So reasons this motley crew of hip climate change activists, who produced a video in which skeptics are violently blown up, to cheerful music. They were mildly surprised that anyone would object to a video in which 10 year old schoolchildren are blown up for the fatal crime of having the Wrong Opinion. The group published a sorry excuse for an apology (“Oh well, live and learn”) that demonstrates that they learned absolutely nothing about the evil impulse towards purging your political adversaries. The echo-chamber moral certainty on display is horrifying.
I’d be more worried if they actually did it to anybody. There’s been many a time when I’ve wished horrific death on some moron that I felt was impeding my life in some small way through his idiocy.
In fact, ain’t that sort of what the Pit is all about? Give or take the killing and with a healthy dose of syphilitic boils on the testicles?
Further research shows that far from being a bunch of powerless ecofacsists, the campaign wields significant clout:
Like it or not, these are mainstream greens.
I believe that even the anarchic Pit has rules against wishing death on people. These folks have none.
I think you’re taking the ad campaign a wee bit too seriously.
I thought you’d like these people. A quote from the founder about what she’s personally doing to reduce her carbon emissions:
I thought it was wishing death on members that was out. Everybody else can eat flaming death. (And possibly should.)
You are correct, sir.
Let’s jsut say that there have been several other groups over the years who advertised about how they though massacring everyone who thought differently from them was OK. I don’t really want to encourage that. Especially not in asshats like these, because I fully believe if they got power, they’d do it. The fun, hip, counterculture people of that variety have shown a nasty historical tendency to do jsut that if they could.
I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.
Gotta love those second amendment remedies.
Viva La Constitution! 
From a believer (for lack of a better word) in climate change, I totally agree. Wishing death on people you disagree with is wrong*. I don’t think they should be running such an ad campaign. And honestly, I’m kind of surprised that I’m the first one to say this.
*Hitler Clause is in effect
Eh. . . I think you may be *slightly *overreacting there.
English humour is less obvious than American humour. I found it funny, but I can see why some might not, particularly the first part with the schoolchildren. . .
This is so retarded I don’t even know where to start. Do you know who the people in the video were? Peter Crouch and David Ginola are going to start killing people?
For fuck sake, it was written by the guy who wrote Blackadder! Not his greatest work by any means, but to think that this is some far-left group of crazy nutjobs who actually intend to kill people is just stupid.
Oh, I’m not sure they should be running such a campaign. If nothing else, it’s downright moronic from an advertising point of view, unless you have some kind of deep and abiding reason to only advertise to, not just the choir, but the people actually standing at the pulpit.
My response was just to the effect that this sort of juvenile reaction is so unsurprising that it’s hard to get very vitriolic about it. Thouch actually the more I cared about climate change, the less I’d want this sort of thing on my side.
Having just watched the video for the first time, I can’t say I even understand the message they’re trying to convey with the gorey explosions. “No pressure,” they say, before they blow up the dissenters. Is that supposed to express callous bloodlust, where they deceptively allow people to volunteer for death? Or is it a threat to the viewer: “Join us or die.”? How could this be seen as a positive message?
The closest thing I can imagine is that they’re trying to imply that there exists a serious, even mortal, threat posed by not addressing climate change. But I really don’t get that message from the video as presented.
This seems like an all-around terrible idea for a media campaign.
For my part, I didn’t really see the video as wishing death on the people who wouldn’t play along, so much as attempting to create a visceral link between inaction on climate change and the danger it poses to society. The idea isn’t, “We’ll kill you if you disagree with us,” but “You’ll die if we don’t do something about this problem.” I don’t think that message was communicated particularly well - I suspect the writer fell in love with the joke behind the commercials to the extent that he allowed it to obscure the message. As an advertisement/political campaign, it fails pretty badly. As sketch comedy, it works okay.
Also, I think it’s significant to note that the people being blown up aren’t ideological “enemies,” they’re just apathetic losers. They’re not blowing up people who argue that climate change doesn’t exist, they’re blowing up people who are too lazy to care one way or the other. Note that the last person to get blown up is the announcer (whom I suspect is a recognizable celebrity in the UK), who agrees with the goals of the organization - she is working for them, after all - but doesn’t want to make the effort to change her life to save the environment.
Worst. Christmas icon. EVER!
< singing>
*"Hitler Claus, Hitler Claus, on his one horse open sleigh!
He knows if you’ve been bad or good, but he’ll kill you either way!"*
I AGREE with the goal of reducing carbon emissions and I think this is an absolutely moronic ad campaign. It actually makes me actively NOT want to do the very thing they want me to do.
A campaign like this should be targeted at the fence-sitters, the people who might be inclined to change some of their consumption habits if given the right nudge. So you want to strike a tone of “All the cool kids are doing it … come play with us!”
Instead they make doing the right thing look like craven capitulation. “We’re asking you to do something so unpleasant and difficult that we have to threaten you with death to get you to do it!” Stupid, stupid, stupid.
The people who made this spot should be sacked. The people who hired the people who made this spot should be sacked. The people who hired the people who hired the people who made this spot should be sacked.
The announcer was Gillian Anderson.
Speaking as a professional actually working in the field of reducing carbon emissions, AND a long-time fan of British humour of all sorts, this advert is disgusting, unfunny, and offensive.
I mean that a lot of very smart, hip young people over the years have happily, eagerly gone off to support horrible, horrible tyrannies. The Fascisti, the Nazis, the Bolsheviks, Mao - the smart set were all the rage. I aim to make such discourse utterly unthinkable in the hopes fo nipping any such sentiment in the bud.
Aside from which, I mean, honestly, the ad directly advertises that killing off anyone who doesn’t live up the greeny-weeny’s standards as an ideal. Whether they themselves would do it right now isn’t my concern. Evidently, the very idea isn’t that horrifying to them.
Being an actor, even a good or good-natured one, has not generally been much of a bar to supporting psychotic killers. Who gives a fuck what they’ve done before? This is intensely disgusting, a vile and evil thing to advertise, and those who made it shoudl be deeply, deeply ashamed.