Gold Fever is yet another in a long line of lies about mining, blasting, and house cracking. Here is a link to the film. I could not raise the sound, but the images are visual enough to let you know that once again this is scandalous propaganda not based on facts or even elementary investigation–just another pastiche of pictures of weeping women and cracked houses attributed to mine blasting.
In a previous posting on this blog, I exploded the myth that the cracked houses are the result of mining operations. Yet the convenient lie continues to attract lazy and sloppy journalists–it is such a beguiling myth, so full of pathos and immediate visceral appeal, that they cannot resist the temptation to push the falsehood at the expense of truth or even elementary journalistic effort.
Of course when you catch these guys tell on big lie, you must wonder if the rest of their stuff is not also just a string of lies. On the basis of what I know and what I can make out of the film it is just that: a string of falsehoods and images strung together in a silly and lazy way to make a point they could not make if they made even an elementary effort to tell the truth.
Here are the directors of this new rubbish:
JT Haines formerly practiced as a corporate attorney in Minneapolis. JT holds a law degree from the University of Virginia and a public policy degree from the University of Minnesota.
Tommy Haines serves as the Programming Director for the Hardacre Film Festival (Iowa’s longest running Film Festival). He has a Communications degree from the University of Minnesota and a Film degree from the University of Iowa.
Andrew Sherburne is the co-Founder of FilmScene, a non-profit cinema arts group in Iowa City. He is the former publisher of Little Village Magazine. Andrew holds studio arts and computer science degrees from Grinnell College.
Now I know that area of Iowa from which they hail. My youngest is about to get a degree in civil engineering this year from the University of Iowa. Let us hope she and her fellow graduates can counteract the stuff that others in the area are generating.
Who finances this stuff? How can anybody who has made money enough to pay for this be so easily beguiled into supporting such stuff? Come on Iowa–do better than this.
PS. The two pictures that accompany this posting are of houses in the vicinity of the mine. The cause of the extensive damage is the fact that they were built partially on fill and partially on cut. Of course the fill moves and slides down the hill, taking a part of the house with it. I observed these conditions myself first-hand. My challenge to the film makers: come with me to see the houses, establish the truth, and do something to prevent the human disaster that will surely ensue when a big earthquake hits the regions and scores are crushed to death by falling houses. Maybe they will die believing it it the fault of the mine, but when they get to heaven they will learn the truth: it is bad construction practices and lies like you film makers tell that caused their deaths.
PPS. The answer to the question, who funds this stuff is given here:
Big news! Our recently completed feature documentary is now officially titled GOLD FEVER. Gold Fever witnesses the arrival of Goldcorp Inc to a remote Guatemalan village, and the dramatic struggle that ensues. Watch the newly released trailer here and learn why this story must be told. Visit www.goldfevermovie.com for more.
With the film recently picture locked, we’re moving fast towards a world premiere. Please like us at our new film-specific facebook page at facebook.com/goldfeverfilm, and follow us at twitter.com/goldfeverfilm, and share share share! Our social media friends and followers will be the first to receive news like this leading up to our first show.
And if you believe in this story, please consider helping us bring this film to audiences around the country by making a tax deductible contribution to GOLD FEVER through G Project, as a part of your year-end giving. Your assistance with outreach efforts will ensure that this film engages a wide audience.
Thank you! For more information visit the new Gold Fever website at www.goldfevermovie.com.
JT, Tom and Andrew
Scandal and emotion sell, facts are boring and do not. I’d still encourage people to seek out the facts. I know that I myself take everything I read and see with a grain of salt now that I have learned that just because something is published, cast, or displayed – it is not necessarily the truth.
Everything one reads these days has some type of a spin on it. It is difficult to find any type of unbiased factual reporting since that is boring. However as long as you are aware that you are reading spin, you can enjoy it but make the effort to seek out both sides of the issues if you really want to be informed rather than lazily entertained.
[...] hope that none of those killed lived in cracked houses I inspected. I wrote the posting at this link after the earthquake; I was not aware of the deaths at the time I wrote. Sad. And no comment [...]