Yianni+Tranxidis

Yianni Tranxidis									      10/25/08

Penn and Teller

They say you learn something new every day. As you read this essay, you might even learn more than one thing about many issues and controversial organizations that are going on in the world today from just one source. The name of this source is Penn Jillett and Teller. These two magicians decided to make a show about things that they consider to be bad for our economy, and bad for the general public. The reason being is that they have found information about certain topics that lead them to the decision that a certain organization is bad. On the TV show, they show both sides of the topic, facts, statistics, and their personal opinions. They not only find out the truth, but they show both sides of the story to keep biased facts out to give the reader the full argument of the issue, why people are against it, and people’s point of view from both sides. The name of the show is “Penn & Teller: Bulls**t”.

“Penn & Teller: Bulls**t” is a show on Showtime that hosts Penn Jillett and Teller, magicians, etertainists, and also, fact finders. In the show, they tackle topics with full force because they want to show their audience what truly lies beneath an organization. Some of the topics they have gone against are: Drug prohibition, Peta, the Endangered Species Act, Scientology, Conspiracy theories, Alien abduction, and many more. In the 69+ episodes they have made since their start, they have constantly been bursting their opinions, along with the support of others to the public because many people do not realize the danger that these things create to the citizens of America, not to mention that they are completely unfair, and unconstitutional.

A very good example of this is in the episode about drug prohibition, where Penn and Teller say that they against the war on drugs because they believe that drugs should be legalized in a country that supposedly calls itself “free”. If you look on their site, they post the episodes with the topics. Along with the topics, they write a breif description of what they believe the topic is about. On the war on drugs episode, they wrote, “America is waging a massive war on its home soil, a war it is losing. Our country spends $20 billion a year in drug enforcement, but the illegal drug industry is thriving. Should we even be waging this war, when alcohol is legal and pushed every night on network TV? By criminalizing drugs, we just turn non-violent citizens into criminals. And medicinal uses of marijuana are being blocked by crusading moralists yelling "family values."

Also, Penn mentions that the US has been wasting over 20 billion dollars a year since 1972, when the war on drugs began, to stop drugs from spreading, and throwing these so-called “criminals” in jail. Penn says in the beginning of the episode, “the issue is not about how many people die, it is moral and ethical. If we live in a free country, we have the right to put whatever we want into our own body, providing the fact that we don’t harm anyone else.” Along with a history lesson about when the war on drugs began, he shows people who are against his opinions. One of them being Bob Weiner, an anti-drug strategist. He states in the episode, “Marijuana is the number one drug that gets teenagers in the hospital today, not to mention marijuana is the number two cause for car crashes.” In fact, the top three car crashes according to the California DMV, are unsafe speed, driving on the wrong side of the road, and improper turns. Also, since alcohol kills over 350,000 people a year, and is legalized, teenagers are in the hospital more because of alcohol. The war on drugs has not even made any progress in stopping these people from doing drugs because every drug is available in all 50 states, and is easier for kids to get because drug dealers do not check IDs. Not to mention the cheap prices for drugs. Penn also states in the episode, “Before the war on drugs, heroin used to be $30 per bag and was 5% actual drug. After the war on drugs, heroin was $4 per bag and was 90%-95% actual drug.” Also, tobacco and alcohol kill more people annually than every other drug combined. In an article shows the annual causes of death. Tobacco kills 435,000 people, alcohol kills 85,000, and all illicit drug use, direct and indirect kills 17,000 people per year. Overall, no matter what the government does next, drugs will always thrive, and the black market will always sell drugs to whoever wants it. An example of this situation is in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y29cDyemV6U

The eggs represent the liberties of every US citizen. The frying pan represents drugs, and the steamroller represents the government. The steamroller (government) crushed the frying pan (drugs) which crushes the eggs (liberties). This is a metaphor for the war on drugs. Drug abusers are still thriving today because drugs are still available, and the government is trying to take that liberty away from us, which is taking every other liberty away from us as well. The frying pan is still in tact, while the eggs are destroyed.

So with all this information out there, how come so many people are dragged into the opposite side? The reason being is because alot of these organizations have advertisements that can be very persuading, especially if the viewer does not know both sides of the problem. However, if they had watched Penn and Teller before, they would have a clear perception of both sides of the arguement. The reason why I like these people so much is that they do not conform to something or they don’t agree with something until they find the facts themselves. I leanred from this show that being skeptical about things is alot better than believing whatever people say. Of course there’s a possibility, however we need proof. Penn and Teller have also challenged religion in that there’s not enough proof to even prove it is real. They do not want to ban religion, they only want to find out if what the bible says is right. If religion is in fact real, and they found proof, these two atheists would believe. However, they will not admit it until they have physical proof. I find these people very interesting and influencial because there are bad things in this world, and finding out the truth is never easy. After watching this TV show personaly I have realized the truth in many topics. It also got me to change the way I think completely.

Work Cited: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.html http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/previous_episodes.do?episodeid=s2/war http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y29cDyemV6U