Tim Minchin's poetic response to blind belief

Thanks to the always-interesting Pharyngula, this morning I spent an enjoyable ten minutes listening (and reading, because the poor audio requires a video'ized transcription) to Tim Minchin's marvelous "Storm."

[Update: there's now a replacement "video" with clear audio and no transcription, which I've embedded below.]

Here's the You Tube video description:

Tim Minchin's stunning performance of his beat poem 'Storm' Eloquently and wittily honouring reason, science and life appreciation and debunking homeopathy, psychics, alternative medicine, religion etc. Live performance at the 9 carols for a Godless Christmas Show, 21st December 2008, Hammersmith Apollo.

I related to Minchin's relating of his encounter with an attractive New Agey girl whose gullible anti-scientific bent irritates him at a dinner party. She says...

You can't know anything.
Knowledge is merely opinion.

But the human body
Is a mystery
Science just falls in a hole
When it tries to explain
The nature of the soul.

Eventually, after a sufficient number of glasses of wine, Minchin can't take her B.S. any more. He responds...

Life is full of mystery, yeah, but
There are answers out there
But they won't be found,
By people sitting around,
Looking serious,
And saying, isn't life mysterious,
Let's sit here and hope,
Let's call up the fucking Pope,
Let's go on Oprah,
And call up Depak Chopra.

There's more good stuff in the video, of course.

I've been there and done that myself: been unable to keep my mouth shut when I hear someone expressing an extreme anti-science view (reasonable criticisms are fully in order; the scientific method demands it).

Minchin says it so well.

Isn't this enough?
Just
This world?
Just
This beautiful, complex
Wonderfully unfathomable
Natural world?

Watch on.

Comments

[Jayme]

I enjoyed this very much. Thanks.

[Rain]

Interesting. On the naturopathic or alternative herbal meds, the key there is if they treat something medicinally, they are medicine whatever their source which he rather pointed out on aspirin. I hear it a lot with hormone replacement for women as they age. So take herbs they say, take black cohosh or assorted other products, but if they work, they are the same as bioidentical hormones made from yams. They are medically treating something and not as well tested for it. Herbs as a drink or in food is one thing but as soon as the level is raised to 'treat' something, they are something else.

[Robert Paul Howard]

Dear Brian,

I wonder why "[t]his video has been removed by the user."

Robert Paul Howard

[Brian]

Robert, I suppose Minchin found that the video had been put up on YouTube and objected. Recordings weren't supposed to be made of his reading, but several people made a recording.

I sort of understand why an artist would want to keep control over his creations, but it also is irritating -- sort of smacks of censorship in a way, especially since Minchin's talk was all about openness to reality.

[tim minchin]

Hey, Tim here.
Thanks so much for taking an interest in my poem.
Just trying to get the word out that i really really want Storm up on youtube and am not pulling it down in order to protect it for financial reasons or anything like that, but rather to make sure the version that people hear is nice and clear. I want the piece to have the maximum possible impact and the quality of these bootleg versions is just awful. Apart from anything else, you can't hear the jazz backing track which i spent many hours working on and which enhances the text!
Anyway, i'm hoping to have a nice version up in the next few weeks. Please stay tuned.
Thanks again.
t

[Brian]

Tim, thanks for the explanation. I look forward to seeing a jazzy version of your terrific poem reading.

[dvnutrix]

And the improved version is up!

For those who might enjoy hearing Tim Minchin deliver this, a much, much better version of the December performance is now available through Tim Minchin's generosity. Tim Minchin has released his own version of Storm and the musical accompaniment is very enjoyable. Good recording and non-pirate - Huzzah for Tim Minchin.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUQn0HhGEk

[Brian]

dvnutrix, thanks for the news. I've replaced the defunct You Tube video with the new and improved version.