# TV Lies (& Movies, too) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244 "2004-11-01T03:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/81 "2004-11-07T18:36:13Z")
Ahhh, but wouldn’t it be charming if it were true? Actually, I remember many years ago being on a little commuter boat in Switzerland and a group of elderly ladies were singing something together (in German, I believe) just for their own amusement. All throughout Europe I noticed people making music spontaneously - one of the things I missed most when I returned home. Okay, here’s a question for those of you w/crime knowledge - I always wondered how cops know what cocaine, etc., tastes like. How many times have you seen them stick a wet finger into a baggie & proclaim its contents? Isn’t that utter b.s.? ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/82 "2004-11-07T18:38:49Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > I remember in an episode of “Dragnet” Sgt Friday (Jack Webb) relates the ‘horrors’ of LSD use by telling the Urban Legend of students who took LSD, stared at the Sun and went blind. > I looked this up on “snopes” and not only did I find the legend, > [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/drugs/lsdsun.htm](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/drugs/lsdsun.htm) > > if you scroll to the bottom it states: > \*\*Sightings: In episode #36 of Dragnet 1967, Sgt. Joe Friday makes reference to those poor kids in Santa Barbara who went blind from staring into the sun. > \*\* Wait a minute – are you saying that staring into the sun _doesn’t_ render a person sightless? 'Cause I was taught that it most definitely did. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/83 "2004-11-07T18:43:24Z")
But can a human being, in all possession of his/her facutlies, force him/herself to stare into the sun. I wound think that after a few seconds, it would take willpower beyond what anyone possesses to keep that up. I would think it would be too painful. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/84 "2004-11-07T18:43:47Z")
> [@fessie](#): > > Wait a minute – are you saying that staring into the sun _doesn’t_ render a person sightless? 'Cause I was taught that it most definitely did. No, he’s saying that it’s BS that anyone took LSD and then stared at the sun until they went blind. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/85 "2004-11-07T18:56:34Z")
> [@fessie](#): > > Okay, here’s a question for those of you w/crime knowledge - I always wondered how cops know what cocaine, etc., tastes like. How many times have you seen them stick a wet finger into a baggie & proclaim its contents? Isn’t that utter b.s.? [It’s BS.](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcocaine.html) > [@SDStaff Hawk](#): > > That said, I’ve never known anyone to do this, ever, and I’ve been in the forensic pathology business for a long time. The reality is that it’s dangerous. The cutting agents are usually harmless, but you don’t want to be the one who got the coke that was cut with poison. Further, such trace amounts could show up in the person’s next urine drug screen, and a positive for cocaine metabolites in the urine would warrant disciplinary action. There’d be no way for anyone to tell an “on-the-spot drug tester” from a recreational user. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/86 "2004-11-07T22:41:28Z")
> [@](#): > > But can a human being, in all possession of his/her facutlies, force him/herself to stare into the sun. I wound think that after a few seconds, it would take willpower beyond what anyone possesses to keep that up. I would think it would be too painful. Well, Galileo did stare at the Sun for extended periods, and through a telescope at that. And yes, he did eventually go blind, presumably as a result of said sungazing. Of course, Galileo may well have been rather atypical in the willpower regard. ---
**Author:** ![SunGazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@SunGazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunGazer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/87 "2012-07-08T03:47:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, Galileo did stare at the Sun for extended periods, and through a telescope at that. And yes, he did eventually go blind, presumably as a result of said sungazing. Of course, Galileo may well have been rather atypical in the willpower regard. According to the author of this article, [Galileo, solar observing, and eye safety](http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/vision/Galileo.html) “One often reads in newspapers and magazines, or on the Web, and sometimes even in textbooks, that Galileo became blind by looking at the Sun through his telescope. This story is spread by well-meaning but ignorant people; it is entirely false.” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/88 "2012-07-08T06:20:13Z")
I’m not completely convinced about the example in the OP. Isn’t DNA direct, and conclusive evidence of say, paternity? That is, aside from those quoted odds everybody gives of like “one in 50 trillion” or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/89 "2012-07-08T10:34:55Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m not completely convinced about the example in the OP. Isn’t DNA direct, and conclusive evidence of say, paternity? That is, aside from those quoted odds everybody gives of like “one in 50 trillion” or whatever? This is a zombie thread from 2004. That said, I believe that DNA is considered circumstantial evidence because although it may show conclusively that a person was at a crime scene, it does not necessarily prove that the person committed the crime. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/90 "2012-07-08T11:05:48Z")
I, for one, am constantly amused by how inaccurately TV shows and movies present zombie uprisings. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/91 "2012-07-08T11:17:05Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > But can a human being, in all possession of his/her facutlies, force him/herself to stare into the sun. I wound think that after a few seconds, it would take willpower beyond what anyone possesses to keep that up. I would think it would be too painful. [Apparently they can.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungazing) It’s dangerous and foolish, but people do it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/92 "2012-07-08T13:35:04Z")
> [@fessie](#): > > …It’s like if a cooking show consisted of opening cans of vegetables & ravioli and heating them on the stove… Well, eight years later we have [Paula Deen’s English Peas](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/english-peas-recipe/index.html). (Courtesy of [this earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649515&highlight=paula+deen).) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/93 "2012-07-08T14:12:50Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Our closest relatives, chimpanzees, will kill outsiders, and actually go to war against other tribes and wipe them out to the last male, female and child. Not only that, but there’s one wild video in which they actually attack another species of primate for what looks like a quick snack. The ringleader gets everybody worked up first by banging on a tree trunk and hooting until they all join in. ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/94 "2012-07-08T14:31:11Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > How about the one everyone’s heard MANY times “He’s a schizophrenic. He’s got multiple personalities.” > > An episode of “MASH” and even more recently the “History Channel” pereptuated the legend that Dr Charles Drew (African-American doctor who did pioneering work in blood research, blood plasma, etc) bled to death in an all-white hospital because they would not admit him. (I’m surprised SNOPES does not have this on their Urban Legends pages. I’ll send off an E-Mail to them.). When discussing evil whitey, facts don’t matter. Get with the times man! > [@Sampiro](#): > > I’ve read that in Black History books, btw. There’s an identical legend about Bessie Smith that inspired an entire play by Edward Albee still produced by colleges across the country even though it’s equally false (in fact, the closest hospital to Smith’s accident was a black hospital and the first person on the scene was a white doctor who treated her extensively, but she was just too critically injured to live). Even her half sister, Mary “Diamond Teeth” McClain, who died in 2000, recited this inaccurate story. (The Jim Crow South was bad enough- we don’t have to make it worse than it was.) > > I was majorly pissed off at the “facts” given in the Michael Moore “Bowling for Columbine” cartoon, especially the “connection” between the NRA & KKK and the “cowardice” of the early settlers And again. Moore is like the poster child for this. Conservative = evil. All the world’s woes are due to “them.” Duh. :rolleyes: Anyway pardon sidetrack - re the OP, I would add: - how cars usually explode like a baby nuke as soon as they crash (and ALWAYS if going off a cliff). (Wow nobody said this yet?) - speaking of vehicles, how it’s impossible for them to stop without the brakes making that obnoxious squealing sound. Oddly they didn’t do this much in older shows/movies. It seems obnoxious noises are all the rage. - how easy it is to knock someone unconscious. One quick punch or whack to the back of the neck and down they go! - always finding a parking spot right in front of where they need to go - hospitals where all the nurses and doctors are very friendly and compassionate about the patients. Talk about fantasyland. - perhaps the silliest though are fights where people punch each other in the head 100 times, multiple kicks to the groin etc etc and keep on going as if they were all love taps. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/95 "2012-07-08T14:39:01Z")
> [@Kaitlyn](#): > > This wasn’t even the first movie to use this premise. In _How to Murder Your Wife_ Jack Lemmon actually uses this as a murder defense. Lemmon’s wife has disappeared and he’s on trial for murder. His defense is that she faked her death. His final argument is that if the all male jury were to aquit him, he’d then be able to find her and legally kill her due to final jeopardy laws. Lemmon’s butler (Terre-Thomas) did quote the double-jeopardy rule (incorrectly). However the actual tactic used in Lemmon’s trial was to urge the jury to nullify the law, basically asking the all-male (chauvinist) jury to let Lemmon off in order to send a message to all wives to clean up their collective act. A completely assholish argument (still a pretty good movie, though). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/96 "2012-07-08T14:41:24Z")
> [@laina\_f](#): > > This is a zombie thread from 2004. > > That said, I believe that DNA is considered circumstantial evidence because although it may show conclusively that a person was at a crime scene, it does not necessarily prove that the person committed the crime. Ah, zombies, what would we do without them. That said, the OP claimed (or repeated a claim) the DNA is always circumstantial evidence. Maybe it is in a murder trial, but in a paternity case? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/97 "2012-07-08T14:44:20Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Ah, zombies, what would we do without them. We’d be buried in uneaten brains. They’re a vital part of the ecology! ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/98 "2012-07-08T19:35:30Z")
**oreally** (posting 94) Thanks for posting that information. Upon further investigation I found the _real_ reason for the deaths of Dr Charles Drew and Bessie Smith. _The man_ wanted them dead. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/99 "2012-07-08T20:42:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Not only that, but there’s one wild video in which they actually attack another species of primate for what looks like a quick snack. The ringleader gets everybody worked up first by banging on a tree trunk and hooting until they all join in. As for other species, wolf packs will attack and kill every single member of another pack to take over their territory. They will also kill coyote pups (admittedly not the same species, but…) not for food but to get rid of competitors. Male grizzlies and lions will kill the young of a female to get her to go into heat. In point of fact, MOST species fight and kill each other, particularly omnivores and carnivores. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244/100 "2012-07-08T23:24:15Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > In _Patch Adams_, Robin Williams makes a remark along the lines of, “We’re the only species that kill one another,” or something like that. He was (understandably) upset about the murder of his girlfriend and I think he was saying that humans are more savage than animals because animals don’t commit murder. > > Guess he didn’t know that chickens will peck one of their own to death for some difference that we can’t even detect. Or that a lion, upon assuming control of a pride, will kill the cubs sired by the former pride leader, so that all further progeny will be his. (While I of course don’t count this as murder, it is still shocking in the sense that the killings are not for food or self-defense, but instead are done to rid themselves of the undesirable.) > [@RikWriter](#): > > Our closest relatives, chimpanzees, will kill outsiders, and actually go to war against other tribes and wipe them out to the last male, female and child. > [@terentii](#): > > Not only that, but there’s one wild video in which they actually attack another species of primate for what looks like a quick snack. The ringleader gets everybody worked up first by banging on a tree trunk and hooting until they all join in. > [@RikWriter](#): > > As for other species, wolf packs will attack and kill every single member of another pack to take over their territory. They will also kill coyote pups (admittedly not the same species, but…) not for food but to get rid of competitors. Male grizzlies and lions will kill the young of a female to get her to go into heat. In point of fact, MOST species fight and kill each other, particularly omnivores and carnivores. Get a mating pair of gerbils. Wait until they’ve mated, and their kids have mated and so on until the cage starts getting crowded. Then watch them start eating each other. I’m sure it’s not unique to gerbils, but that’s the one case where I’ve seen it happen firsthand. (or maybe the gerbils eating the others had become zombified, I dunno) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-lies-movies-too/272244.md?page=6)