of the possiblity of this happening in their life as they were by other science fiction disaster films such as "Godzilla", Armageddon" or "Plan Nine from Outer Space".

Anyone thinking this movie is propaganda is not thinking rationally. It's a Memorial Day, beginning of summer, pop-corn flick. Nothing more.

If Mark Gordon actually made the comment, it was -only- for the purpose of hyping the flick. Get real.

So you don't think the potential exists for large numbers of people to walk out of the theaters thinking/saying, "Gee, we'd better lean on our legislators to do something about global warming before it wrecks us in a way similar to (but perhaps on a lesser scale than) the way it did in the movie!"

I think that a LOT of people are unduly influenced by movies that depict falsehood as fact. One huge example is the number of people I know who think that it's a bad idea to arm commercial pilots because an errant shot fired inside an airliner will cause the airframe to just disintegrate in flight. This is factually BUNK, and aerospace engineers have been consulted by AOPA, ALPA, etc. to testify about it. But still, movies made it a popular myth. And so people may oppose the armed pilots program for reasons that are not sound.

Same could happen here. I'm not saying I believe or don't believe in global warming (apart from my belief that the earth goes through macroscopic changes and patterns that are far longer than we've been around as homo sapiens). I just think that people will be influenced by this movie.

The issues notwithstanding, I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, personally, but I plan to screen out "conclusions" to make based on what is obv iously not presented as empirical fact.

I have been grooving on the genre of "something disastrous happens and only a few of us are left."

-

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[Jib 0]

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I doubt many rational people will be swayed in their views of the possiblity of this happening in their life as they were by other science fiction disaster films such as "Godzilla", Armageddon" or "Plan Nine from Outer Space".

Have you been to the checkout line in a supermarket or watched daytime tv lately?

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the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[quade 4]

I -did- say rational.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

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I -did- say rational.

Okay, so how does the fact that many rational people won't be swayed by the movie help us given that we know most of the population don't fall into that category?

-

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[Gawain 0]

That and I read a review that said the movie was no "Independence Day" (in terms of quality) either... Guess I'll wait for video.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[billvon 3,116]

>As a scientist, I bristle when lies dressed up as "science" are used
>to influence political discourse.

He must have really hated Star Wars!

>Each one of these phenomena is physically impossible.

And we all know what lengths most science fiction movies go to make sure everything is scientifically correct.

>Patrick J. Michaels is senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute . . .

There's a guy with no political agenda! Now if we could just get a scientist from MoveOn.org and one from FOX News we'd have a truly unbiased panel.

[quade 4]

Well, ya just can't help what people are going to believe in. Ya can't!

Fer instance . . . http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/15/ufo.poll/

Seriously? Really?

I find it seriously disturbing that only 91% of the folks polled said they had NOT been contacted by aliens.

I -love- freaks. I only wish I had been around in the 1950s at Giant Rock. I would have truely loved to have talked to some of those people.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[quade 4]

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He must have really hated Star Wars!

Well, now . . . hold on there a minute bill, President Reagan obviously liked it.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[quade 4]

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Same could happen here. I'm not saying I believe or don't believe in global warming (apart from my belief that the earth goes through macroscopic changes and patterns that are far longer than we've been around as homo sapiens). I just think that people will be influenced by this movie.

For a minute, let's leave biblical accounts out of things.

Homo Sapiens are about 150,000 years old. At least that's the approximate age of Mitochondrial Eve the "mother" of all of our mitochondrial DNA. Since then there have been several "ice ages" the latest of which was about 8,200 years ago.

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The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Tonto 1]

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Red-blooded, Meat eating, God fearing, Capitalist, Gun owning, Heterosexual, Conservative, American, and Proud.
Any questions?

I've got a question.

Could you be a little more specific on the "American?" Is that North American, or South American?

Does it mean you're a citizen of the United States of America, and so exclude Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Trinidad, Peurto Rico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, The Bahama's, Haiti, the protectorates of the Turks and Caicos and Bermuda, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela and the dependancies of the Falkland Inlands and French Guiana, or does it mean you're a citizen of the United States of America, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Trinidad, Peurto Rico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, The Bahama's, Haiti, the protectorates of the Turks and Caicos and Bermuda, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela and the dependancies of the Falkland Inlands and French Guiana?

Any answers?


t

It's the year of the Pig.

[TomAiello 26]

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Could you be a little more specific on the "American?" Is that North American, or South American?

I've been surprised by the extent to which "American" is taken as synonymous with "citizen of the United States of America", both here and abroad. I've noticed this phenomenon all over the world, including in Mexico (where a passport official once looked at my passport and said "oh, you're an American", which, at the time, I found passing strange, as I was thinking, "well, you're an American, too, aren't you?").

I guess my point is that Americans are not the only people who use this particular misnomer--it's applied to us by folks from lots of other places, too.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Tonto 1]

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I guess my point is that Americans are not the only people who use this particular misnomer--it's applied to us by folks from lots of other places, too.

I know what you mean. My comment was inspired by a moment of introspection after refering to myself as "an African" in another thread. Of course, our situation is slightly simpler in that it's a single continent, but perhaps more complex in that I'm the wrong colour for some people's views of what Africans should look like.

I know that as an 8th generation South African (to use my nationality) if I were to "return" to England, to my roots, and ask for a work permit or citizenship on the grounds of my heritage - they'd laugh all through my trip back to the departure lounge in Heathrow! There's no doubt in their mind I'm African. But when I'm here, it seems sometimes that I'm simply not African enough, dispite the fact that I've spent more time in South Africa than our current President.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[TomAiello 26]

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...the wrong colour for some people's views of what Africans should look like.

Imagine if you were a Berber. An ethnic group pretty much indigenous to Africa, yet often sporting fair skin and light coloring.

I've often wondered what would happen if a multi-generational South African such as yourself applied for Affirmative Action assistance in the US on the basis of being an "African-American."

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Skyrad 0]

Its not suposed to be a documentry, its a Hollywood film! If it gets people thinking about the real consequnces of polution and over use of fossile fuels then that has to be a good thing.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[PhillyKev 0]

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I -did- say rational.

Okay, so how does the fact that many rational people won't be swayed by the movie help us given that we know most of the population don't fall into that category?

-

How freakin' true. What was it, about 110million people voted in the last presidetial election. And 65 million voted on American Idol.

[PhillyKev 0]

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Could you be a little more specific on the "American?" Is that North American, or South American?

I've been surprised by the extent to which "American" is taken as synonymous with "citizen of the United States of America", both here and abroad. I've noticed this phenomenon all over the world, including in Mexico (where a passport official once looked at my passport and said "oh, you're an American", which, at the time, I found passing strange, as I was thinking, "well, you're an American, too, aren't you?").

I guess my point is that Americans are not the only people who use this particular misnomer--it's applied to us by folks from lots of other places, too.

I know a couple people from S. America that are mildly offended that we have the balls to take that title. But what the hell else are we going to say? United Statesen?

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"But what the hell else are we going to say? United Statesen?"
Difficult one Kev...
On the African-American theme you could call yourselves American-Americans.
Hows about Usasians?
Statelites?
My favourite...Uppity Colonials?

I don't think any of these work very well, the only thing for it is to annexe Canada, Greenland, the Caribbean, and Mexico, and the discussion disappears as you become North Americans.

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He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[RoadRash 0]

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Guess I'll wait for video.

...I plan on doing the same thing...


~R+R

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fly the friendly skies...^_^...})ii({...^_~...

[kallend 2,148]

Let's see, a self-proclaimed scientist ("As a scientist...") working for a highly partisan organization writes a book entitled "The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians and the Media"

Seems to me he impeached his own credibility right there.

Real scientists publish in peer reviewed journals.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kallend 2,148]

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So you don't think the potential exists for large numbers of people to walk out of the theaters thinking/saying, "Gee, we'd better lean on our legislators to do something about global warming before it wrecks us in a way similar to (but perhaps on a lesser scale than) the way it did in the movie!"

I guess the makers of "The Green Berets" hoped for a similar response about the Vietnam War.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.