It's the world turned upside down. For a child of the 60s there's something bizarre and disturbing about seeing the young neo-hippies of today with eyes full of naive dreams, carrying mass-produced signs and marching in support of the expansion of the warmongering, global, statist establishment.
It's a sign of how backwards things are in America today that the people who probably would have voted for Nixon in 1972 are now the only radicals willing to take a stand against the power elite. The young and the left-inclined are all swept up in high-dollar global media campaigns financed by some of the most reprehensible governments in the world and made happy-faced shills for political and economic interests they don't even understand.
Nowhere is this more manifest than in the excitement surrounding the Copenhagen climate conference, an event attended by a few hundred elite delegates and world leaders, but promoted heavily by every left-wing blog and organization, passing on enthusiastic support for an advertising campaign tagging the event "Hopenhagen" and surrounding it with flowers and big-eyed children and third-world mothers. The highly effective campaign is underwritten by corporate sponsors including Coca-Cola and DuPont — you know, the guys who invented CFCs and are the number one air polluters in the US. It features graphics for your blog, ready-made posters, and a website where you can post the ideas for global wealth redistribution authorized by your bosses at the Chinese shillblogging sweathouse where you work.
This is the corporatization of protest and the ultimate in astroturfed, manufactured activism, done with polish and professionalism and on a global scale which is truly impressive. Plenty of barefoot earthchildren are lending their efforts, of course. They're launching protest marches around Europe and in Copenhagen itself, taking to the streets in support of an expansion of global bureaucracy and state corporatism. Some of them are even willing to throw bricks and cobblestones to make sure that bureaucrats in gray suits with six-figure paychecks have more power and control over our lives.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Christine
Hypocrisy in action!!! Love the YouTube clip and the EMPTY free bus for the delegates.
2 - Lumpy
I looked at thatcorporate sponsorship page and the only reason I can think they would fund this is that they all do big business in china or India.
3 - Dan(Miller)
Somebody call a plumber! First it was climategate; now it is the leaked "Danish Text," reported to hand
more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations.
The document is also being interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050; meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much under the proposals.
The so-called Danish text, a secret draft agreement worked on by a group of individuals known as "the circle of commitment" â€" but understood to include the UK, US and Denmark â€" has only been shown to a handful of countries since it was finalised this week.
Developing countries that have seen the text are understood to be furious that it is being promoted by rich countries without their knowledge and without discussion in the negotiations.
"It is being done in secret. Clearly the intention is to get [Barack] Obama and the leaders of other rich countries to muscle it through when they arrive next week. It effectively is the end of the UN process," said one diplomat, who asked to remain nameless.
Gosh darn! How could this happen, in the age of transparency?
Dan(Miller)
4 - Neil Sturgis
Du Pont in Bhopal? Please explain?
5 - Neil Sturgis
Or was it Coca-Cola's environmental stewardship in Bhopal, none make sense. Do explain. December 2, 2009 was the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, and I am curious to know the role of these companies in their environmental stewardship in Bhopal.
6 - Dr Dreadful
Perhaps there was a Coca-Cola ad on the side of the tank that exploded.
7 - Deano
Not to be one of those pesky fact-checkers but it was Union Carbide at Bhopal not Du Pont....
Don't worry, just shoo those errant little facts away lest they mar the perfect, prinstine beauty of your worldview...
...lousy flippant little munchkins...always clouding the issues with their "scientific proof" and "documented history" when everyone knows truthiness rules!
8 - Dave Nalle
Yep, I confused my environmental bad guys. All fixed now.
In the interest of full disclosure I don't keep close track of who ruined which environment where.
Dave
9 - pablo
By Jove Dave you have finally done it! You have written an article that I actually agree with in its totality, I never thought that I would see the day. Good Job Bubba!
10 - Dave Nalle
Dan, I think the Danish Text is likely to be a deliberate leak designed to generate outrage against the industrialized nations and thereby coerce them into going along with the original Kyoto-like plan.
Dave
11 - Heloise
Part of "This is It" featured MJs take on global warming with a young girl and fake rainforest surrounding her. And MJ singing the song that went with it, forgot which one, and it was so lame.
If they are not more convincing than MJ in their argument re global warming then they are lost. I think my old article on global warming "Planet Earth: Waiting to Exhale" written back in May 2007 was prescient and I see now where it has had an affect on Gore's rhetoric, at least.
If the pigs were serious they would outlaw pig and cow farms, become vegan, and fly coach like everybody else. Until I see those types of changes in the media and the Gore-like elites I am NOT buying anything they are selling.
Heloise
12 - handyguy
That's a great Beatles imitator on the soundtrack. Wonder who it is? And yes, the satirical point is funny and well targeted.
But of course that bit of mockery is not Dave's point.
Nalle never, ever leaves room for nuance in an argument. Anyone who disagrees with his [ever-rigid and paranoid] ideology is not simply someone with a different point of view to have a discussion with.
They must instead be characterized as part of a massive effort by 'the Left' to take away 'our liberty' or sovereign nationhood or whatever the fuck phony, pious words he's choosing to overuse at the moment.
Does he really believe that all the national science foundations of all industrialized countries, as well as the top management of General Electric and Wal-Mart -- not to mention John McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger and other moderate Republicans -- are part of this leftist cabal?
Because they all accept the reality of global warming and the need to act.
But acknowledging any range of valid opinion on this [or any] subject, admitting that someone he disagrees with may nonetheless have a point, is not the way he operates.
And it's too bad.
13 - Dan(Miller)
Dave,
You may of course be correct. I don't know. However, the real questions should be
a)Is the document real? If so
b)Which countries prepared it and
c)Why?
Dan(Miller)
14 - Dave Nalle
But of course that bit of mockery is not Dave's point.
But I also enjoyed it.
Nalle never, ever leaves room for nuance in an argument.
Handy, this is a very straightforward issue and a very direct argument. Nuance is for more ambiguous issues.
Anyone who disagrees with his [ever-rigid and paranoid] ideology is not simply someone with a different point of view to have a discussion with.
Sure they are. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but why should that stop me from making my point. Think of it as a negotiation. I prefer to start from a position of strength.
They must instead be characterized as part of a massive effort by 'the Left' to take away 'our liberty' or sovereign nationhood or whatever the fuck phony, pious words he's choosing to overuse at the moment.
Handy, that's just the way the wind is blowing right now. I was equally vehement in my attacks on the religious right when they were still relevant.
Does he really believe that all the national science foundations of all industrialized countries, as well as the top management of General Electric and Wal-Mart -- not to mention John McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger and other moderate Republicans -- are part of this leftist cabal?
Did I say anything even vaguely like that in this article? It's the UN bureaucrats, some greedy dictators and the global corporate socialists who seem to mainly be involved here, not all the other people you list. Why is it bad to examine the motivations of the people behind these manufactured movements and question who profits from them?
Because they all accept the reality of global warming and the need to act.
There's more than one way to act, and being stampeded into a self-destructive treaty like Kyoto is an idiotic response. China actually showed us the way on this. They are choosing to deal with the issue internally and set their own standards for reducing emissions. We ought to do the same and do it on a rational basis.
But acknowledging any range of valid opinion on this [or any] subject, admitting that someone he disagrees with may nonetheless have a point, is not the way he operates.
Bull. I may have a position, but I do understand it's not the only one. Nonetheless, you're right that I'm not likely to compromise with people who want to sell out the US for the benefit of international socialism.
Dave
15 - Dave Nalle
Dan, I wish the document were real, but it shows way more good sense than you'd ever see out of Obama or Gordon Brown so I know it has to be fake.
Dave
16 - Dan(Miller)
Dave,
I don't know. Perhaps there will be some denials. I shall continue following it, and assume that you will do so as well.
Dan(Miller)
17 - STM
There'll be enough hot air generated at Copenhagen to melt both polar ice caps.
But that'll be about all it achieves.
If they're fair dinkum about cutting CO2 emissions, try getting China and India and some of other stronger emerging nations to make a commitment as well.
Then we're all on a level playing field.
Until that happens, it's just a case of moving the goalposts around.
And we in the developed nations lose.
18 - Dan(Miller)
There is no truth to the rumor that Hopenhagendas has a new ice cream brand, which must be served melted, sold under the Polar Bear brand.
Dan(Miller)
19 - Arch Conservative
Welcome to the New World Order. Give us all your money, go stand in the corner.....don't say a word.... don't even breathe and we'll leave you alone.
Ever notice if you go too far to the right you're actually on the left and vice versa?
We all know what needs to be done with Al Gore and the other NWO AGW freaks but most of us, even me, dare not say it out loud.
Hopefully there will come a day in the not too distant future.............
20 - Dr Dreadful
We all know what needs to be done with Al Gore and the other NWO AGW freaks but most of us, even me, dare not say it out loud.
Bullshit, Arch. You in particular have never been shy about speaking your mind.
21 - Dan(Miller)
Arch,
We all know what needs to be done with Al Gore and the other NWO AGW freaks but most of us, even me, dare not say it out loud.
Say it, damn it. It's high time. Don't be shy. There are too many who don't have the guts to do so.
Dan(Miller)
22 - Dave Nalle
I believe Devil's Island is currently unoccupied.
Dave
23 - Arch Conservative
Not exactly what I was thinking.
24 - Baritone
I think I know. Should I say it?
Kill them all!
Is that about right?
B
25 - STM
Hope-and-change-en-hagen