SlowpokeBlog

If you like documentaries in a Michael Moore vein, you may want to check out Blue Vinyl, which I picked up off a library shelf on a whim. Filmmaker Judith Helfand explores the troubled history and devastating environmental effects of PVC, reminding us to think more about the origins of everyday products. Funniest scene: when Helfand attends a vinyl industry conference and gets hilariously BS'ed by a couple suits. There are many similiarities here to Bill Moyers' devastating PBS report, Trade Secrets, which I also recommend.

A clear lesson is to be taken from films like this: that scientific facts and industry spin do not comprise two equally-valid "viewpoints." This applies to a host of political issues, global warming among the foremost. We'd be much better off if people (especially the media) learned to distinguish between earnest thinkers motivated by a sense of the public good and hucksters selling a bill of goods.