Why We Need PBS, Reason 999

Because PBS provides science programming from writers who have heard of a little thing called Occam's Razor.

The Charlotte Observer ran some jackass syndicated editorial awhile back about how cable TV has rendered PBS obsolete (something about magic of the marketplace or some crap).

Heh. I just watched a show on Animal Planet with an African Grey parrot who accurately described numerous photographs displayed to him, remotely, by his owner. Now, Dr. Irene Pepperberg has already shown us how smart Greys are - a notch or two above the average Libertarian (not bad for a dinosaur, you know). But Animal Planet's explanation for this amazing example of avian cognition? Mental fucking telepathy. Rather than delve into the far more interesting evolutionary development of intelligence in species separated by immense phylogenetic time-frames, Animal Planet gives us mental telepathy.

So, PBS gives us a well-researched, scientific, educational series like the monumental Evolution, or great documentaries on Nature about macaws, and animal intelligence. What does cable tv give us? A bullshit psuedoscience pile of stinky doo-doo. Silly me, I think a science show should be about, uh, science, and science is all about the testable explanation of observation.