Tim Minchin - The Other End

So a couple of posts ago I threw up a terribly offensive video of a Tim Minchin song about the pope. I've looked into him a bit more and he's a little bit brilliant.

I wanted to put up what I think is his best skeptical piece. It's a poem and it's sort of on the opposite end of the pope song. Have a listen.



Why do I think this is brilliant? Well it does a couple of things really well. It draws you into the story before you even know that you might be offended. As general Akbar might say, it's a trap. Next it's clear that Tim is the asshole in this story. He's explaining his internal struggle to be polite before the dam bursts. Finally, the arguments he puts forward are both funny and cogent. I think that those two things together will make people happy enough with them to consider them jovially.

What does it mean to consider something jovially? Well I just made it up. We know what it is to consider something seriously. It involves a furrowed brow, pacing and a lot of thought. In general most people try to avoid that sort of hard work and just go with their gut instead and justify it later.

Considering something jovially is what you do when someone throws something clever at you. It's a quick process where you try to come up with a clever retort to keep the witty repartee going. More often than not you'll think of the clever thing hours later but to me that means the happy thought has been rolling around in your head without making any enemies for a while. If I'm right, that means these sorts of thoughts have the capacity to make you question your beliefs and reorganize your thinking because they sneak in under the guise of being funny.

Yay for viral videos - NSFW

A friend posted this on Facebook. It is not at all safe for work, children, the elderly, or anyone really.



This is what I'd call the extreme end of a spectrum. I thought Greydon was heading that way but he retains dignity and restraint at least as far as name calling goes. So what is the purpose of a song like this one? I think it's pretty obvious: Cheap laughs.

It's a fart joke. It will seem distasteful and offensive to some; it will elicit furtive giggles from those on the fence; it will bring hearty guffahs to those in general agreement of both the message and the sensibilities which allow a song to be made primarily of curse words.

Now how is this toilet humor skeptical artwork? Well, it's a musically arranged poem about the apparent disconnect between the tenets of the catholic church and their reactions to reports of child abuse committed by come members of that institution. Hidden within all of the profanity is a desperate plea for people to think about this issue and question the moral authority the pope is supposed to wield.

I personally don't think it's a very effective message for one pretty simple reason: Anyone who stands on the side of the church on this issue was too offended to listen before the first verse started. Those who really needed to think stopped thinking the second Tim said "pope".

The only people that this will appeal to are already onside. He's preaching to the choir and making them all smug and assuring them that they're completely right in their mindset.

Still....

You laughed too didn't you?