# Rupert Murdoch buys National Geographic **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 10, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509 "2015-09-10T12:45:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/41 "2015-09-11T15:04:22Z")
National Geographic, ironically enough, was the place where kids from the 50s first saw bare boobies. For whatever reason the censors considered African native tits just fine. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/42 "2015-09-11T15:13:12Z")
Excellent-Murdoch can provide much-needed capital. Face it, the NG was dying…partially because of the "socially relevant " garbage articles they were pushing. NG needs to return to its roots-exploration, good photos of remote places, and scientific facts-not the usual AGW/politically correct hogwash. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/43 "2015-09-11T15:19:02Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > National Geographic, ironically enough, was the place where kids from the 50s first saw bare boobies. For whatever reason the censors considered African native tits just fine. “Nudity above the waist is OK below the equator.” **BrotherCadfael** mentioned that in another thread but I still wonder about the source, any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/44 "2015-09-11T15:22:14Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Face it, the NG was dying…partially because of the "socially relevant " garbage articles they were pushing. What makes you think it had anything to do with such articles? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/45 "2015-09-11T15:22:25Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Excellent-Murdoch can provide much-needed capital. Face it, the NG was dying…partially because of the "socially relevant " garbage articles they were pushing. NG needs to return to its roots-exploration, good photos of remote places, and scientific facts-not the usual AGW/politically correct hogwash. :Sigh:, once again you need to learn that the Republicans are the ones pushing and consuming the hogwash. > **[Huckabee Once Again Is Completely Wrong About Science](https://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/08/04/mike_huckabee_wrong_about_volcanoes_wrong_about_global_warming.html)** > > When it comes to science, it seems that every time former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee opens his mouth, falsehoods and nonsense fly out. His latest ridi ... [QUOTE=Phil Plait] When it comes to science, it seems that every time former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee opens his mouth, falsehoods and nonsense fly out. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > Second, his global cooling comment is also just so much fertilizer. If I had been there, I would’ve asked him who, exactly, made the claim we were “about to enter a deep freeze”. Because even back then, the majority of published scientific research pointed toward warming, not cooling. It was the media that trumped up the cooling idea (and they had to cherry-pick data to do it), and of course it’s the Republican climate change deniers who keep beating that drum, as ridiculous as it is. > > And it hardly matters; that was 40 years ago. Today, with better measurements, better understanding, and far, far more research into the problem, the overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree: The Earth is warming, and it’s human activity causing it. At least 97 percent of climate scientists agree with that statement, and the actual consensus may be even stronger. > > And Huckabee is wrong in another way (in case you’re not used to it yet). He says he “doesn’t pretend to know” about climate change, but that’s exactly what he’s doing: pretending to know. If he listened to any scientists who actually study our climate he wouldn’t have to pretend any more. He’d know for a fact the planet is heating up. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/46 "2015-09-11T16:22:59Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Excellent-Murdoch can provide much-needed capital. Face it, the NG was dying…partially because of the "socially relevant " garbage articles they were pushing. NG needs to return to its roots-exploration, good photos of remote places, and scientific facts-not the usual AGW/politically correct hogwash. “This barren, desolate place has rarely been visited by humans, and probably won’t be again. We can’t tell you why, though.” ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/47 "2015-09-11T17:34:43Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > :Sigh:, once again you need to learn that the Republicans are the ones pushing and consuming the hogwash. > > [Mike Huckabee: Wrong about volcanoes, wrong about global warming.](http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/08/04/mike_huckabee_wrong_about_volcanoes_wrong_about_global_warming.html) . . . Except when the other side does it. Phil Plait is hardly an unbiased source. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/48 "2015-09-11T17:47:35Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > . . . Except when the other side does it. Phil Plait is hardly an unbiased source. So find an unbiased source that says the world is warming. Seriously, you’re a dumbfuck. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/49 "2015-09-11T17:59:41Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > But Murdoch decided to buy that unprofitable magazine anyway. Therefore, he must have in mind some changes that he expects will make NG profitable. > > What might those be, I wonder? Naked mummies. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/50 "2015-09-11T20:24:42Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > . . . Except when the other side does it. Phil Plait is hardly an unbiased source. He was/is a SDMB member, better known as **The Bad Astronomer**. The point here is that it is you the one that is supporting the side that is pushing ignorance. > **[National Climate Assessment](https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/our-changing-climate/observed-change)** > > The National Climate Assessment summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. Republicans are not just pandering to deniers, but Republicans actually make sure that government do not look properly at the issue: > **[House Republicans Scrap 'Unnecessary' Global Warming Committee](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-gop-global-warming-committee_n_790739)** > > House Republicans Scrap 'Unnecessary' Global Warming Committee Yes, the Republicans did not renew the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming when the Republicans gained control of the House. > **[United States House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_Energy_Independence_and_Global_Warming)** > > The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming was a select committee of the United States House of Representatives. It was established March 8, 2007 through adoption of a resolution by a 269–150 vote of the full House. > The committee existed from 2007 to 2011, and was not renewed when the Republicans gained control of the House for the 112th Congress. > In 2019, the new Democratic majority established a successor committee, the United States House Select Committee on the C... ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/51 "2015-09-11T20:46:29Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > . . . Except when the other side does it. Phil Plait is hardly an unbiased source. [His](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Plait) bias is towards science, skepticism and rationality. Anyone not so biased is not someone you want to listen to regarding scientific questions – and the existence of AGW is a scientific question and nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509/52 "2015-09-11T21:56:20Z")
As the “War on science” cover of the National Geographic was pointed out, a mention should go to one of FOX’s creations that was also taken apart by **The Bad Astronomer** : the infamous “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?” > **[Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy: Bad TV](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html)** > > Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy > [@](#): > > On Thursday, February 15th 2001 (and replayed on March 19), the Fox TV network aired a program called ``Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?‘’, hosted by X-Files actor Mitch Pileggi. The program was an hour long, and featured interviews with a series of people who believe that NASA faked the Apollo Moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s. The biggest voice in this is Bill Kaysing, who claims to have all sorts of hoax evidence, including pictures taken by the astronauts, engineering details, discussions of physics and even some testimony by astronauts themselves. The program’s conclusion was that the whole thing was faked in the Nevada desert (in Area 51, of course!). According to them, NASA did not have the technical capability of going to the Moon, but pressure due to the Cold War with the Soviet Union forced them to fake it. > > Sound ridiculous? Of course it does! It is. So let me get this straight right from the start: this program is an hour long piece of junk. > From the very first moment to the very last, the program is loaded with bad thinking, ridiculous suppositions and utterly wrong science. I was able to get a copy of the show in advance, and although I was expecting it to be bad, I was still surprised and how awful it was. I took four pages of notes. I won’t subject you to all of that here; it would take hours to write. I’ll only go over some of the major points of the show, and explain briefly why they are wrong. In the near future, hopefully by the end of the summer, I will have a much more detailed series of pages taking on each of the points made by the Hoax Believers (whom I will call HBs). (Much, much more in the link.) I do remember that a few researchers did trace the huge number of CTs about the moon that came out of the woodwork to the legitimacy that show gave them. It was a triumph of ignorance brought by the FOX network. IMHO they need to make several seasons more of Cosmos to make amends for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rupert-murdoch-buys-national-geographic/730509.md?page=2)