Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mt. Everest, Iran, and Donald Trump
So where do we begin tonight? Think in terms of Donald Trump’s near attack on Iran, as the President decided at the last minute to not attack the country. This came after a drone was shot down and the reactions to Trump’s decision were all over the place. There were some who criticized the President on his network of choice (Fox News), and we also heard him try to think through his rationale in public.
The opening segment was actually pretty short — Oliver covered everything with Iran and Trump quickly. Could’ve he have spent more time on this? Sure, but this happened days ago and at this point, we’ve heard so many different thoughts and opinions about this already. With that, we moved on to a montage of Meghan McCain on The View before inching forward towards our main story of the night.
The story of Mt. Everest – This was the main story of the night. This is a story that we’ve heard about in the press as of late, and for good reason. The world’s tallest mountain has become somewhat of a major safety hazard — there have been a ton of people climbing Everest for quite some time now. It would be a dangerous mission without thinking about the crowds; with the crowds, it has become somewhat of a nightmare. It’s a tourist destination for adventurous people who want to claim that they’ve pushed themselves completely to the limit.
What this segment did an outstanding job at, first and foremost, was giving you a good sense of the various components that constitute the Mt. Everest industry — that includes sherpas, the people who are hired in order to help people to get to the summit. These people have some of the most dangerous jobs in the world, catering to climbers who think that they have it tough … but they have it way tougher. He also talked about how Nepal’s rules are a little lax when it comes to unqualified climbers — mostly because of who touring companies are willing to bring up to the summit.
There are things that can be done to fix the problem, including rules on the number of climbers and more strict vetting process. Originally, climbing Mt. Everest was really about discovery and survival. The whole process of making it easier somewhat eliminates the point; people can still die doing it, but they aren’t even climbing for the right reasons.
The best thing about Oliver’s segment tonight? The random monologue that he gave to his parent company AT&T, who he has roasted for their cell-phone receptive over the years.
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