Have You Hugged Your Little Eco-Warrior Today?

Time was when kids aspired to be cowboys, firemen, ballerinas or astronauts.  Now, thanks to cable TV’s Nickelodeon, they can get a head start on becoming environmentalists:  Nick’s Big Green Hype

It’s not that that Nick has replaced “Sponge Bob” or “Fairly Odd Parents” with adult programming – Nick’s entertainment fare is still fun and silly. It’s that Nick has launched “The Big Green Help,” a multimedia campaign that encourages the network’s young viewers to become junior environmentalists, and major finger-waggers. “Nickelodeon’s Big Green Help is all about helping YOU find simple, positive ways to protect the Earth every day,” explains the home page on Nick’s Web site.

There’s nothing wrong with helping children learn there is a universe outside themselves.  In fact, it’s essential to their maturation.  Part of becoming a responsible adult is recognizing that your actions have consequences and accepting that you must take responsibility for your actions.  With luck, the little slobs may even apply that insight to their bedrooms.

According to a press release announcing the launch of the initiative, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group Executive Vice President of Public Affairs Marva Smalls said, “With The Big Green Help, we want to provide them with the necessary tools and information so they can become part of the environmental solution.”

Wait a minute.  You mean this isn’t about a child’s journey to self-realization?  Could it possibly have some other goal?  Whose brilliant idea was this, anyway?  The National Resources Defense Council.

NRDC, who’s Board of Trustees includes liberal celebrities like Robert Redford, Leonardo DiCaprio and Laurie David, boasts a staff of “more than 350 lawyers, scientists and other professionals,” and spent about $59 million on “environmental programs” including lobbying in 2007.

A glance at NRDC’s Web site is evidence enough of the council’s extremism. Humans, through greedy uncaring business interests, are slaughtering species, polluting the oceans and destroying the planet with our greenhouse gasses. The global warming we’re creating contributes to all sorts of scary – but unproven – phenomena, including coastal flooding, more frequent and damaging wildfires in the western United States and stronger hurricanes.

NRDC’s answer? It advocates massive, compulsory disruption of the U.S. economy to cut CO2 emissions. The Group’s Web site calls for new laws, regulations and technology mandates for industry, and even wants government to regulate the “appliances and equipment in our homes and offices to reduce our electricity needs.” That the cost might run to trillions of dollars and diminished liberty is of no consequence. Funny, though, just about the only measure NRDC doesn’t propose is increasing use of mostly carbon-free nuclear power.

But, surely, they wouldn’t dream of pushing their political agenda on innocent children, would they?  It’s just entertainment.  There are games (“Battle CO2 monsters in 3D!”), they can  “Pledge it!” that is, “Help battle CO2 in the in the real world by pledging Big Green Help actions,”  and they can help their parents

… by reminding “parents to turn off the engine when their [sic] waiting in the car” and reminding them to “keep their care (sic) tires properly inflated every month.”

There’s even a message board where they can vent to other  kids with the same concerns.

In other words, they can start developing philosophical tunnel vision, terminal activist syndrome, a bossy attitude and coping skills for their increased anxiety about polar bears at an early age just by watching TV.

I’m sold.  I can’t think of anything that would be more fun for a kid than that.  And think of all the money school districts will be able to save,  with no more need to teach critical thinking or problem-solving skills.  It will be a bonanza for taxpayers everywhere.

To paraphrase Pink Floyds Another Brick in the Wall part 2,  Hey! Environmentalists! Leave them kids alone.

Giving Hollywood a Facelift

Andrew Breitbart debuted  Big Hollywood Blog on January 6.   His objective is  “to change the entertainment industry. To make Hollywood something we can believe in – again. In order to give millions of Americans hope.”

But, you say, Hope and Change?  Where have we heard that before? Read a few posts and see what you think.  My verdict after reading a few days’ worth of posts is, I think he’s got it!

The blog shows  a face of Hollywood that few have seen (except for a few like Jon Voight and Chuck Norris). This intervention comes not a moment too soon, because the old witch has gotten uglier by the year.

And boring, too.  The same hobbyhorses get dragged out and ridden to death, time after time, in true catechismic form.  Who’s the bad guy?  The greedy businessman.  The religious nut.  The shallow, spoiled, selfish wealthy person.  The entire human race.  We’re all flawed. Oops! Doesn’t that sound a lot like being cursed with Original Sin? Hey, Hollywood, isn’t that just so, what’s the word, Christian?

And Hollywood celebrities:  We know what you think.  We’ve been treated to your expert opinions about everything for years.  I tuned you out long ago. Either put your money where your mouth is, or shut up and act.

Hollywood was once a symbol of glamor, excitement, and possibility. Dorian-Gray- like, the real picture of Hollywood turned out to be dripping with cubic zirconia, dreary predictability, and dead ends, filled with people whose lives differ from those of the dysfunctional characters they portray  only in the amount of wealth they possess.  A sad epitaph for a once dream-inducing vision.

The Big Hollywood blog has the potential to change that.  You’ll find that not everybody there thinks like Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and Barbra Streisand.

Thank you, Mr. Breitbart.  You’ve made me say “Hooray for Hollywood!” again.
H/T Ace of Spades