Duran Duran Fans Take Note: Warren Cuccurullo is a No-Planer!
Oh, joy. Another intellectual giant speaks out.
Look, I don't want to rip on musicians, it's just that I'm simply not impressed with the parade of "notables" who buy into trutherism. I see celebrities all the time discussing homeopathy, aromatherapy, Scientology, etc. etc., and at risk of stereotyping, there's just nothing about being a famous musician, star, celebrity, whatever that implies that the skill of critical thinking is part of their makeup. It may be, it may not, but it's
not automatic. On top of that, the only thing notable about a celebrity embracing a certain belief is the involvement of the celebrity, nothing more. It certainly doesn't
validate any aspect of that belief.
No, I'm not ripping on Mr. Herbert here. He's a decent guy, and you gotta love anyone who uses Cleveland Brown as his avatar (as a derailing aside:
Cleveland's getting his own show?? Awesome!). It's just that the memory of conspiracy peddlers traipsing through here telling us about Rosie O'Donnell, Charlie Sheen, Willie Nelson, and all them is so fresh that it's all blending together. And my reaction to this big whole thing still the same: So what (No, again, that's not directed to you, Mr. Herbert. It's rhetorically directed towards the celebrities themselves)? I don't see anyone consulting Madonna regarding the predator/scavanger T-Rex debate. Christina Aguilera isn't being asked for her opinion regarding punctuated equilibrium. And I could give a bleep if someone dragged an opinion out of Ryan Seacrest about quantum physics vs. relativity. So why should I give a damn that Sheen, Rosie, and Willie think the towers shouldn't have fallen? The topic
itself carries its own validity (or in the case of conspiratorial trutherism, non-validity), not the person presenting it.
Sheesh... I didn't expect this to end up being a rant, but that's what it's turned in to. Anyway, this isn't to say that a celebrity shoud never speak on a given topic. If Madonna suddenly produces a diploma on paleozoology, if Seacrest suddenly reveals that he's been a physics grad student during the day, or if Charlie Sheen shows us his engineering textbooks, well then at that point I may listen to what they have to say because at that point, you'd presume they've bothered to obtain the background properly informing them about a topic. Or, if the argument ends up being compelling regardless of their education, sure, I'll give it an ear anyway. You never know where real pearls of wisdom will show up. But whatever it is they say, that argument would
still have to be judged on the merits of the supporting evidence, not the mouth speaking or the hand writing it. That's the same criteria that would be applied to something from another scientist, engineer, architect, etc. Gvie me the argument, let me see if it works. Let me see how well you support it. If the argument works, then great. If not, I don't care about your box office ranking, or in this case your band's platinum albums. I only care whether I see "no plane" in your statement or not. And I will judge the merits of the argument based on
that, not what your celebrity status is.
