Thought I'd share a few words from Bill Katz on what he learned from Johnny Carson:
MR. CARSON TEACHES: You can learn a great deal from good comedians. They are astute observers of human nature, and especially human failings. I learned much from Johnny Carson. He was never a warm man, but his comments at staff meetings often contained gems - about writing, about handling people, about approaching a subject. They were often spoken with a touch of sarcasm, a somewhat tougher version than what you saw on the air. One thing that Carson taught, and emphasized over and over, was contained in one line: "You buy the premise, you buy the bit." He used it in reference to sketch writing. If the audience doesn't accept the premise of the sketch, it will never accept the rest. But it has remarkable application to politics. We are going through a historic period where major actions are being taken, and will be taken. In the last few months we have seen the effective socialization of major blocks of the American economy. The new president promises to confront "global warming" on a major scale. There is Iran. There is the war on terror. Every action we take is based on a premise, and yet it is remarkable how little attention is paid to the premise. Is it correct? Is it a fraud? Are we misinformed? Consider global warming. The president-elect will name his environmental team next week, and will set it to work on solving the global-warming "crisis." But in the next 48 hours a minority report will be issued in the Senate casting major doubt on the entire premise of the global-warming movement. Which is right? Before we commit to possibly trillions of dollars in the next generation to fight "global warming," shouldn't we do far more investigating of the premise? Or consider the auto bailout. What is the premise? Why does anyone think this will work? What is the basis of the thinking? We went into Iraq based on the premise that Saddam Hussein had WMD. There were surely other good reasons for our action, but when that major premise collapsed, so did support for the war. The premise became wrong in the public eye, therefore everything after it looked wrong. So, whenever a new public issue comes up, I immediately apply the Carson principle: "You buy the premise, you buy the bit." I ask about the premise of a proposed action, and it's amazing how little attention it often gets in the press. In the next week, note how much attention is given to the argument behind the global-warming craze. Don't hold your breath. Johnny Carson, political scientist. And they never gave him an honorary degree. -- Bill Katz How do we know that auto company bailouts will work? Or Wall Street bailouts? How do we know we can stop global warming? For that matter, how do we know it's bad? Or that it's anthropogenic? Or that it's real? Why do we classify CO2 as a pollutant? Did plants have any say in that determination? Francis Drouillard, PE Novato, CA 94945 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "StrataList-OT" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/StrataList-OT?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
