Fairness doctrine in action

Tonight I gave a chance to a reprehensively bad episode of the new Fox breakout: Lie to Me.  Besides the criminal use of Tim Roth in this one-trick pony of a team of deus ex machina truth detectors, I saw the Fairness Doctrine in action without the need for government intervention.

I saw the team, over the course of an hour, demonstrate the effect of "microexpressions" (in the form of ham-fisted displays of obviousness) to solve their crimes CSI-style.  They even-handedly used images and video of Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Chief Justice John Roberts, juxtaposed over the hour with videos of President Obama and President Bill Clinton to illustrate examples of people lying.

This show decided to use government officials as example of liars, which is well within reason.  But it knew not to go the now standard Bush-bashing route (oddly, I didn't see any imagery of Bush himself) to sell its product.

It does a decent job of using the weaknesses of our government controlling a message or keeping a secret, but at least it doesn't paint the whole apparatus as an institutional lie factory.

Still… terrible show.

Just a weapons malfuction... how are you?

Holy Christ, this old guy isn't afraid of death.

Your delta-wing plane has no engines. Physics dictates that you and your passengers are doomed to a fiery death. How do you deal with it?

Apparently, when you're a millionty years old... calm and composed.

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Hats off, of course. Enough crazy has happened in the last couple of weeks to wipe clean the achievement of a perfect water landing (in layman's terms, a horrific firey drowning exercise). But the composure of not only the pilot jarting headlong into hydro-doom... but of the air traffic controller executing emergency procedures and activating emergency response in the unlikely event that some star child were to survive the splashdown. Wow... just, wow. How are you?



My favorite part is the guy on the edge of the wing falling into the water. When you're the considerate nice guy first out of the plane, you walk to the furthest edge of the wing. What's your reward? Wet coldness with your life-raft (read: AirBus 320) floating away. I feel for you, Properly-Walking-To-The-End-Of-The-Wing-Guy.

Awwwww

We give trophies to dipshit kids for losing every game in the season.

Then, this happens. Sometimes, the most inspiring things come from the least exceptional of us.



This gives me a happy.