It's difficult to edit reality though, and you seem to be forgetting that Alex the parrot could pull off these stunts live.
As he did many times, in front of hundreds of students and research assistants over the thirty years he spent living publicly at various universities, initially in Arizona, then later at Harvard and Brandeis.
Absolutely. The suggestion that some random TV footage constituted the entire scientific experiment is a gross oversimplification of the truth of Alex. As if the scientific community wouldn't have nipped the whole thing in the bud if this was simply a case of trick photography and editing that even the average forum poster could see right through. And, I guess, all scientists do some PR for the purpose of raising funding...nothing unusual in that.
But of course, Alex was a living individual not a robot, and the scientists do acknowledge that Alex had his days where he would be in a difficult mood and would refuse to give correct answers and keep changing the subject. Also he had his own ways of testing people, and those he took a dislike to he would refuse to talk to at all...or would mess with their heads. He would definitely sometimes turn it on and off by his own choice, but not due to lacking ability, just due to the mood he was in. I've been around birds long enough to know that they are more than capable of letting their scorn for idiotic humans be known...and Alex had his own mind, as does any toddler.
The story that amused me was where he kept refusing to answer the questions because he wanted them to ask him a different question, because he wanted the opportunity to use a new word he'd leaned in its correct context....and he pushed them to ask him the right question so he could triumphantly give the answer and demonstrate his new understanding. Little show off. Lot of intellectual processing going on there in that though.
I posted this link earlier too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4gTR4tkvcM&NR=1
The scientist involved answers some of the cynics, (but again bear in mind this is just at TV audience level), and verifies that Alex did indeed understand the language he'd learned, and used it not just to answer questions but also to ask some of his own, and to find out more, and to ask for what he wanted.
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