General

Re: Fat Head

Graham Wright — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:43:12 GMT

The Texas Trigger:

So far, I like the info, although the production values are a little cheap and the humor a little cheezy. Unfortunately it suffers from what almost every other documentary suffers from: on the street interviews form random people. Sure, it is entertaining and maybe it provides you with a nice break to give you time to absorb the more substantial info. The problem with them, though, is that they are purely anecdotal evidence, and, as a mere viewer, I can never be sure these people weren't paid to say what they said, or that all of those who's comments didn't support the narrative of the film were edited out of the picture.

True, but I don't remember him drawing any firm conclusions based on his interviews with "random" people, except maybe that most people think a cheeseburger and fries is an unhealthy meal. I don't think that's really disputable, is it?

Personally I liked the cheezy humor. The cutaways to the sinister voice saying "follow the money" were very effective. I liked how it made it all seem so obvious. I mean, most people are convinced that the foods that humans primarily ate for 99% of our existence are bad for us, while the foods that we have only recently starting eating are good for us. How on earth did that happen?!

Re: Fat Head

The Texas Trigger — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 02:27:45 GMT

So far, I like the info, although the production values are a little cheap and the humor a little cheezy. Unfortunately it suffers from what almost every other documentary suffers from: on the street interviews form random people. Sure, it is entertaining and maybe it provides you with a nice break to give you time to absorb the more substantial info. The problem with them, though, is that they are purely anecdotal evidence, and, as a mere viewer, I can never be sure these people weren't paid to say what they said, or that all of those who's comments didn't support the narrative of the film were edited out of the picture.

I truly believe that it is impossible to honestly and fully explore most topics in one and a half to two hours, and from the perspective of one person. This is why I like documentaries, yet rarely trust them. The presentation also makes one more vulnerable to appeals to ethos and pathos, like an alter-call at a church sermon. This goes for nearly all documentaries; not just fat head.

Re: Fat Head

SkepticalMetal — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 01:55:45 GMT

Interesting documentary. Why is it that liberals are usually the ones who make documentaries that are popular (and 99% crap)?

The only guys I know of who did libertarian documentary stuff that was really popular were Penn and Teller, and Bullshit! went off the air back in 2010. Had a good run through (2003-10)

Re: Fat Head

eliotn — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 01:53:53 GMT

Very interesting stuff!

Re: Fat Head

Tex2002ans — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 01:10:13 GMT

The creator of the documentary was also reviewed by Lew Rockwell on his podcast:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/2012/09/04/306-cholesterol-good-statins-bad/

Re: Fat Head

Kelvin Silva — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:27:04 GMT

Ill take a look at it.

Ive been eating more meats and vegetables, need to avoid rice or anything on the bottom of food pyramid.

Re: Fat Head

The Texas Trigger — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:46:11 GMT

Graham Wright:
but I was pleasantly surprised by how libertarian the documentary was.

That is because the writer and director is a libertarian. He was recently interviewed on Lew Rockwell.com

Fat Head

Graham Wright — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 19:46:06 GMT

http://vimeo.com/27652100

I just watched this documentary. I was already familiar the thesis (fats are good, carbs are bad, basically), having read Taubes and Kendrick, but I was pleasantly surprised by how libertarian the documentary was. These kinds of documentaries tend to have a leftist "it's all the greedy corportaions fault, we need more government" feel to them. But this one didn't have that at all. It placed the blame entirely on the government where it belongs. I recommend it.