I Like What he has to Say, but ....

Last night I caught a little bit of Penn Jillette on CNN. He had some interesting things to say about the media and freedoms. Even though I do not completely agree with his views I was impressed that he presented them in an intelligent and entertaining fashion. Something that I find to be rare.

A few of the points that heard that I found interesting were:

The news media (be it print, broadcast or other) should be upfront with us all state their political preferences before reporting the news. In Canada I would love to see the CBC do this. At the beginning of each broadcast they could read the following statement, “We at the CBC strongly support the Liberal Party of Canada. We despise Steven Harper and the Conservatives. Watch as we kiss some Liberal ass.” It is unfortunate for the CBC that the Liberals are no longer in power. It is more unfortunate for them that no one really watches the CBC expect on Saturday when Hockey Night in Canada is on.

The other point that Penn made that I would like to comment on is that he feels we live in a society with far to many restrictions and very few freedoms. He would like to see things like the removal of gun control and the legalization of drugs. On principle I agree with him on the fact that we need more freedoms but there is a major problem with this point of view: Western society, in general, possesses a debilitating lack of common sense. Even with the strict controls on us we still see gangs, high crime rates, drug addiction and Boston Red Sox fans. As a society we have proven that we are not smart or mature enough to live in a world with unrestricted freedom. We have forced our governments to legislate common sense.

If we could only elect a government with common sense things would not be so bad.