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The Daily Show/Chris Mooney (September 12, 2005)
| Chris Mooney - Evolution Schmevolution: A Daily Show Special Report - Day 1 | |
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| Airdate | September 12, 2005 |
| Production Number | 10114 |
| Guest(s) | Chris Mooney - Evolution Schmevolution: A Daily Show Special Report - Day 1 |
| Brian Williams |
Kurt Vonnegut |
| The Daily Show — 2005 | |
This is the 114th episode of the 2005 season of The Daily Show.
Guest Stars: Chris Mooney (Guest), Tim Cruver (Himself), June Griffin (Herself)
Contents |
Episode Overview
Today begins a special week of the Daily Show, kicking off their report on Evolution Schmevolution, where they try to find out: Are we characters in a dubious fairy tale, written thousands of years ago in the depths of human ignorance, or random globs of cells who got a little luckier than the shit that grows on our shower tiles?
Segments
Special Report
- Evolution Schmevolution: A Daily Show Special Report, Jon Stewart - The first day of Evolution Schmevolution takes on the various theories on how we got here. Primitive cultures often had ridiculous creation myths. The Aztecs, for example, actually believed we were dug out of the earth by a giant pig! Fortunately the rise of Christianity helped spread the truth that man was formed from a lump of clay, and woman sprung forth from man's rib. After all, it just makes sense! Later, Darwin proposed his theory on natural selection - controversial, as it meant man is not special amongst the beasts. This seems wrong since animals are driven by base instinct, unable to control primitive desires for things like food, mating, and battle. Humans, of course, are nothing like this. So which of these theories is correct? By the end of the week, the debate will finally be solved!
Correspondent Piece
- Evolution: A Heritage Tour, Ed Helms, Correspondent - Every day this week, Ed Helms will be "traveling the country, visiting the great battlegrounds of the evolutionary war." Helms' first report comes from Dayton, TN, location of the Scopes Monkey Trial. Today, apparently, the entire town is an elaborate set, filled with costumed actors reenacting the quaint attitudes of the 1920's. Because, as Ed notes, "if it were real, it would be f**king terrifying!"
Headlines
- Meet the F**kers, Jon Stewart - The second installment of Meet the F**kers again discusses the people involved in the mismanagement of the Hurricane Katrina response. This includes people such as Michael Brown, who recently resigned as FEMA director (sources say he wants to spend more time doing nothing for his family). He also talks about the people who screwed up on the state and local level - The Little F**kers. This includes Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans and Louisiana's Democratic senator Mary Landrieu who notes that Nagin would have used the busses to evacuate residents, if not for his fat-ass lazy employees who barely turn up on a sunny day, let alone when faced with a hurricane.
Guest
The guest was Chris Mooney, a journalist specializing in the relationship between politics and science and the Washington correspondent for Seed Magazine. He was there promoting his subtly titled book The Republican War on Science.
The discussion revolved primarily around the charge that the Bush administration has been misusing science for their agenda to a degree larger than previous administrations, at least according to the so-called "scientific community." They also talk about whether or not religious conservatives actually believe what they're saying, as well as the difficulty in ascertaining the facts of a scientific debate. Mooney recommends the National Academy of Sciences as the Consumer Reports of science.
Correspondent Titles
Ed Helms Correspondent
Moment of Zen
For the Moment of Zen, they display an image from the Scopes Monkey Trial in Rhea County, TN, 1925, during which they play an audio clip and text of the following:
- "What it's pertaining to is these homosexual marriages that's going on across our country. I'd like to make a motion that those kind of people cannot live in Rhea County or abide in Rhea County. If they are caught in Rhea County living together as such that they be tried for crimes against nature."
- - J.C. Fugate
- Rhea County Commissioner
- Rhea County, TN
- 2004
Trivia
Allusions and References
- The segment Meet the F**kers is a reference to the movie Meet the Fockers.
Quotes
- Jon Stewart: The president has weighed in on the issue coming out in support of teaching intelligent design alongside evolution. In his words, quote, "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought." Because, if there's one thing this president is known for, is passion for lively intellectual debate.
- [Ed Helms interviews June Griffin in the Evolution: A Heritage Tour segment.]
- Ed Helms: When Scopes was convicted, how did you feel?
- June Griffin: I was elated, I suppose you could say. I would be elated. I'm still elated. We whipped him good, and we'll whip him again!
- Ed Helms: Who else you gonna whip?
- June Griffin: Never know. You never know.
- Ed Helms: What about sodomites?
- June Griffin: Oh, they're gonna get a big whippin'!
- Jon Stewart: Tomorrow the series continues, what's your next stop?
- Ed Helms: Jon, tomorrow I'll be at the Bronx Zoo where an evolutionary biologist will try to convince me, Ed Helms, that we descended from - get this - monkeys! Oh he's gonna get a whippin'!
