Penn & Teller's New Season of Bulls**t

Every time a season of any show ends, I have my concerns about the upcoming season. There have been shows were a whole season was bad news. Other seasons may have one or two weak shows but the rest are great and I love them. Most of the time, it is an interesting mix of strong and weak episodes and I hope that they don't begin a severe downhill slide.

The first episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit was about orgasms. I'm not sure how you can debunk orgasms... they are (for most of us) a normal physiological reaction to sexual stimulus. But for whatever reason they decided that this would be the opening episode for this season (I think this is Season 6, but it may be 7). Luis, David and Donna thought it was weak, too - no their best effort.

However, episode number 2 was on Friday night and was Astrology. I have some friends who are really into astrology and I am all about astronomy. I love astronomy and can spout all kinds of facts about the planets and the Sun and Moon, but I can't suspend the scientist enough to buy into the astrology thing. So I appreciated this episode; I think this is not at all a science. I did try reading about astrology, but it is asking for a suspension of science that I can't do. It's a little too hocus-pocus for me.

They showed a couple of different astrologers who came to do readings by building charts based on date and time of birth. That's it. Both astrologers did a lot of guessing and missed a lot more than they accurately depicted. One guy told the woman that she was neat and lived in an organised, neat house. The reading was done in a neat, organised house, but it wasn't her house. The same woman wanted to know if she should go into a specific profession, if she and her husband should open a small business or if it is time to start having a family.

My first thought was the only person who can answer this for me... is me! Not an astrologer, a tarot reader or tea leaf reader. If I don't know what I want to do, then I need to look at different things to figure out the best answer for me.

The first guy told her that would be good at about 25 different professions. Okay, stop. Now you're just guessing. Can you say "total charlatan"? I can. I did. To Luis and now on my blog. This guy was just awful. Never guess - if you can't ask the right leading questions to get the best possible answer, then say you don't know and move on.

The second guy was much more specific: she should be a teacher. Absolutely, positively, she has something in her that needs to impart knowledge. She should teach children. Well, I did like that he zeroed in on one thing and answered with total conviction that she should teach. When she was asked what she thought of this, she said she'd rather be dead than spend six hours a day with children. I cheered! I couldn't help it. I'm completely with her. Someone told me I should teach children and I laughed at them.

Two strikes...

At the end of the show, one woman asked Astrologer No. 2 if things would be better with her daughter, who has a serious health condition. (I could feel myself cringing...) At first he gave that typical waffly-wussy answer: you should put her in a soothing place, like the ocean or woods or whatever, and while it was not an answer, it was certainly good advice. Had he stopped there, I'd have had more respect for him. But you know he didn't. He said there was no way to really know without running the daughter's specific chart, but he knows - knows! - the worst is over and she'll be fine.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The daughter has Lupus. This disease can kill people. It is a scourge. And this guy is as far from a doctor as anyone can be. He makes a living going to parties to do group readings - that is not a profession that ties into medical science. If her daughter takes a turn for the worse, she'll be unprepared thinking that some guy read in the stars (??!?) that the worst of the disease has passed!

I was livid. We as EMTs are not ever supposed to tell anyone that they will be fine. I can say that we and the hospital will do everything for them; or it may be serious or not, but this is the right thing to do; or it seems like you may be fine but it is best to let the hospital check you out. You never say, "Oh, yes, you'll be just fine!" How do I know that? I don't - none of us do without something slightly - just a little - more substantial than my gut feeling.

Good thing they did not show more. That was enough for me.