Satire

Here we present three different videos from satire news sources to check the facts and dissect the reliability of the sources with a SMELL test.

The Daily Show: "Grumpy Cold Men"

Fact Checking

Overview:

Jon Stewart discusses government committees and then transitions to the topics of the Environmental and Public Works committee.  Stewart shows a clip of the Senator of Oklahoma talking to the committee about how climate change is a myth due to the fact that he could gather one ball worth of snow in February. Stewart mocks the senator in a way that shows he believes in global warming and tries to make the senator look like a fool. 

Analysis:

• Statement: The senate chairman is chosen by seniority

This statement is mostly true. Only in three states this is an actual law, but in all other states it is more of an unspoken rule (NCSL). It is fair that the people who have been working the longest get to be chairmen because they worked their way up into that position and have gained experience.

• Statement: 2014 has been the warmest year on record 

This statement is true. It is difficult to say that 2014 was for sure the hottest year ever because the earth has been around a lot longer than recording keeping has. However, since record keeping began in the 1800’s it is true that 2014 was the warmest recorded year (NASA, 2015).

• Statement: Only 38% chance that 2014 was the hottest year ever

This is a true statement according to NASA. Due to the method of how the temperature is recorded, there is a possibility for error (NOAA). NOAA was slightly more confident in 2014 being the hottest year ever with a 48% chance. 

• Statement:  Senator James Inhofe said global warming is a myth

This statement is true. Senator James Inhofe did state this in February of 2015. Although the statement itself is debatable, the fact that he actually said it is not. A “fact” like this shouldn’t have made it into our list of analyzed statements, but Inhofe didn’t present any other facts in the committee meeting. If Inhofe wanted people to understand and believe his point of view he needed more facts. 

The Smell Test

Source

Jon Stewart is the host of The Daily Show, which airs on Comedy Central. He has no affiliation with the government, but often uses comedy to give viewers his option on different topics. In this satire news segment, Stewart pulls a clip from the television network C-SPAN of Senator James Inhofe from Oklahoma talking to the chairman of the Environmental and Public Works committee. Stewart does not have a background in climate change, but pokes fun at Senator Inhofe’s accusations.

Motivation

Jon Stewart’s motivation is to inform, entertain, and appease his audience. Stewart knows that his audience thinks global warming is a hoax and therefore he clearly conveys that he believes it too, and takes his jokes to the next level because of it. Many people could argue whether he is trying to inform or entertain in his show, however he is doing both of those things in this segment.  Stewart is informing his audience about an incident during a committee meeting and makes jokes about it to make the show more enjoyable to watch. 

Evidence

The only evidence shown is the snowball that Senator Inhofe brought to the committee meeting to disprove global warming. Stewart does not provide any evidence of his own to disprove Senator Inhofe, but does however mock him to try and prove his point that he believes global warming is not a myth. 

Logic

Logically Senator Inhofe’s accusation makes sense. If you do not look at data from other years and you were to just take a walk “right outside,” (Inhofe, 2014) it would be hard to believe that global warming is happening because there is snow on the ground. Stewart fights Inhofe’s logic by mockingly stating that “clearly if global warming was a problem I would only be able to grab lava balls” (Stewart, 2015), which is also a funny way of pointing out his own logic and trying to disprove the senator. 

Left Out

There are very little facts presented in the video. Facts are a major component when trying to make your viewpoint valid. Steward relies too heavily on satire to try and make his case; in addition, he should have presented more facts to support his idea.

Conclusion

Overall the video states true facts. However, the video is more about how our government works and less on climate change itself. The video shouldn’t have been advertised as a climate change video when it presents very few facts about the topic. 

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The Nightly Show:"Panel- Tackling Climate Change"

Fact Checking

Overview:

Larry Wilmore is the host of The Nightly Show on Comedy Central. In this segment he has three guests, two comedians and one scientist, to discuss climate change and why nothing is being done to work against it. Wilmore makes three statements about climate change and has his main guest, Bill Nye, comment on them. 

Analysis:

• Statement: There will be no fish in the ocean by 2048

This statement is a little foggy. There is research that says “ocean biodiversity is accelerating, and 29 percent of the seafood species humans consume have already crashed… in 30 years there will be little or no seafood available” (Roach, 2006). So yes, there will probably be a decrease in fish, but it is a generalization to say that there will be absolutely no fish in the ocean by the year 2048. 

• Statement: Sea levels will rise 38 feet

This statement is false. To begin, it doesn’t specify when the sea levels will rise to that amount. If the statement had a predicted date it would be easier to define how to true it is, but since it doesn’t then it allows anyone to insert any date which makes the statement even more false. However, sea levels are rising, but at a much slower rate. According to National Geographic and NASA, “since 1992, sea levels have increased by an average of 3 inches around the world… and by 2100 sea levels could rise 28 to 98 centimeters” (Folger, 2015). 

• Statement: Climate change will leave over half a billion people homeless

This statement is foggy. It is said that there is over half a billion people from countries like China, India, and the United States that live near shoreline that could be effected by sea levels rising (Kedia, 2015). Although, it is unclear when or why these homes would be destroyed by sea levels rising. This statement is plausible, but there are no facts to back up that this situation will actually happen.  

• Statement: People are not scared by over exaggerated numbers

This statement is foggy. In the video Nye explains this statement and says that people don’t care about things unless they currently are affecting them. This is foggy because it is hard to prove if it is true or not. It is an overgeneralization. According to the Huffington Post, people don’t care about climate change because it is “too much to think about” (Bennett, 2010) and that is why it would make sense that even scary over exaggerated facts don’t scare people. 

The Smell Test

Source

The Nightly Show is hosted by Larry Wilmore, a comedian for “more than 25 years” (Press Comedy Central, 2015), who does not have an educational background in government issues. Alongside Wilmore, he has two other comedians on the panel. The two comedians with Wilmore are Bridget Everett and Rory Albanese. The two of them make little to no comments on climate change, but make light jokes on the other speaker’s comments. Of course the panel wouldn’t be complete without Bill Nye the Science Guy. Nye is a well-known public figure with a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University (Biography). With a long resume in education, science, comedy, and television appearances, Nye is someone we often see in the media discussing debatable science topics.  

Motivation

The main focus of this video is to discuss why people are resistant to lightening the effects of climate change and alternative energy sources. Wilmore presents the audience with what he calls “over exaggerated” facts. Nye then informs the audience of why these scary facts aren’t pushing people to want to make a difference.  By informing the audience, the panel hopes that will persuade them to want to be environmentally friendly in hopes of slowing global warming. 

Evidence

As stated under motivation, Wilmore reads three facts that he describes as "over exaggerated." They four facts which we have proved and disproved to you, are the only four facts stated in the video. Although few facts are presented, Wilmore and Nye are effective in their persuasion. They talk about how the facts don't scare the public because it isn't something they can closely relate to and will affect them now. By making the audience aware of it and then the comedians on the panel making the facts more able to relate to, it helps fulfill their end goal of persuasion.

Logic

Logic is a key component in this video. Bill Nye's whole rebuttal to the facts is pointing out the logic in why over exaggerated facts don't scare people into caring. Nye talks about how facts mean nothing to the public unless it is currently affecting people and they can see the benefit they are getting from helping the environment. 

Left Out

The argument of whether climate change is true or not is left out. Wilmore assumes his audience knows what global warming is and takes it a step further to not only get them to believe in it, but to prevent it. If he were to present both sides of the argument, it is possible that he would also get people to believe that global warming is a myth, which is the opposite of his intentions, thus purposely leaving it out to persuade the audience to his bias.

Conclusion

The facts in the video are either false or unclear, but that was Larry Wilmore’s intention. Wilmore took the position of a non believer and stated facts that are over exaggerated to explain why these false facts don’t worry people and then explained why people should be worried using other tactics.

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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: "Climate Change Debate"

Ep. 3: Climate Change Debate

Fact Checking

Overview:

John Oliver brings up the topic of climate changes and openly states that he accepts climate change as a fact. He goes on to state numerical statistics about scientists who are for and against the idea of climate change. Oliver then brings scientists, including Bill Nye (because what is a conversation about climate change without Bill Nye the Science Guy?), into his studio to represent the numbers he presented and has the 100 scientists argue live about global warming. 

Analysis:

• Statement: Global warming threatens every part of the US

This true statement was taken from a news segment on CNN. It is slightly over generalized, but all and all it is pretty accurate. It is difficult to say that every single part of the United States will be affected by something, but the facts show this to be true. Time magazine wrote an article about the U.N. report on climate change, and just by glaciers melting and making the sea levels rise it leads to a complex chain of events causing problems all over the country and leads to problems like heat waves and floods (Walsh, 2014).

• Statement: 1 if 4 Americans are skeptical of climate change

This statement is true. According to an environmental poll done in 2014 on a random sample of over 1,000 adults, this statistic is accurate (Saad, 2014). It was difficult to decide whither or not to make this statement true or foggy, due to the possibility of confounding factors.  However, the article states that the “margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points” and it gives the statistic a 95% confidence level and for that reason this fact is mostly true (Saad, 2014). 

• Statement:  Heat waves are becoming more common

This is true. Data has shown that the number of hot days in urban areas has increased during 1973- 2012 and the number of windy days has decreased by about 60%(IOP Science, 2015) thus making this statement true.

• Statement: 97.1% of scientists endorse that humans are causing global warming

This is true. NASA has confirmed from multiple sources that this number is correct and that roughly 97% of scientists agree that climate change is due to human activities. NASA cited 4 sources in which the data was taken from including 18 scientific associations and five written reports (NASA). 

The Smell Test

Source

John Oliver is a comedian and host of Last Week Tonight on HBO. Oliver studied at the University of Cambridge where he co- created a political radio show and began performing stand up (Biography). With his history in comedy and politics, it only makes sense that he has his own television show about politics and satire.  Oliver gathers information and news clips from other sources such as, CNN, msnbc, GALLUP Politics, IOP Science, and FOX to make commentary to support his argument. 

Motivation

Oliver’s motivation is mainly to inform and persuade. Although comedy is used and someone could argue that he is also there to entertain, that is not the case in this situation. Comedy is used to convey to his audience how ridiculous Oliver believes it is to think that climate change isn’t happening. Oliver finds it comedic that there are people in the world who don’t believe in what he says is a fact. Oliver wants to inform and persuade his audience to accept climate change as true. 

Evidence

Oliver's main tactic is to use statistics about people who believe and disbelieve in climate change. Instead of trying to prove to you that climate change is happening, Oliver makes the audience feel stupid for believing against it by saying that if you have an option on climate change that you are wrong. In the middle of the segment, he throws in a few facts to support his idea that climate change exists, but sticks with his strategy of making the audience feel foolish.

Logic

Running with the theme that he believes climate change is happening, Oliver uses logic to get people to accept climate change as a fact. He provided a statistic that says, "One in four in US are solidly skeptical of global warming" and then states that one if four Americans are "wrong about something." Since Oliver believes that the poll shouldn't have been taken because it is not worth asking people their opinions on facts, he uses logic to compare it to a poll asking "is five bigger than fifteen?"

Left Out

Oliver leaves out the argument of climate change all together. He is very blunt in the fact that people should accept climate change as a fact and therefor doesn’t put the other side’s argument in his show.

Conclusion

John Oliver is very good at stating true facts from reliable sources. He shows his audience that he knows what he is talking about and it helps gain their trust in what he has to say. After stating reliable facts and statistic, Oliver gives commentary in which is audience is receptive to. Out of the three satire sources Oliver is the most reliable and seems to achieve his goal of persuasion. Props to him!