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Welcome to Show #188!
Interview: Jerry Doyle stops by to chat with Tim, Summer, and Bret about his time on Babylon 5 and his memories of working on the series, his new career as a talk show host, his observations on the political and financial state of the country, and his new book Have You Seen My Country Lately?.
Get ready for one of the feistiest and most engaging interviews you’ve ever heard on the show! (But if you listen to this at work, you might want to use your headphones!)
For more information on Jerry’s talk show and his new book, visit http://www.jerrydoyle.com
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Promo: Technorama
Wow, what a personality. I’ll need to listen to it a couple of times to really absorb it all. But, first impressions regarding NASA and politics, don’t we have to go back to Nixon and then to every single administration since, the majority of which has been a republican as president? Since Nixon cut the NASA budget, they haven’t had the money to go beyond LEO regarding manned missions, yes? If this is not true, why not? If everybody BUT the politicians in office are for going beyond LEO, then isn’t it obvious what the problem is?
So why do these ‘people’ get getting elected and re-elected? F*ing religious issues like abortion, equal rights for gays, climate change and health care for all. Space exploration gets lost in the noise from those issues as well as the anti-science agendas of the republicans and the tea-baggers. Kill all of them off then we can go into space like we mean it.
Great Interview Guys! That’s 2nd to the JMS and Snackman interviews! JD is hilarious! Even though I don’t wholly agree with his political viewpoints – there’s no denying that his character of Garibaldi is so much deeper now after hearing him speak his mind. Great job! Your team never ceases to amaze me!
*LOL* Jerry sounds like an old school Conservative. Man I’ve missed those guys. And this a proud flaming Liberal speaking here. 😉 The Old-School Conservatives, you could argue with them with sabers out, but at the end of the day something would get done (slowly, but well), and no matter how ugly it may have gotten inside the Congressional buildings, outside we’d be the kind of pals who’d jump in front of a bullet for each other. Don’t see too many of them anymore. Those that didn’t jump to another party or become Unaffiliated like Jerry are either dead (William F. Buckley) or just quit politics altogether (Lincoln Chaffee). I disagreed with a fair chunk of what you said Mr. Doyle (I’ll avoid specifics to keep this post short), but even a big ol’ pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, anti-death penalty, Yellow Dog Dem (for those who don’t know, a term that arose from the old saying ‘I’d vote for a yellow dog before I’d vote for a Republican) like me thinks you’re awesome. 🙂
I was thinking about the JD interview, and I came to a related conclusion. The issue isn’t Conservative v LIberal, Dem v Rep, Pro v Con, etc. The problem is that almost nobody in government (any government) works toward finding common ground and crafting compromise. Compromise is a dirty word, apparently. People are quick to judge, and quick to polarize. While I wouldn’t call myself a conservative (I wouldn’t call myself liberal, either), I found myself agreeing with Mr. Doyle more than I expected.
I think, after more than a decade, I’ve finally been able to put a finger on what the biggest problem our legislative branch has. Shortsightedness, brought about by playing to the talking heads on cable news networks. Most of what people watch on those networks isn’t real news, it’s opinions and agendas being polished and presented as if they were news, and the sad state of the educational system over the past 15-20 years has all but ensured that most people don’t know how to question and investigate for themselves, much less want to in order to think for themselves. As a result, all anyone seems to want to do is placate the mindless yelling incited by the talking heads, and not do what’s in the best interests of the largest segment of the community (sometimes makes you wish you could go back to the real mob rules of ancient Rome, don’t it?)
What’s been lost is understanding that most Americans aren’t on one end or the other… most of us fall closer to the midlle than we realize, with some of us leaning a tiny bit to one side or the other, or in my own case, leaning one way on some issues, and the other way on others. We’re the ones who find ourselves without a true representative voice because the propaganda that masquerades as the “news cycle” wants to push the extreme ends of the spectrum.
I remember having disagreements with real conservatives back during the Reagan and Bush 1 years, but still being able to continue to agree and disagree with each other afterwards. Nowadays, all you feel like doing is head-slapping some of these pundits to see if maybe they’re Cylons or something.
I also may not agree with everything Jerry said, but I love that he says it straight. Plus, education and the space program are on my “WTF are you doing?” list, too 🙂
Hey, there’s a thought… lawmakers need to get into the arena and throw down in hand-to-hand combat, and earn the right to speak for their constituents. And even after winning, the mob has to give them the thumbs up or the thumbs down first. And you gotta do it all over again when it comes time for re-election… if you did a good job, the mob has the option of not putting you back in the ring, but if you didn’t, you have to fight for your spot again. Maybe that’ll rekindle the lost art of “working together” 🙂
I should write a movie…
I have had a similar thought about choosing leaders, though I will admit that I got mine from watching Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome then some UFC. This was around ’96 or ’97, about the time that a friend from college encouraged me to give B5 a second chance.
Anyway, those running for office would have a duel to the death. The winner would essentially win the election. However, since no one would feel comfortable with a leader running things who got into position through cold-blooded murder, the winner would be summarily executed. I will admit that this is anarchistic/nihilistic.
In the end, I believe that corruption will always exist in government, that governments always grow larger the longer they exist, and that government will always highlight the lesser nature of mankind so long as mankind is in government.
Let me agree with the throng here, Mr. Doyle’s got to be one of your best interviews. Ever.
I forget who I stole the quote from, but it goes something like, “If the average American voted, the average politician wouldn’t have a job.”
Loved that interview.
Great interview. Treat SF fans the same as others. Jerry’s bombing in the election stems from his refusal to cowtow and bend to the system. He said everything but the name … “Ron Paul.” Top notch interview, congratulations.
Hi guys,
Great interview with Jerry Doyle! I haven’t laughed that much in awhile. My only minor gripe is that nobody asked Jerry about what might have been with a Garibaldi based segment on Mars, the one that was originally going to be included in The Lost Tales.
Jerry is the man, again, great interview, thanks!