Rex Murphy is Truthiness in Action!

I realised after posting that some backstory may help in understanding the following attempt at humour. Rex Murphy is a talking head on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has a segment entitled “Point of View” weekly during The National Newshour. Murphy frequently denies the reality of global warming on-air.

Several of us wrote to the CBC to complain that Rex is talking dangerous nonsense; climate change is real and dangerous and to say otherwise is both untrue and exposes us to harm. Ask any climate scientist and you will get this answer. I have asked a few on our radio show. Rex mustn’t like this answer, because he accuses the climate scientists of delusion or collusion, and instead relies upon a former mining stock promoter and an economist for all he needs to know about climate change.

The Executive Producer of The National wrote back to emphasise CBC’s commitment to “fairness and balance” and that they were “not obligated to  determine what is ‘truth’”. Note that he put “truth” in quotation marks because he thinks all truth is subjective. Or at least when the scientists are telling you something you don’t want to hear.

Hope that helps getting the humour. If not, I accept the blame for trying and failing to amuse. It would be great if Colbert had a “Truthiness in Action” Award, though…

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Stephen Colbert should award Rex Murphy his “Truthiness in Action” prize for best exemplifying the Modern Conservative Morality. Like any modern traditionalist conservative, Rex Murphy knows that facts are like statistics: just another way of lying.

There are no facts or truth; there is only truthiness. How do you know truthiness? You listen to people who call themselves experts and then your favourite conservative commentator tells you what fits best with free market capitalism. Truthiness is served!

Rex Murphy knows this. He knows there is no need to listen to people who have spent years studying and working in a particular field of expertise when you have other people, paid by honourable capitalist corporations, who know what best fits modern traditionalist conservative “reality.”

Old-fashioned ‘conservatives’ thought that facts and truth existed. Modern conservatives like Rex know better: there is only truthiness. Does smoking greatly increase your risk of cancer, as the ‘scientists’ claim? Or are they hyping an imaginary threat to get grant money? I think we all know the answer to that, and the same answer applies to those money-grubbing climate scientists.

What do these “scientists,” as they call themselves, really know for sure? They may have an ivory tower Ph.D. in something to do with the weather, but do they have an MBA, the degree of the real world? I think we all know that’s the real qualification for today’s world. MBAs speak truthiness, and that should be good enough for any modern conservative.

I call upon Stephen Colbert to award Rex Murphy his Truthiness in Action! award. Mr. Murphy has amply demonstrated that he deserves this reward:

• His top two sources on global warming are an economist and a former mining stock promoter.
• He has cleverly allied with a fellow traveller as his Executive Producer; this modern conservative said it is not the responsibility of the news to determine the “truth.”
• Rex Murphy got his career started by demanding – and getting – free tuition from the government for his education. More modern conservatives should do this; it would reduce free tuition going to the undeserving poor.
• He gets paid to do this! Rex Murphy gets a weekly national segment on Canada’s government-subsidized ‘news.’ This is the ultimate modern conservative victory; fame and fortune on a socialist network!