# Hey guys, since we're so sure we're right, why don't we violently slaughter our enemies? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780 "2010-10-01T22:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/41 "2010-10-02T16:21:22Z")
Okay, read the rest of the thread now. I actually make a fairly good effort to minimize my own carbon footprint, mostly because it saves me money and is not very hard (and this while living in a province that is making gigabucks from dirty oil and gas). I am fairly sure, however, that my piddling little reductions don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things when China, India, and the USA just continue with business as usual (and in China and India’s case, ramping up their emissions). Oh well, what the hell. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/42 "2010-10-03T03:52:22Z")
I just watched it. It’s very clear that they are saying that, if you don’t do their 10:10 thing, you get blown up. They specifically do the killing with the button. There’s no way around it. It can’t be claimed that these people are doing it to themselves. It’s not even help stop global warming that’s the goal. It’s specifically doing their plan. And, for over the top violence to work, we can’t believe that the person giving the message has malicious intent. It has to be some other character that is overreacting. And then it can’t be horrifying to the people involved. And it definitely can’t have any serious intent at all. If the intent is serious, the threat can be interpreted that way, too. ---
**Author:** ![Khaki\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Khaki\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khaki_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/43 "2010-10-03T07:11:08Z")
After having seen the video, I went to the thermostat for my flat’s heating, and increased it greatly. Ah, sweet sweet global warming 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/44 "2010-10-03T07:29:20Z")
> [@Khaki\_Campbell](#): > > After having seen the video, I went to the thermostat for my flat’s heating, and increased it greatly. Ah, sweet sweet global warming 🙂 Wow, you’re dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/45 "2010-10-03T13:19:06Z")
Nobody loves sick humor more than me. Nobody. But even I realize that it’s not always appropriate. I do recognize that they are saying the threat is so obvious, and the solution so clear, that it’s above politcs, and if you don’t see that you’re too stupid to live (and you then die in a Monty Pythonesqe way, safely distancing the image from one of political revenge killing). But it’s not above politics. Like it or not, all issues are politicized. It’s how people (“polis”) deal with them. If and when the worse case scenario for AGW does happen, people will indeed draw lines and start killing. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/46 "2010-10-03T14:29:27Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > 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.” Right, exactly. That’s exactly what I thought when I saw it. Overall, I didn’t think the video was done very well, but I did not interpret it as a threat to blow people up. Also, I thought it was just gross; the blood & guts was too much. Couldn’t they have made them go up in a cloud of smoke, or disintegrate into powder or something? The video was simply unpleasant to look at. I didn’t care for the ad, not because they were going all, “I KEEL YOU!” on people, but because it was just bad. Edit: > [@Michael\_Ellis](#): > > > [@Khaki\_Campbell](#): > > > > After having seen the video, I went to the thermostat for my flat’s heating, and increased it greatly. Ah, sweet sweet global warming 🙂 > > Wow, you’re dumb. **Mr. Ellis** , you make me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/47 "2010-10-03T15:07:37Z")
I hate this video because I think it might have just given middle managers everywhere an idea for how to handle United Way sign-up time. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/48 "2010-10-03T15:30:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > > [@Zebra](#): > > > > Of course the fact that actual anti-abortion supporters have set off actual bombs and killed actual people, it would be a harder sell. > > In fairness, so have environmentalists. But _our_ cause was just. Actually the problem with bombing people into being environmentally consciousness is that bombs are bad for the environment. They should have used a greener method of executing children like a noose made from hemp. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/49 "2010-10-03T15:30:48Z")
I laughed! Good old Monty Python, Black Adder, British humour. “Brazil” for the environmental age. But since so very many people have found it over the top, [10:10 has pulled it](http://www.1010global.org/no-pressure) rather than pressed it. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/50 "2010-10-03T15:37:54Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I laughed! Good old Monty Python, Black Adder, British humour. But those two examples had context behind the random violence, and this didn’t at all? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/51 "2010-10-03T15:42:00Z")
> [@wmulax93](#): > > I hate this video because I think it might have just given middle managers everywhere an idea for how to handle United Way sign-up time. 😉 Oh oh. You know, a lot of our current problems stem from overpopulation and people having too many babies - an effective solution would be a nice, lethal plague that would take out, oh, 90% of the global population and leave all the infrastructure intact. A global reset button, if you will. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/52 "2010-10-03T15:53:55Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > Wishing death on people you disagree with is wrong. No, it is not. It’s perfectly normal and happens on a daily basis. However, acting on those wishes and _inflicting_ death on people you disagree with is wrong. Example: you may be a fervent anti-abortionist. You may wish in your heart of hearts on a daily basis that doctors who perform abortions would die in writhing agony, and there is nothing wrong with that…as long as it goes no farther than that. However, picking up a gun and shooting one of them, or bombing a clinic and killing the workers, is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/53 "2010-10-03T15:55:43Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You know, a lot of our current problems stem from overpopulation and people having too many babies - an effective solution would be a nice, lethal plague that would take out, oh, 90% of the global population and leave all the infrastructure intact. A global reset button, if you will. Now that’s weird. You’re about the 9th or 10th person I’ve heard say that, or a form of it, in the last month. Is this some kind of growing trend, I wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/54 "2010-10-03T15:58:54Z")
> [@Michael\_Ellis](#): > > > [@Muffin](#): > > > > I laughed! Good old Monty Python, Black Adder, British humour. > > But those two examples had context behind the random violence, and this didn’t at all? 😕 The context is that although the purpose of 10:10 to **persuade** people to **voluntarily** reduce, the environmental crisis is so close to the tipping point that there needs to be be tremendous **social pressure**. How great? Kaboom! The irony, it [del]burns[/del] blows up. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/55 "2010-10-03T16:15:23Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > > > You know, a lot of our current problems stem from overpopulation and people having too many babies - an effective solution would be a nice, lethal plague that would take out, oh, 90% of the global population and leave all the infrastructure intact. A global reset button, if you will. > > Now that’s weird. You’re about the 9th or 10th person I’ve heard say that, or a form of it, in the last month. Is this some kind of growing trend, I wonder. Probably. > [@Muffin](#): > > > [@Michael\_Ellis](#): > > > > But those two examples had context behind the random violence, and this didn’t at all? 😕 > > The context is that although the purpose of 10:10 to **persuade** people to **voluntarily** reduce, the environmental crisis is so close to the tipping point that there needs to be be tremendous **social pressure**. How great? Kaboom! The irony, it [del]burns[/del] blows up. Social pressure would get a lot farther without all the rampant hypocrites we all see, every day. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/56 "2010-10-03T16:58:10Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > > > You know, a lot of our current problems stem from overpopulation and people having too many babies - an effective solution would be a nice, lethal plague that would take out, oh, 90% of the global population and leave all the infrastructure intact. A global reset button, if you will. > > Now that’s weird. You’re about the 9th or 10th person I’ve heard say that, or a form of it, in the last month. Is this some kind of growing trend, I wonder. Think bigger. Seeding memes for the coming holocaust, a virus engineered to selectively kill conservatives—initially spread through mandatory flu shots, and then after the onset of panic, anti-plague “vaccinations.” All mandated by Obamacare, of course. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/57 "2010-10-03T17:14:26Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > So reasons this [motley crew](http://www.1010global.org/) of hip climate change activists, who produced a video in which [skeptics are violently blown up](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDXQsnkuBCM&feature=player_embedded), 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](http://www.1010global.org/no-pressure) 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. All’s I know is, that’s Lyndsey Marshal portraying the teacher in the clip above; she played [Cleopatra in HBO’s **Rome**](http://mimg.ugo.com/201006/48951/cleopatra.jpg), and she’s mighty tasty. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/58 "2010-10-03T17:46:27Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > An attempt at English humour it may be, but it’s gone down incredibly badly here. I just heard it described as ‘a filmed suicide note’ for the organisation. I don’t find it remotely funny to be honest. Nor do I, is there something I’m not getting? It’s an embarrassingly cackhanded attempt at creating a viral ad (I think). I don’t really understand why they thought it was funny or that there was any point to the sequence of events. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/59 "2010-10-03T18:15:02Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You know, a lot of our current problems stem from overpopulation and people having too many babies - an effective solution would be a nice, lethal plague that would take out, oh, 90% of the global population and leave all the infrastructure intact. A global reset button, if you will. I’m all for it just so long as I’m one of the ones who survives. I think the ad would have made its message clearer and been less over the top had the explosions happened without the button-pushing. That just sends the message of “_we_ will actively do something about _you_” instead of “_your_ inaction will harm _yourself_.” ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780/60 "2010-10-03T21:48:10Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > You know, a lot of our current problems stem from overpopulation and people having too many babies - an effective solution would be a nice, lethal plague that would take out, oh, 90% of the global population and leave all the infrastructure intact. A global reset button, if you will. _Rainbow Six_ by Tom Clancy [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-guys-since-were-so-sure-were-right-why-dont-we-violently-slaughter-our-enemies/555780.md?page=4)