While waiting for my latest YouTube contribution, a recording of Seneca’s Epistles, to finish encoding, I ventured upon Hulu to entertain myself. Destination Truth was on the front page, the episode entitled Lost City/Thunderbird. Great I thought, a show about truth, something I am very interested in, perhaps a gonzo style documentary about a remote city or a mythological creature. Much to my dismay, the show was the most terrifying variety of nonsense and skulduggery (to mime the venerable James Randi) I have seen in memory. The recipe is simple.
Take a bunch of spoiled, soft, white liberals and drop them into a foreign land, make sure they have no training in history, anthropology, geology or archaeology, wait for them to encounter the natural sounds and sights of nature, and then record their process of discovery as they panic and label all as supernatural by virtue of their endemic ignorance. Oh, and give them tons of expensive sound and video equipment so they can pretend to be experts on the “paranormal” (whatever that means) as they stare doe-eyed at photoshopped images of supposed ghost finding software and the ominous fruits of their expedition. Some scary/hilarious instances of incredulity:
A thermal camera reveals a warm section of underbrush and this indicates the presence of an ancient burial site where the spirits of the dead call for aid. Closer inspection reveals a tunnel into the earth, and putting the camera down into it, nothing is detected. Later analysis of the audio picks up a clicking noise. One of the crew members states that no sound should be coming from the tunnel so this is proof of the supernatural. So no animals can live in the cavern, the structure is perfectly solid and rocks cant roll around, and it was impossible for the camera to knock against the wall of the tunnel you lowered it into? If you take a brochure about refinancing your house, and if you look hard enough, and randomly amplify and rearrange the letters, you will find a doomsday prophecy. Did anyone stop to consider that the tunnel might be a naturally formed vent for hot gases to escape, hence the thermal signature?
The city slickers hear what is clearly a wild animal howling in the night, a fact that would be obvious to anyone who has ever been in the wilderness before, and conclude that it is a ghost crying to be noticed. If a singing loon is the cries of the long dead calling for remembrance, then the forests of upstate new york are filled with such spirits.
Barely audible sounds, supposedly amplified on said software detects a human voice saying “touch him” in response to the expedition leader’s request for contact with what he presumes are supernatural beings. It dawns upon no one that ancient Incan spirits might not know English.It dawns upon no one that the hardware they were using to detect the audio would pick up all the sounds of the wilderness and of the other members of their expedition nearby, forming apparently coherent sounds. And what does “touch him” even mean? Nothing, because nothing said it.
Occam is turning in his grave in contemplation of such drivel. That anyone could find this show compelling is a devastating thought to me.
4 replies on “Destination Truth: A Review/Rant”
fucking owned
Not saying you’re right, not saying you’re wrong, but before you make claims based on your own impressions (as you do in this Rant against the Destination Truth team), you might want to do a bit of research yourself.
You said: “Take a bunch of spoiled, soft, white liberals and drop them into a foreign land, make sure they have no training in history, anthropology, geology or archaeology, wait for them to encounter the natural sounds and sights of nature, and then record their process of discovery as they panic and label all as supernatural by virtue of their endemic ignorance. ”
Here’s where a little research on a few websites would have given you a hand, and made your opinion a bit more…credible. The host of the show, Josh Gates, has a degree in archaeology from Tufts University. He has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa and climbed Mt. Aconcagua in the Argentine Andes. For two years, he participated in the archaeological excavations of Caesarea Maritima in Israel. Mr. Gates is also a very experienced SCUBA diver.
No offense intended. As I said before, I’m not looking to rip on your opinions, and your assertions are not totally unwarranted. However, unlike many faux-reality show hosts, Mr. Gates actually has education and experience in related fields.
If that is true then two things are possible: he is using his educational background to bamboozle the viewer with a piece of sophistry for his own enrichment, or the state of education in this country is even more dire than I imagined as he lacks even the most primitive critical reasoning skills.
Research FTW you also forgot Joshua Gates has been in 94 countries as of now and is a member of the World Explorers Club which you have to have some MAJOR credentials to get into!You don’t pick them,they pick you.There are less than 90 members in that club…ever!
He also stated in a interview with a paranormal website that he doesn’t believe the creatures they investigate are real with the exception there could possibly be a undiscovered primate out there(Bigfoot).He just hosts the show because he loves to travel and visit these places.So when syfy offered to pay for it if he would host the show he said “Why not?”So say what you will about the show and the producers(even thought I think they do a fantastic job),but leave Gates out of this.