This is environmentalism jumping the shark:
Click image above to play the game
I don’t know where to begin, except to say that when we see things like this, we should complain loudly and incessantly. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has crossed a line beyond science, beyond decency, and beyond rational thought.
This is what you get after pressing “start”:
The screen above says: When you’re done, click on the (skull and crossbones) to find out what age you should die at so you don’t use more than your fair share of Earth’s resources!
Hat tip to CallonJim who writes:
This “kids” games at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Tell’s kids depending on their magical “carbon footprint” how long they should live?
The actual title is “Professor Schpinkee’s Greenhouse Calculator – find out when you should die!”
The thing I find amazing is the average foot print is 24.6 tonnes of CO2, which calculates out to 9.3 years old! Where it tells the child “YOU SHOULD DIE AT THE AGE 9.3!” Guess what age this kids games is marketed to? That’s right, 9 year olds.
What is most disgusting about this is that ABC ignores their own published Code of Practice
In section 2.12 they talk about content for children:
2.12 Content for Children. In providing enjoyable and enriching content for children, the ABC does not wish to conceal the real world from them. It can be important for the media, especially television, to help children understand and deal with situations which may include violence and danger. Special care should be taken to ensure that content which children are likely to watch or access unsupervised should not be harmful or disturbing to them.
I venture that any child who takes this carbon footprint test “unsupervised” without mommy and daddy around, and who may be old enough to read, but not old enough to understand he/she is being brainwashed by an agenda, would be “disturbed” find they should die at age nine, since just clicking through with default choices gives you that age.
Here is where you can contact the ABC and give them an inbox full of your opinion. This kind of propaganda needs to be removed.
http://www.abc.net.au/contact/contactabc.htm
UPDATE: There is a row developing in the Austrailian press over this.
UPDATE2: The New York Post highlights this site on June 1st with the headline “Enviro Mental Institution“
Since it’s supposed to be for kids, I had my 10 year old try it. She thought it was, in her words, “the most horrible website ever”. She’s not so easily taken in by the propaganda.
BTW, she should die by 3.3 years. I guess she should have purchased carbon credits from The goracle.
I love their Green Warrior “Greena”. A hypocrite peacenik with her smelted nose ring, earrings (ripped from the bowels of mother earth) and tattoos .
Check out the shows http://www.abc.net.au/science/planetslayer/greena.htm
What a bunch of useless propaganda.
I really should make my “If you really cared about AGW, You’d Kill yourself” T-Shirts. Of course, it probably wouldn’t be too long after that we’ll start seeing global warming suicide bombers.
Aaron, I’m in. Right out of college, I started my own little T-Shirt design company. Of course, It went no where and I soon moved on to other things, but now I realize; this venture failed due to man-made global warming!!!
This is naked evil, and the creator was sure he was well intentioned.
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Huh. It said I should die at age 9.4. Oddly enough, none of the questions about what I “spent stuff on” pertained to pasture land or trees or flowers…..you know, stuff that takes CO2 from the atmosphere.
A silly political “game” created by morons who don’t know anything about the ecosystem that they are purporting to “save”.
Enviro-fascism for kiddos. Nice, ABC. Good job frightening kids with your C02 propaganda. Keep up the good work. Hope you can sleep well at night.
Sorry, couldn’t be bothered to go to the ABC site. Does it include breathing? If you’re not a meat-eater, then I assume you’re veggie, and killing plants must be the most heinous crime imaginable to the warmists. Killing animals for food must reduce CO2 and killing plants must increase CO2. I sense some inconsistencies that must be addressed!!!
Honestly, if we chucked every eco, global warming activist, and socialist into… well, something that doesn’t harm the environment, maybe we’ll be back to living “carbon neutral” and maybe they’ll be happy then.
There was another blog I read that said after plugging in Al Gore’s information he should have died at age three. I wonder how much 50 years’ worth of carbon credits will cost Gore?
Ooops, should have read:
Here’s the next step in this process. We implant white glowey crystals into the palm of our hands, and we all live wonderful, happy, carbon spewing lives. But when we’ve expended our allotment of carbon, the crystal turns red, and we all joint carousel…
Actually I’m about to border on heresy here, but stay with me.
They are correct – this is the most honest representation of what AGW is about…
it’s all about the money – it doesn’t matter if you recycle, if you reduce emissions or whatever, it’s not about you minimizing your impact on the environment or ways to protect the environment – all that matters is how much money you gave to the approved groups.
Of course with institutions like the church they settle for a 10% tithe – but the AGW people want more, much MORE. You see it’s not about what you do or how much money you produce but how much you donate to the church of Global Warming. If this was about changing behavior – then changing your behavior would impact the end result – other controversial items such as breathing and having children would play a role. But the only way to change your results significantly is to agree to give them your money.
Well it seems that I died 53 years ago. That’s rather disappointing.
They left out one term from their “Pig” themed website; HOGWASH!
This is from my local (south side of Chicago – you know, those “whiteys’ that B.O. and his religous thugs hate so much) paper this morning…
It’s Not Easy Being Green: Environmentalists are gaining ground throughout the U.S. – but not in the Southland
BY GUY TRIDGELL Staff writer
Green, schmeen.Nothing can get a south suburbanite’s mustache off kilter quicker than getting accused of not climbing on the bandwagon of the latest sissy trend fast enough. We here are legendary for embracing yesterday’s trends tomorrow.
Remember Disco Demolition Night? An entire genre of popular music was brought to its knees by a gang of rowdy South Siders on a fiery night at the old Comiskey Park. One day, we’re telling the world what we think by blowing up a big pile of their vinyl records in the outfield at 35th Street and Shields Avenue.
Are we watching history repeat itself? The green movement might be gaining momentum elsewhere. It’s just not getting much traction around here.
Why? Maybe because going green is getting, well, kind of stupid.
Let’s face it, you tree huggers out there, you have become part of a huge marketing gimmick. You are getting played for a buck. When the obituary for the green movement is written, it’s probably going to start with a south suburban dateline.
Consider:
• Trader Joe’s. The hawker of fancy “groceries,” such as free-range salmon and organic dental floss, is refusing to put out much of a welcome mat in these parts. Don’t even go looking for Whole Foods and its famed arugula, whatever that is.
• Electric cars. Try finding a true electric vehicle in these parts. None of this hybrid nonsense, but a car that runs strictly on batteries. A dealership for electric cars opened in Oak Forest last year. It closed after a few months.
• Solar energy. Looking to use the sun to heat your water and power your home? Just one guy in the south suburbs sells solar panels. And he’s still waiting for that first customer.
• Carbon offsets. This latest fad within the green fad allows airline passengers to pay a little extra on their fares. Bill Frank, a Homewood travel agent, said he is waiting for the first call from a south suburban client who even utters the words “carbon footprint.”
Lionel Trepanier, leader of a local environmentalist group known as the South Metro Greens, has learned that being an environmentalist in the Southland can mean sticking out like a sore thumb at times. His reasons for why it ain’t happening? Here, collars are blue. Trepanier said global corporations for years have preached that environmental causes are bad for businesses and job growth. But according to Trepanier, it’s those same corporations that are exporting jobs to countries with lax environmental laws, leaving the blue-collar worker to suffer.
St. Xavier University biological sciences professor Christopher Appelt believes that day is coming. Appelt said being green historically meant having a particular political bent. And while we might be Democrats around here, we’re not necessarily the liberal Democrats.
When it comes to going green, we are still old school. It’s enough to make a Southland resident want to throw in the towel when it comes to converting to a green lifestyle. At least he knows it might take up some good space in a landfill.
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/979253,060108aacoverstory.article
[…] Thanks, once again, to Watts Up With That? […]
This is very sad. Terrorizing and brainwashing children to advance a political agenda.
Harkens back to the Hitler youth of the ’30s and ’40s.
I tried the game and it told me I’d live forever. I agree that this is a bizarre way to engage 9-year-old children in sustainability concepts. I’d like to know more about the communication theory behind this game. It appears to be targeting boys who are a little into the “garbage pale kids” mindset — a little into the pukey and grotesque, eager to see pigs explode, that sort of thing. But, does this over-the-top “you are average in your effects on climate change, therefore you should die at 9.2” strategy work for the assumed demographic? It appears it would more likely cause a child to feel self-righteous in their lower than usual contributions to greenhouse emissions (kids don’t drive, fly much or spend tons of cash so probably end on “you will live forever” when they reach the end). In my opinion, an elitist attitude toward one’s lesser individual greenhouse emissions will do little toward propagating the values all of humanity will need to adapt if it is to avoid the predicted consequences of climate change. Individuals, alone, can do very little to steer us away from the shipwreck. Governments, corporations and large organizations need to get their carbon and pollution emitting asses in gear on preventing climate change before we can even begin to make a dent on the problem.
The icecap has a couple of good posts today on sunspots and and May temps.
http://icecap.us/index.php
Concerning this ABC test, it’s just plain sophomoric and stupid.
In a way I’m glad they put this out, as it’s a prime exhibit of their scrap grade quality propoganda. Everyone now sees what idiots they are acting like.
This is a load of c***!
This is what my tax dollar pays for?
Someone just shoot me : )
The similarity between the Australian Broadcasting Company website Planet Slayer and the brainwashing of German children by the Nazis is shocking. The Nizkor Project is dedicated to the 12 million victims of the Holocaust. They have a chilling report, written by Mary Mills, of the Nazi propaganda techniques which were used to indoctrinate German children to hate all non-Aryans.
Propaganda and Children during the Hitler Years
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/mills-mary/mills-00.html
Like the Nazis the first objective of the ABC is to dehumanize their enemies by depicting them as sub-human, or this case “Greenhouse Pigs”. Ms. Mills provides an example of Nazi new math.
“The Jews are aliens in Germany–in 1933 there were 66,060,000 inhabitants in the German Reich, of whom 499,682 were Jews. What is the per cent of aliens?”
Let’s help the ABC and update this math problem for them
The Greenhouse Pigs are aliens in Australia–in 2006 there were 19,855,288 inhabitants in Australia, of whom 499,682 were Greenhouse Pigs. What is the per cent of aliens?
Here is an example of another Nazi new math problem with is very similar to the ABC’s current thinking.
Some Mathematics Lessons from Nazi School Books
http://www.ethicsineducation.com/Nazi%20math2.pdf
“Various calculations place the cost to the state of a mentally ill patient at 1500 Reich Marks per year. (To educate) a remedial student costs 300 Reich marks, an elementary school student 100 Reich marks and middle and high school students about 250 Reich Marks each. Restate this problem by calculating other possible alternatives. Careful estimates place the number of mentally ill patients, epileptics and others in (German) institutions at 300,000 persons. What is the total yearly cost of this at four Reich marks per person per day? Disregarding repayment how many new Marriage Grant loans at 1000 marks each could this sum provide?”
Just change a few words and you would have a math problem which the ABC would be happy with. Once you have dehumanized a group, genocide becomes so much easier.
Anthony recommends that we contact the ABC which is good advice. We should also contact File Victoria http://film.vic.gov.au/ who apparently developed the content for Planet Slayer at http://film.vic.gov.au/www/html/39-contact-us.asp. Here is additional information about File Victoria which reports to the Minister for Innovation (AKA Minister for Propaganda).
About Film Victoria
http://film.vic.gov.au/www/html/32-about-film-victoria.asp
Yes, brainwashing children is definitely innovative!
There is one other thing which those of us with advanced computer skills can also do. Download a working mirror of the Planet Slayer http://www.abc.net.au/science/planetslayer/ website for possible future legal action. Someday sanity will return to Australia and the perpetrators of Planet Slayer should be charged with child abuse or worse.
Mike
I was very close to being a green pig. What failed me was that I don’t invest in renewable energy stuff (the last question). My small, but plump pig exploded, and I am expected to kill myself at 23 for my planet’s sake. I turn 22 in August.
I don’t drive. I live in a two room apartment. My energy bill is tiny. But I eat a lot of meat and don’t invest in renewable energy. I suspect even a ‘green pig’ would yield an unsatisfactory life span.
In addition, the 10th question: “How much money you spend” seems to have almost absolute control over your results, secondary to the percentage you invest. It doesn’t matter how much you do… if you’re rich like Al Gore you’re still going to fail unless you give it all away to renewable energy and ecosystem organizations.
You can live forever if you do everything right – but by then you’re living in a one room flat with 4 people, bicycling to work every day, never flying, barely using electricity, recycling your poop and your room-mates poop, never eating meat, not buying anything unnecessary, and investing 100% of your non essential cash into businesses that make environmentally safe products. I got a -357.0 by spending the maximum on question 10 and giving 100% to the organizations on question 11.
So basically to pass I have to either live like a bum or be insanely rich.
My Great-Grandparents, Grandparents and parents lived in the Los Angeles (California) basin which is the large Los Angeles area ringed by coastal mountains and, therefore, traps pollution in the basin during all warm weather. During all three of their generations, Los Angeles disposed of its’ trash by way of every household (and businesses) within the L.A. Basin having their own backyard incinerators. Every household was expected to burn their own trash and, guess what, the air was filled with – and I mean FILLED – with lots and lots and lots of soot and smog all the time. Los Angeles back then had a permanent layer of smog and haze that current generations cannot even begin to understand. And guess what? My Great-Grandparents lived into their 80’s, my grandparents lived into their 80’s, I have one parent who passed away in her late 70’s and one parent who is pushing into his late 80’s. So I’m thinking this “carbon footprint” stuff is pretty much bogus and has taken on a life of its’ own because it sells – mainly it sells FEAR so we’ll give away a lot of our personal freedoms to crafty folk who have figured out ways to profit from our fear (and stupidity?) So they sell us “carbon credits.” GOOD GRIEF!! What a racket!! How bogus can that get?
And you know the scariest thing of all? It’s that a whole bunch of people don’t exercise critical thinking skills and buy into this stuff. Hmmmm…..now that’s really scary!
“Mac”
Might be a case to be made (do I have to go to actually go to their web site to decide?) that this is a high school sophomore’s first attempt at satire. It takes practice to get good at it. If you wanted to cast AGW’ers in the dimmest light possible, you couldn’t do much better than a “game” designed to allow the user to “find out what age you should die at…”
So the Australian Broadcasting Company is saying, “Hey kids! Save the planet; kill yourself!”
To which my response is: “Okay, guys. You go first.“