Biased and Unscientific, But Interesting for the Unfamiliar
When I started watching this documentary and they were listing off the long line of tenured experts they had working this case, I was immensely excited. I thought for sure this investigation was going to be excellent and lead to a legitimate solving of the Jonbenet mystery.
Almost immediately, however, all scientific practice was thrown out of the window.
One of the first studies they do is a deconstruction of the 911 call - specifically six seconds after the caller thought they'd hung up. During this six seconds background noises and maybe voices are caught. The team uses noise reduction and other techniques to the to isolate these noises.
Unfortunately, these techniques fail to reveal anything other than a faint possibility that words may be being spoken, however, the experts not only conclude that the noises they are hearing ARE words but they conveniently determine the words being spoken are damnifying of the Ramsey family. Anyone who is familiar with ghost hunting shows and their analysis of EVPs will understand how this is a misleading biased practice, and totally anti-science.
Ultimately, this is just one example of the many many MANY other instances of outright bias, poor science, and or leading that the team engages in. Other examples include leading witnesses with emotional questions instead of matter of fact questions, emphasising anything that suits their narrative while down playing findings that don't, completely unscientific "experiments", and overall the experts trying to involve themselves as hero's or main characters in a drama - instead of remaining as unbiased observers as scientists should be.
Overall, if you know nothing about the case and don't mind scientific practice being completely ignored and extreme bias, this miniseries IS interesting. However, it is also very flawed and not worth viewing for people with knowledge of the case or people who can't stand bad science.
Almost immediately, however, all scientific practice was thrown out of the window.
One of the first studies they do is a deconstruction of the 911 call - specifically six seconds after the caller thought they'd hung up. During this six seconds background noises and maybe voices are caught. The team uses noise reduction and other techniques to the to isolate these noises.
Unfortunately, these techniques fail to reveal anything other than a faint possibility that words may be being spoken, however, the experts not only conclude that the noises they are hearing ARE words but they conveniently determine the words being spoken are damnifying of the Ramsey family. Anyone who is familiar with ghost hunting shows and their analysis of EVPs will understand how this is a misleading biased practice, and totally anti-science.
Ultimately, this is just one example of the many many MANY other instances of outright bias, poor science, and or leading that the team engages in. Other examples include leading witnesses with emotional questions instead of matter of fact questions, emphasising anything that suits their narrative while down playing findings that don't, completely unscientific "experiments", and overall the experts trying to involve themselves as hero's or main characters in a drama - instead of remaining as unbiased observers as scientists should be.
Overall, if you know nothing about the case and don't mind scientific practice being completely ignored and extreme bias, this miniseries IS interesting. However, it is also very flawed and not worth viewing for people with knowledge of the case or people who can't stand bad science.
- callumfaulkner
- Feb 3, 2019