Thursday, April 21, 2011

The future of environmentalism?

10 comments:

PBM said...

A couple of things TJE.

Ross Perot said...

I think Upton must have caught him red handed in the middle of the blog-rant.

TJE said...

Or maybe he transcended the planet, as one of the people featured in the video suggested.

PBM said...

Let's compare this to the Tea Party.


First, how is this different than the Tea Party's call for revolution?


Second, yes, there were some dumb people there, but they couldn't even get everyone on camera to look like idiots which is the goal of videos like this. I could find way worse crowd interviews at Tea Party rallies where the people on camera are far less educated, and it is every single person on camera. I don't see how someone saying that community gardens are important is in any way radical or idiotic.

"Over-throw of the US Economy," please, Breitbart, I know you are trying to be sensational, but really? That's what you take away from some stupid people shouting about things. If that's what you call this, then I could call the Tea Party way worse things than I already do.

And members of the GOP encourage far worse from Tea Party members, not calling out birthers, not condemning racism and bigotry, not calling out potential violence, etc.

TJE said...

I agree PBM-- selective ridiculing. But isn't it at least slightly amusing?

PBM said...

And sidenote, like 50 of these activists came to my office on Monday (I was out sick that day but heard stories) and took my Legislative Director into the hallway and basically yelled at him for an hour. I don't think this is an effective way to get your message across and these kids seemed like aggressive hooligans, many of whom were probably similar to some of the ones in this video, but I still think they are better than the Tea Party for a couple of reasons.

1. Where was the tea party when Bush was driving up the debt, their supposed number one concern? Oh, right, yeah, they were busy voting for him and watching Fox News praise all of his policies.

2. Environmentalists have a right to be upset. If you are paying attention, the environment is going straight to hell right now and policymakers are doing an extremely minimal amount to stop this. If you pay attention to any science or nature journals, mass extinctions are on the rise, global warming is happening faster than previously thought and is being magnified by melting ice caps and permafrost. There is no sign of any of this abating. TJE, your original graph for the Charles Manson post helps illustrate these trends. I realize the tea party some how thinks that Obama's policies are an imminent danger to society as well, but looking at facts and history shows that this is not true. The S&P threat of a downgrade is the first sign of real danger caused by our debt, but again, where were these basically just far-right Republicans when Bush was in office. Oh, yeah, right they were supporting him.

On top of that, the environment can't lobby for itself. Turtles and birds are not constituents, so someone has to advocate for nature. The tea party is just advocating policies that help rich people and corporations and I'm pretty sure their lobbyists already have that situation covered

PBM said...

Yes, TJE, I do think it is amusing, but after working in a Congressional office and getting some of the calls I get from crazies, it doesn't make me feel good about this type of media outlet. The video makes Nancy Pelosi out to be some sort of Orwellian dictator in the fuzzy screen, and Breitbart's caption is just ridiculous. There are tons of people who actually take this seriously and think environmentalists are conspiring to destroy the world and that Obama and Dems actually hate our country and are actively trying to destroy it. I don't think media outlets that encourage this point of view are a good thing.

TJE said...

Nancy Pelosi is a great American.

PBM said...

The future of the conservative movement?

http://front.moveon.org/these-are-the-people-who-actually-vote-for-tea-party-candidates/?rc=tw.fol

TJE said...

Don't be bitter, PBM.