John Stossel

I just got finished watching John Stossel's most recent episode, which aired tonight from the hours of 9 PM and 10 PM.  Stossel decided to go after people who are considered "heroes" by the media:  The Founders (Thaddeus Russell, author of A Renegade History of the United States argued against the prevailing wisdom,) Martin Luther King Jr. (Ibid,) the anti-war movement, the green movement (Kenneth Green of AEI argued against that,) green energy (the president of the Ayn Rand Institute took the micro-economic approach,) and Erin Brockovich (who was there in person.)

If I could provide a link to it, I would, but, in summary, certain things stood out.  Thaddeus Russell showed that prostitutes in the 19th Century were the real feminists, as they paved the way for certain activities that were sinful then but are considered normal today.  Things like a female walking without a male, females wearing red, females wearing comfortable clothing, females working (the lowest paid prostitute was still making five times what the average construction made back then.)  Prostitutes were among the richest people in the United States at the time; some of the first women to own property.

It would seem that the crazy Founders, like Benjamin Rush, are known per se but are not big figures.  There's a reason why most Americans can only quote a few Founders:  Those were the ones that ended up being involved with the American government on a federal level after the American Revolution.  Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, John Adams, and Sam Adams are known to most Americans by name because of their accomplishments after the Founders signed the Declaration of Independence.

I suggest readers pick up John Stossel's two books, Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity and Give Me a Break because the next bit discusses things he covered in those books.

Erin Brockovich is a saint of the left, mostly due to the dramatic portrayal of her by Julia Roberts, who won an Oscar for said performance.  But, Stossel argued, the science didn't back up her claims.  In other words, he was calling her a scum-sucking lawyer (which she was) profiting off of the mass panic of an easily manipulated town of people (she made $2 million through legal fees from this case.)  She admits immediately when confronted with the science that she is not a scientist.  She deflects when Stossel shows her that hexavaliant Chromium didn't have an observable impact on cancer in the region.  In other words, the scandal that made her a household name was complete and utter BS, as Penn & Teller might say (well, Penn would say that.)  It was manufactured by a law firm that was salivating at the potential lawyer fees from a class-action lawsuit.  And that's clearly what it was, once the media decided to ignore facts and go solely on emotion and phony "experts" like Brockovich.

Stossel, in his ending segment called "Stossel's Perspective," asked "Who are the real heroes then?"  He made it clear:  businessmen like David Packard who innovated and made our lives easier and better and scientists like Norman Borlaug whose innovations in wheat seed feed an extra billion people.  It's shocking to me that "Borlaug" is not even in Google Chrome's Dictionary and that I had to add it myself.

Penn & Teller may have rightfully proclaimed that Norman Borlaug is the greatest man who has ever lived because he is the only one who can claim to have directly saved the lives of a billion people.

And that's my blog.  Good night everyone.