Gore Knows Postmodern Construction

Here's an interesting little bit I got from the traascript to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" I found here: "I had a classmate in the sixth grade who raised his hand and he pointed to the outline of the east coast of South America, and he pointed to the west coast of Africa, and he asked, “Did they ever fit together?” And the teacher said, “Of course not! That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” That student went on to be a drug addict and a ne’er do well. That teacher went on to be a science advisor in the current administration."

Now let us look at how he constructed this little story. Michel Foucault points out in "The Order of Things" that, if we want the mind to create a causal connection, all we have to do is put to sentences next to each other. When that happens, we assume that whatever happened in the first sentence caused whatever happened in the second sentence. We can see this happening in Gore's story. Here's a summary: A student asked his teacher if A were possible; the teacher replied, "Of course not!"; the student became a drug addict; the teacher has a position in the Bush administration. Though Gore could, of course, deny the causal connection (he never said, "and therefore, he became . . ."), but Foucault would point out that the minds of those listening to his story will create that causal connection all the same. The implication is that the student became a drug addict because the teacher told him his geology question was absurd. The addition that this teacher is now in the Bush administration implies, too, that Bush's policies are equally unscientific and will lead people to become drug addicts and "ne'er do well's."

I find it unlikely Gore has read Foucault -- though I could, perhaps be wrong about this. But it is likely that Gore has seen the works of Michael Moore, and Moore is known to do these kinds of transpositions to create causal connections in the minds of his audience. I would not doubt that this is where he got the idea to structure his little story this way.

Just part of the general no good Gore is up to in this movie. Since there is little doubt this movie is why Gore got the Nobel Peace Prize (oh, the shame, the shame!), I think I will spend a little time looking over what he said in it and posting my thoughts.