Jim Gaffigan makes it weird! Again!
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You Made It Weird #149: Jim Gaffigan Returns!
Episode 149:
You Made It Weird
Jim Gaffigan Returns!
Jim Gaffigan Returns!
Well, in fairness to Gaffigan he’s partly right. Overpopulation simply in terms of how many people the planet can support is a myth. It can support and feed far more than 7 billion. The issue we have is distribution and overconsumption, as Alec points out. But it is worth noting that global birth rates are in decline, not on the rise. So we’re actually looking at a global population decrease in the coming years. Much of that thanks to education and the availability of birth control.
Wow. Just finished the podcast and I see what everyone has been talking about.
Seriously, Jim Gaffigan thinks overpopulation is a “myth” just because some racist came up with the concept several years ago?
Whoa.
First of all, Ernest Hemmingway was a drunk / philanderer and William Faulkner was a douche bag, but that doesn’t take away from how great their written works are. And I’m sure there are plenty of perfectly nice people out there who produce jack squat. The quality of the person has little if any effect on the quality of their work.
Second, could Gaffigan be thinking about eugenics? I ask because there was a heavy helping of racism there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
Third, if there wasn’t an iota of truth to overpopulation back then, it sure as shit is true today! SEVEN BILLION and counting?!?! At the turn of the twentieth century, the world population was (I think) around THREE billion if that, so we’ve more than doubled it in the span of one-hundred years. Tell me that can’t be a problem at SOME point if it isn’t already.
Finally, as the Alecs have pointed out, the problem with overpopulation isn’t just an issue of shoe-horning X number of people into Y number of acres. You also have to consider providing food and potable water and products to function in a modern society (I’m not talking iPhones, I mean CLOTHES and such) and who know what else for those people.
@Pete Holmes – Would you please ask Jim Gaffigan the name of the person he was referring to and/or his sources and report back here? The “overpopulation is a myth” statement sound so counter-intuitive, I’m curious to know where this is coming from.
@Justin Hoskie – Agreed. I love this podcast, but whoever is responsible for writing these show descriptions (IS it Pete?) needs to add more info. Not a lot, but maybe three or four quick hits like the Nerdist podcast has.
Thanks! And now on to listening!
@Alec-
Great point, fellow guy named Alec!
@Alec
Right on, Alec. I came here to say basically the same thing. Just because Jim Gaffigan wants to have lots of children it doesn’t make overpopulation a myth. It has nothing to do with how much physical space your body takes up. It has to do with the amount of resources it takes to meet your demands. We fell entire rain forests to make more room for beef cattle, so we can’t even fit the US demand for beef in Texas, let alone all the US humans there. Each American you create has a much larger footprint on the Earth’s resources than any other single act you do, because the US consumes a fourth of the world’s resources despite being a small fraction of world population.
If Jim Gaffigan wants to have a brood of children, then just be honest about it. He should just say he doesn’t give a fuck, not try and disprove theories he doesn’t even understand. And here’s something everyone should understand, just because you can google something doesn’t make it true. Anyone can make a website, and anyone can make it say whatever they want.
Acres in Texas: 172,044,800
Population of US: 311,591,917
Each person would get .55 acres
Great episode. I must say I really enjoyed the length of this one. It left me wanting more rather than me checking to see how much time is left. Those 2.5 hour podcasts drag and are tough to get through.
I loved your comment, Bob!
Damn, that was good. Gaffigan’s completely right that fathers are second in command when the kiddies are small. However, the polarities reverse when they hit puberty. I have much confidence in his ability to take the helm, despite his dumb misstep on the overpopulation issue.
Overpopulation isn’t just about the the acreage of your lawn. That’s all about urban sprawl, but both of them contribute to the same issue: overconsumption.
There aren’t enough resources in the world to support everyone at the level we’re living. We’re already going through nonrenewable stuff at a crazy rate- how much worse would things be if everyone in China and India wanted to be able to drive to work and eat meat every day? Or how about every person on the planet?
This guy: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02diamond.html
puts it at an *elenvenfold* increase in the rate of consumption. That’s obvious impossible, so the answer is either to make do with much, much less, or support fewer people.
Did Jim G mean to say he wanted to see Tom Segura? He mentioned someone but pronounced it Seragusa.
Pete. I had a thought in regards to your vulnerability appeal mentioned in this weeks episode. It relates to different ways a comedian makes an audience feel comfortable. Some take the power from the audience and act “in charge”, like a father, to make us feel safe and free to laugh. Others give the audience the power by showing their equality or vulnerability, a certain humility even. This makes us feel safe enough to laugh because we feel the group has it covered, no doubts about who is in control, because no one is. But “secretly” you the comedian, are still in control because it was your choice to give us that gift of the equality, through revealing your “humanness”. Thanks. Love Bob
Pete, we could tell you idolized Jim…You barely spoke! Great ep, free podcast.
PETE I had no idea you were getting a talk show! That’s awesome/I know it’ll be great. CONGRATS!
Also great episode
Jim Gaffigan is one of my favorite people. He’s seems genuinely interested in comedy & other comedians and is always interesting & entertaining.
Pete, can you please put some effort into the discriptions? Pwease? 🙂