Conspiracy Theories

I’ve gone off John Oliver a bit of late. If he’s trying to be a comedian, then we’re all good. But if he wants to be taken seriously as a political commentator – something that he seems to want to achieve – then he needs to be a little more consistent in telling us what we should be thinking.

But that’s another story for another post.

Happily for the purposes of your blog reading experience today, this clip is all about the funnies:

The more you trawl the internet (and I actually finished reading the whole thing a few months back now, so I’m a bit of an expert), the more outlandish the conspiracy theories you find, and – perhaps more worryingly – the more people you find supporting them.

This the day after April Fools, the only day where people actually read the mainstream media with any degree of cynicism…

Honestly, wake up, sheeple!

Prison

John Oliver – what a genius.

I’m not posting much at the moment, but I am posting this:

If you can watch the whole thing, do. It’s damning stuff. Yes, it’s one side of the story, but it’s compelling and it’s (of course) brilliantly presented. If 18 minutes is a bit long for you, then at least do yourself the favour of scooting through to 14:10 for the excellent Sesame Street finale.

Don’t Visit Antarctica

I know, I know. You had other plans for this evening anyway. Me too: I’ve been told that there might be something history related on the History Channel. Granted, this was by the same person who suggested that there would be some music on MTV last week, but it’s got to be worth staying in, just to witness what would be an… er… historic event.

And if you were wondering how you’d even get there in the first place, you should remember that there is a scheduled flight service from Cape Town to Novolazarevskaya Station, so it’s not as hard as you might imagine.
But lousy TV and ease of access to available flights aside, you still shouldn’t go to Antarctica, because tourism is destroying the place. And that’s a bad thing.

Scientists say walking on moss beds will leave footprints that could last for centuries.

Fortunately, this important news is now being shared, thanks to a new commercial from John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight:

Not quite sure that green oval at the end works so well, given that it completely misses including the widely-suggested alternative destination, but at least the primary the message is quite clear.

On an altogether more serious, certainly more edgy and somewhat longer note, his hugely interesting piece on the US Wealth Gap is sublime.