State of Altered Reality
When I raised a concern about the Crichton pseudo-docu-novel "State of Fear" last January, many cried "It's only a book. What are so worked up about?" to which I responded something like "Americans don't have the critical thinking skills to separate fiction from fact if it's glitzed up, hyped and between the covers of a book published by a successful novelist, it passes for REALITY and TRUTH. We assume if somebody is famous and talented in one arena, then them must be a reliable authority no matter what their topic." I suggested that the fiction writer-as-scientist made an unreliable authority on global warming. And Now, this:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 - His last book, "State of Fear," a novel that casts doubt on scientific theories of global warming, was published more than nine months ago, but the reviews were still pouring in on Wednesday, even as Michael Crichton folded his 6-foot-9-inch frame into a seat to testify before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Appearing before the Senate, even though the reviews have run thus:
"More silly than scary," the flier dropped off by the Natural Resources Defense Council said.
"Notable mainly for its nuttiness," an analysis from the Brookings Institution said.
"Does not reflect scientific fact," the Union of Concerned Scientists said.
And the Climatology Folks had some unfavorable opinions of Crichton's state of confusion as well.
But then, it's the Senate--the governmental counterpart of Reality TV. Let them have men about them who are entertaining. And tall.