Pandora's Box
In this episode we explore the unpredictable things that can happen when you bring a new idea into the world. We explore three stories of consequences that follow from human beings' doing what we do best: poking our noses everywhere, fixing things that may or may not be broken, and opening our big mouths.
Pandora's Box debuts tonight and airs all week. Find out when. Watch it, then come back here to tell your own Pandora's Box stories.
Your Assignment:
Tell us your stories about good ideas with unintended consequences.
Listen to Ira's description of the episode from last week's podcast:
Watch these clips for a bit of inspiration:
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Comments
TV Episode 6, Pandora's Box, was by far my favorite TV episode! It had everything I need in a documentary, including insight, reflexive self-awareness, and introspection and loads of humor.
Having said that, I'm considering whether Ira and his gang have some kind of hidden agenda they're pursuing... That's not a bad thing, but it's curious. Perhaps "Ira" in NY will come along and clarify for us. I've never before thought of TAL as pushing some kind of agenda, except maybe showing us how hilariously normal gay people can be...
Agenda 1) Vegetarianism?
First they hit beef with the Second Chance story. Then Ira went on Letterman and talked about his conversion after the chickEN story. Then in Pandora's Box we're hit with a double whammy, the pig factory story that made the sound guy throw up inside his facemask, and the hot dog stand where people trade tubes of meat, obscenity and insults. All this before the summer BBQ season gets in full swing. I'm wondering if Ira has invested heavily in Tofurkey stock....
Agenda 2) Man should beware of playing God...
Again the Second Chance and the Pig Factory stories. And a whole episode devoted to religion. I don't think it was a coincidence that in the intro to the last episode Ira was sitting against the backdrop of a pair of what looked like nuclear power plant cooling towers. Does Ira believe that science is DANGEROUS? Or does he just feel this intense rivalry against the other "Ira"... SciFri's Ira Flatow?
Agenda 3) Civil behavior in America is becoming extinct
The hot dog stand story in Pandora's Box seemed to at first delight in the behavior of patrons and workers at Weiner Circle, but by the end there were a few pointed questions, a few disturbing observations... just a week or so ago Ira was being interviewed in a NPR story about abusive behavior online ( http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9642178 ). And yet the TAL TV shows aired without expletives being bleeped out (now I can't show them to my kids!) although it seems the producers were very scared of showing the faces of anyone who didn't sign a release form. We live in a world where we talk like uneducated troglodytes and use the legal system to address perceived harm (invasion of privacy?) OK, maybe this is just one of MY pet peeves...
Did anyone else notice any other "agendas" ?