My good friend Cheryl introduced me to the Young Turks, a group who offers entertaining commentary on all kinds of political, cultural, and media silliness. Check out the video of a man who is absolutely convinced he can levitate and the interviewer who keeps her cool admirably while he spontaneously demonstrates. Enjoy their take on Glenn Beck and his "profound" principles. Feel uncomfortable during a discussion about the sick humor and sad facts of a PSA depicting a Chris Brown/Rihanna tussle.
The Young Turks gang doesn't get an unqualified two thumbs up, however: I was disappointed by an uncritical interview about the Whole Foods boycott, in which the boycott's originator described his outrage about the Whole Foods CEO's position, seemingly without being aware that he let his outrage guide his actions so that all of the "research" he did supported his reaction further. He also didn't seem aware, or refused to admit, that he -- the freakin' boycott creator -- couldn't list exactly which sources he'd gotten his data from, but he remembered it was in this or that publication by this or that expert. Hardly a shining example of proper research and deductive reasoning. His own "proof" to justify his outrage was his outrage itself, and the Young Turks interviewer let this slide. Bad reporting all around. Whole Foods is a (legal, profitable) corporation that both fulfills its financial duties to its shareholders and mostly succeeds in fulfilling its perceived duty to provide politically correct products and services to a politically correct market. The boycott is being fueled by poorly established self-righteous indignation that damns the entire corporation in retaliation for the (legal, fiscally acceptable within his corporate framework) opinion of the CEO. An educational campaign would be just as effective to counter the CEO's position without seeming so foot-stampingly childish. A more rational approach would be doing actual research, refuting the CEO's comments, providing alternatives, and pointing out how unwise it is to offend the tender sensibilities of Whole Foods' primary customer base.
Talking Points Memo aptly describes another problem with this particular boycott:
But it's also rather horrifying to see Progressives try to destroy someone economically for expressing their opinion on a matter that he has no control over. Someone even compared it to Rosa Parks. But what can Mackey do? He's not on Obama's team. He's not a Republican politician or someone with big connections. Pretty much the most he can do is say, "I apologize for expressing my opinion, I won't do it again" and it affects the progress of health reform not one iota.
It's all just a waste of some good, strong liberal outrage that's going nowhere fast instead of trying for more effective communication and acceptable healthcare options. Hmmm... Just like all the rest of the healthcare debate, isn't it... Okay, enough of the Whole Foods tangent and serious politics stuff. Now, back to your regularly scheduled discussion of entertainment.
So The Young Turks aren't always consistent about the focus of their commentary, but they're damn sure entertaining.
