This started as part of a post I was preparing for another thread, but I decided to let it have its own since there's probably more to chew on here than in that other.
According to various polls, pundits, and posters, Americans are almost pathologically prone to believe in various forms of idiocy, such as UFOs, astrology, angels and devils, ghosts, ESP, and creationism. As with fertilizer, a lot of the responsibility for the spread of BS can be laid on those who make some money by spreading it. Wanting to find some way to compare the commercial viability of spreading BS versus the commercial viability of resisting or opposing the spread of BS, it occurred to me that Amazon's publishing of detailed bestseller stats might be useful.
Needless to say, idiots don't read a lot of books, so that part of Amazon is of no real use. But they watch tapes and discs by the bushel, or so I assume. Conveniently, most forms of video are lumped together under "Movies and TV". Even though there's a separate category for Blu-Ray, they are still included in Movies and TV. There are no books here; not even books on tape. So within that category I searched for "creation" and "creationism" and determined that most tapes and DVDs will be classified as "Documentary" by Amazon. I can pull up the top 100 bestsellers in that category and analyze what I find. Maybe something interesting will appear.
Do consumers of arrant nonsense have computers? Do they use the internet? Do they have credit cards? Can they figure out how to order from Amazon? According to one post here, "40% of the Americans believe dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time." Meanwhile: "More than 80% of Americans now have a computer in their homes, and of those, almost 92% have internet access."* So there's got to be a good amount of overlap. For prudence, assume idiots are underrepresented in the Amazon data by half.
At the top of the charts** in Documentaries is "Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series" on Blu-ray, starring David Attenborough. There are a lot of nature/wildlife vids on the list, and some of them surely include a bit of education about evolution, but I'm going to ignore them (unless evolution is their main topic) for two reasons: 1) they are not anti-idiocy vids any more than a typical WWII documentary is a vid designed to counter Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories, and 2) I've seen a lot of nature vids that seem to go out of their way to NOT mention evolution.
So... where are the vids that spread BS and where are the anti-BS vids?
At #8 is "The Star of Bethlehem" which seemingly is a "scientific" effort to demonstrate some connection between the birth of Jesus and celestial events-slash-astrology. I'll call it BS, though of course I've not watched it. It's #196 in Movies & TV as a whole, whereas (for comparison) the Attenborough disc is #67.
At #33 (and #1412 overall) is "Religulous" which is described as follows: "Bill Maher incurs the wrath of multiple religious zealots of myriad faiths in Religulous, a snarky but unexpectedly powerful documentary. Maher bluntly disputes the value of religion..." Although Maher is a comedian, and not otherwise qualified, I mention this because he criticizes those who "shun scientific evidence" and the vid includes footage of his visit to a creationism theme park.
I note for reference only that at #39 is "Fireplace", which is a 30-minute (repeating) DVD of wood burning. So far there's been no creationism, ghost, ESP, angels, or UFO product, but people apparently are willing to believe that their video screen is a fireplace.
But immediately follopwing, at #40, is "Ghost Adventures". On the cover it says, "The BEST PROOF caught on tape..." so I'm going to consider it BS. It's #1552 overall.
At #45 (#1669 overall) is "Living Matrix: A Film on the New Science of Healing" which seems to be centered on the phenomenon of "miracle cures". Product description: "These experts reveal how energy and information fields - not genetics - drive human physiology and biochemistry, and illustrate the benefits of integrating conventional and alternative health care." Out of 19 customer reviews there's just one 1-star. It says, "This movie claims to show a link between 'quantum biology' and our health/well-being; it categorically fails to deliver. There are no links to any published scientific research about 'quantum biology' either on the DVD or the movie's website. There are some clinical studies in the movie, but none of them ever investigate the mechanism behind the healing. The movie is implying, 'We don't understand how this works, therefore ... quantum physics must be involved!' That's not science; it's speculation." I'll call it BS, but it's probably in a better class of BS than the ghost vid
Finally, at #55 (1969 overall), we find a "refutation of Darwinian theory" in the vid "The Privileged Planet". This is seemingly a production of The Discovery Institute, which is the #1 purveyor of creationist BS. I'm pleased that at their best they can barely break into the top 2,000 vids at Amazon.
At #72 (2514) is "The Lee Strobel Film Collection" which seems to be a DVD presentation of three books this guy has written: The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and The Case for a Creator. More than the Star of Bethlehem vid (which mixes a lot of astrology into the bible?), this one raises the question of whether religion in general should be considered BS. On the one hand, belief in the virgin birth is no more rational than belief in UFOs, but it hardly seems fair to lump your average church-goer in with someone who espouses pyramid power and wears healing crystals. To an atheist like me religion of course seems like total BS, but I'll call this vid just one-third BS - that last book is probably anti-science.
At #79 (2707) is "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" from actor/lawyer/author/economist/pundit/Nixon-speechwriter/comedian/game-show-host Ben Stein. The film examines how purveyors of creation science are treated unfairly by "the establishment". Stein is one sharp cookie and I bet we could have a lot of fun discussing this vid in depth, but for the sake of this post I'm going to call it BS and move on.
At #84 (3059) is "Ancient Aliens", which is essentially the video form of the book "Chariots of the Gods" by Erich von Daniken. Total BS. A classic.
At #88 we find "An Inconvenient Truth."
That's it for the top 100, which is all Amazon lists like this. If, in "Movies and TV" you do a search on "evolution" and then click on "Documentaries" so as to avoid works of fiction and things like "Gloria Estefan Live in Miami: The Evolution Tour", you get 168 hits.*** You can then sort on bestselling. This gives us another measure of comparative commercial viability. Of the relevant top ten listed exactly half are BS and half are real science.
Caveats: Americans aren't the only people who can buy from Amazon, and I'm not even sure if sales via Amazon-Italy and others are included in the stats. Also, the stats aren't a perfect reflection of actual sales, but rather something more complex. Also, one must wonder how many BS vids are bought and then played for a room full of people (congregants, students, etc.) versus how many anti-BS vids get such multi-play. Next: While most commercial bookstores cater to demand without prejudice, and thus sell both BS and science, there are two categories of bookstore that don't: church bookstores and university bookstores; do the former out-sell the latter as regards relevant materials? Next: libraries don't usually buy from Amazon, and a sale to a library is a minor bit of data compared to how often that book gets checked out and read.
Needless, I hope, to say, I don't pretend that this post answers any questions in any sort of definitive manner - or even close. It's meant to spur critical thinking. And finally: I'm aware that adopting the word "idiot" (in imitation of the author Ricky posted about) is needlessly provocative and gratuitously insulting. As I think about it, I should probably go back and edit the entire post, but I'm just too lazy. Instead I'll offer this compensation: I do not wish to be disrespectful of those who find comfort, meaning, purpose, or a spur to goodness in faith. Go for it - there's little enough of that stuff as it is, so take it where you can get it. But substituting the book of Genesis for modern biology is arrant nonsense and if you do so vocally and despite access to works of scholarship you deserve all the brickbats and ridicule that come your way.
* http://www.marketingcharts.com/interact ... owth-8280/
** http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/dv ... d_ts_d_nav
*** http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_ ... on&ie=UTF8
According to various polls, pundits, and posters, Americans are almost pathologically prone to believe in various forms of idiocy, such as UFOs, astrology, angels and devils, ghosts, ESP, and creationism. As with fertilizer, a lot of the responsibility for the spread of BS can be laid on those who make some money by spreading it. Wanting to find some way to compare the commercial viability of spreading BS versus the commercial viability of resisting or opposing the spread of BS, it occurred to me that Amazon's publishing of detailed bestseller stats might be useful.
Needless to say, idiots don't read a lot of books, so that part of Amazon is of no real use. But they watch tapes and discs by the bushel, or so I assume. Conveniently, most forms of video are lumped together under "Movies and TV". Even though there's a separate category for Blu-Ray, they are still included in Movies and TV. There are no books here; not even books on tape. So within that category I searched for "creation" and "creationism" and determined that most tapes and DVDs will be classified as "Documentary" by Amazon. I can pull up the top 100 bestsellers in that category and analyze what I find. Maybe something interesting will appear.
Do consumers of arrant nonsense have computers? Do they use the internet? Do they have credit cards? Can they figure out how to order from Amazon? According to one post here, "40% of the Americans believe dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time." Meanwhile: "More than 80% of Americans now have a computer in their homes, and of those, almost 92% have internet access."* So there's got to be a good amount of overlap. For prudence, assume idiots are underrepresented in the Amazon data by half.
At the top of the charts** in Documentaries is "Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series" on Blu-ray, starring David Attenborough. There are a lot of nature/wildlife vids on the list, and some of them surely include a bit of education about evolution, but I'm going to ignore them (unless evolution is their main topic) for two reasons: 1) they are not anti-idiocy vids any more than a typical WWII documentary is a vid designed to counter Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories, and 2) I've seen a lot of nature vids that seem to go out of their way to NOT mention evolution.
So... where are the vids that spread BS and where are the anti-BS vids?
At #8 is "The Star of Bethlehem" which seemingly is a "scientific" effort to demonstrate some connection between the birth of Jesus and celestial events-slash-astrology. I'll call it BS, though of course I've not watched it. It's #196 in Movies & TV as a whole, whereas (for comparison) the Attenborough disc is #67.
At #33 (and #1412 overall) is "Religulous" which is described as follows: "Bill Maher incurs the wrath of multiple religious zealots of myriad faiths in Religulous, a snarky but unexpectedly powerful documentary. Maher bluntly disputes the value of religion..." Although Maher is a comedian, and not otherwise qualified, I mention this because he criticizes those who "shun scientific evidence" and the vid includes footage of his visit to a creationism theme park.
I note for reference only that at #39 is "Fireplace", which is a 30-minute (repeating) DVD of wood burning. So far there's been no creationism, ghost, ESP, angels, or UFO product, but people apparently are willing to believe that their video screen is a fireplace.
But immediately follopwing, at #40, is "Ghost Adventures". On the cover it says, "The BEST PROOF caught on tape..." so I'm going to consider it BS. It's #1552 overall.
At #45 (#1669 overall) is "Living Matrix: A Film on the New Science of Healing" which seems to be centered on the phenomenon of "miracle cures". Product description: "These experts reveal how energy and information fields - not genetics - drive human physiology and biochemistry, and illustrate the benefits of integrating conventional and alternative health care." Out of 19 customer reviews there's just one 1-star. It says, "This movie claims to show a link between 'quantum biology' and our health/well-being; it categorically fails to deliver. There are no links to any published scientific research about 'quantum biology' either on the DVD or the movie's website. There are some clinical studies in the movie, but none of them ever investigate the mechanism behind the healing. The movie is implying, 'We don't understand how this works, therefore ... quantum physics must be involved!' That's not science; it's speculation." I'll call it BS, but it's probably in a better class of BS than the ghost vid
Finally, at #55 (1969 overall), we find a "refutation of Darwinian theory" in the vid "The Privileged Planet". This is seemingly a production of The Discovery Institute, which is the #1 purveyor of creationist BS. I'm pleased that at their best they can barely break into the top 2,000 vids at Amazon.
At #72 (2514) is "The Lee Strobel Film Collection" which seems to be a DVD presentation of three books this guy has written: The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and The Case for a Creator. More than the Star of Bethlehem vid (which mixes a lot of astrology into the bible?), this one raises the question of whether religion in general should be considered BS. On the one hand, belief in the virgin birth is no more rational than belief in UFOs, but it hardly seems fair to lump your average church-goer in with someone who espouses pyramid power and wears healing crystals. To an atheist like me religion of course seems like total BS, but I'll call this vid just one-third BS - that last book is probably anti-science.
At #79 (2707) is "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" from actor/lawyer/author/economist/pundit/Nixon-speechwriter/comedian/game-show-host Ben Stein. The film examines how purveyors of creation science are treated unfairly by "the establishment". Stein is one sharp cookie and I bet we could have a lot of fun discussing this vid in depth, but for the sake of this post I'm going to call it BS and move on.
At #84 (3059) is "Ancient Aliens", which is essentially the video form of the book "Chariots of the Gods" by Erich von Daniken. Total BS. A classic.
At #88 we find "An Inconvenient Truth."
That's it for the top 100, which is all Amazon lists like this. If, in "Movies and TV" you do a search on "evolution" and then click on "Documentaries" so as to avoid works of fiction and things like "Gloria Estefan Live in Miami: The Evolution Tour", you get 168 hits.*** You can then sort on bestselling. This gives us another measure of comparative commercial viability. Of the relevant top ten listed exactly half are BS and half are real science.
Caveats: Americans aren't the only people who can buy from Amazon, and I'm not even sure if sales via Amazon-Italy and others are included in the stats. Also, the stats aren't a perfect reflection of actual sales, but rather something more complex. Also, one must wonder how many BS vids are bought and then played for a room full of people (congregants, students, etc.) versus how many anti-BS vids get such multi-play. Next: While most commercial bookstores cater to demand without prejudice, and thus sell both BS and science, there are two categories of bookstore that don't: church bookstores and university bookstores; do the former out-sell the latter as regards relevant materials? Next: libraries don't usually buy from Amazon, and a sale to a library is a minor bit of data compared to how often that book gets checked out and read.
Needless, I hope, to say, I don't pretend that this post answers any questions in any sort of definitive manner - or even close. It's meant to spur critical thinking. And finally: I'm aware that adopting the word "idiot" (in imitation of the author Ricky posted about) is needlessly provocative and gratuitously insulting. As I think about it, I should probably go back and edit the entire post, but I'm just too lazy. Instead I'll offer this compensation: I do not wish to be disrespectful of those who find comfort, meaning, purpose, or a spur to goodness in faith. Go for it - there's little enough of that stuff as it is, so take it where you can get it. But substituting the book of Genesis for modern biology is arrant nonsense and if you do so vocally and despite access to works of scholarship you deserve all the brickbats and ridicule that come your way.
* http://www.marketingcharts.com/interact ... owth-8280/
** http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/dv ... d_ts_d_nav
*** http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_ ... on&ie=UTF8