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Penn & Teller on Environmental Hysteria: when does taking prudent, intelligently-reasoned steps turn into politically-motivated and mindless fanaticism?

REVIEW

Before we get to the Penn & Teller video below, let's look at this not from a scientific or environmental point-of-view, not from the merits or lack thereof of the facts, but from a psychological and sociological pov.

Three of the methodologies and essential ingredients that tyrants, despots and fascists, for example, have in common with one another is: (1) they have to find a way, they have to find that one cause they can then use to whip their supporters into a frenzy through fear, anger or usually both; (2) they must find a willing constituency, willing to suspend an otherwise normal disbelief to then become devoted followers and (3) they have to make that cause somehow come off cool, a cause celeb, so to speak.

History has shown us that Adolf Hitler in Germany, Idi Amin Dada in Uganda, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Fidel Castro in Cuba, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela as well as religious fanatics of all faiths and stripes past and present have all done precisely that:  found someone to hate, induced fear through repetitive diatribes with the ultimate goal of inculcating their cause into the so-called mainstream culture of their society.

Now, in fairness to all tyrants, despots and fascists, American political campaigns also seek to whip their respective constituencies into a frenzy by demonizing the opposition, inducing fear and distributing endlessly those 10-second sound bites, the repetitive diatribes designed to get the votes out but which invariably and often become part of the American Pop Culture lexicon. Where's the Beef particularly comes to mind as does Read My Lips, No New Taxes, the recent Yes We Can and the current Change We Can Believe In - - - along with the always useful term Dittoheads, a pejorative reference to describe the allegedly mindless listeners of conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

And just today, there's a news story purporting to have scientific evidence that more people are likely to develop Kidney Stones because of Global Warming. Yup. Read the piece for yourself, but understand that doctors know how they form but cannot tell you why or how to prevent them from forming. Oh, and don't forget it's been widely accepted for years that staying hydrated is a good thing, especially in warmer weather.

Now, we should probably say here that of course, not every passionate follower of any particular cause is mindless, certainly there are a ton of well-reasoned, thoughtful, intelligent and genuinely dedicated folks within every cause.

But in the video below - from the creative team of Penn and Teller - you'll see how easy it really is to lead people into becoming mindless followers, even stirred up enough to sign a petition to ban . . . water.

Car exhaust, office smokers, illegal incineration, asbestos exposure & welding fumes happen everywhere: yet Seattle wants to ban beach bonfires to prevent Global Warming

A "Progressive" City on the verge of unsupportable insanity?

EDITORIAL

Not quite sure whether this nation has totally lost its mind yet, but one thing is for certain, those environmentalists promoting protections against Global Warming are trying, once again, to douse the flames at Alki Beach in Seattle.

At issue is apparently a generational tradition, summer bonfires on the beach, in designated fire pit areas. Now, some morons took to burning a couch back in 2004 as well as some other unappealing materials in other incidents, but as the article conveys, those have been greatly reduced with increased patrols.

But now Seattle's local officials or commissions and/or agencies are now jumping on the latest attempt to legislate an outright ban on those bonfires, to avoid "the carbon ... emissions produced by thousands of beach fires per year contribut[ing] to global warming."

Here at [: neon :], we exercise our contributions to protecting the environment, e.g., no longer buying water in plastic bottles (re-useable instead), separating paper, glass and plastic, taking groceries home in re-useable canvas bags, keeping thermostats borderline uncomfortable, buying Hybrid vehicles, etc.

But the one thing activist environmentalists have been in heated debate and passionate disagreement over is what does or does not contribute to so-called Global Warming - or taken a step further, whether Global Warming is real . . . or a politically-motivated and well-crafted hoax.

• The former head and founder of The Weather Channel, for instance, took Al Gore and the current management of that channel he no longer controls to task for their perpetuation of the Global Warming theory;
• The President of Czechoslovakia challenged Al Gore (again) to a debate on what Gore and Company have been espousing about Global Warming;
• Global Warming activists have been accused of causing the record-breaking increases in the cost of food;
• . . . and yet there remains no absolute, scientifically irrefutable evidence that Global Warming even exists,
• challenged further just this year when record cold temperatures were recorded in a number of cities in this country and elsewhere.

Global Warming may or may not actually exist because again, the jury is still out.

And although we're not particularly impressed by any yet-to-be substantiated theory advanced by or through political motivations, we are nevertheless very concerned when any Government of its people considers legislation supporting that theory.

At that point, the rights of its citizens - entitled to enjoy their beaches in their own accustomed and traditional way - controls.

Not theory and speculation.

Hey Al Gore, would 'ya talk to the Kennedys for us?

EDITORIAL

Where's Al Gore when you really need him?

Last week, just before the start of the Memorial Day weekend, we took a trip to Hull, MA and on the way back, made sure we shot some video of their apparently very successful Wind Turbine towering above the town. This is the same Wind Turbine, in concept, that alternative energy advocates want to put into Nantucket Sound, as Wind Farms. But unfortunately, sound energy policy - definitely no pun intended - has been trumped, so to speak, and again with no intentional pun, because these turbines would then be within eyesight of the wealthy waterfront homes of the Kennedys and their fellow neighbors of Hyannis.

Last we checked, they have (whomever they are) somehow managed to stop the Wind Farm installation in Nantucket Sound. Whether they've done so for the self-serving reasons of preserving their pristine backyard waterfront views or because they feel entitled to unfettered sailing throughout Nantucket Sound, despite the projected as substantial energy savings from such an effort, there are no Wind Farms in a body of water where they could do the most good and become a respected prototype to further our nation's goal of reducing our dependence on oil.

Is this yet another example of Al Gore, Teddy Kennedy (our prayers are still with him) and John Kerry forever telling us how we should behave, yet they're entitled to march to their own drummers?

Whatever.

Yes, Ann Coulter is to the Left what Al Gore is to the Right, but this was funny stuff

Although we try to remain apolitical on [:neon:] - we really do but it ain't easy sometimes - there have been occasions when we spoke our minds as equally ardent environmentalists yet told someone like Al Gore to just shut up. (here) Ever so respectfully, of course.

We also collectively read about 250+ blogs every day, some of them exclusively political, but the lists of sites from both the Left and the Right are pretty evenly split, 'cause all we really want are indications of what the aggregate buzz is at any particular moment on any one side.

Today, however, Matt Drudge has drawn our attention to conservative pundit Ann Coulter's latest column, and no matter what you may think of her, we just couldn't let her unique skills to turn-a-phrase go unnoticed.

If you'd care to read her entire post, you can find it here. But the particularly amusing comment, one which some might consider crude, is specifically the last sentence of the block quote below where she mentions you-know-who:

Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, lost an election that should have been his in a walk. In fact, he was the first incumbent president or vice president in 100 years to lose an election in peacetime with a good economy. Mind you, that was before we even knew that Gore was a deranged conspiracy theorist who believes the Earth is in serious peril from cow flatulence.

As we said, an interesting turn-of-the-phrase - and yes, we promise to find and post equally amusing bon mots from the Left hammering the Right - although vicious or cruel humor from either side will always be verboten.

The hypocrisy of some celebrity green: exceptions to their rules?

EDITORIAL

"Hypocrites! They're all hypocrites! Mind they do not take you in, Thomas."

Such were the words I remember speaking when playing King Henry the Eighth (bellowing to Sir Thomas Moore in political Socialist Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons) while in my disastrously embarassing first semester of college, way back when.

But truer words have never been spoken, especially when it comes to so-called green celebrities, those allegedly devoted, dedicated, environmentally conscious lot who preach the good word to us - - - while going off on their merry ways with a seemingly chronic do as I say, not as I do mantra.

Today, the British newspaper The Daily Mail highlighted some of the more egregious faux-pas (what is the plural of that phrase?) that actually evoke more derision and mockery than anger.

For instance, Babs, Barbra Streisand, aside from her magnificent voice that has blessed our airwaves and stages for almost five decades, has been an outspoken, nay, ardent environmentalist, Liberal Democrat and of course, Al Gore supporter.

But catch this. (Sorry for the giant print, but that's how their .jpeg image turned out).

Thirteen, 53-foot semi-tractor trailers and four rental vans?

Then there's stuff about Leonardo DiCaprio, Madonna, Brangelina, Prince Charles, but for fellow Jersey boy and commercial jet pilot John Travolta, this was even beyond excessive (Again, sorry for the giant print, but that's how their .jpeg image turned out):

In that big jet all alone.

Well, he certainly has the right, but it's nevertheless a pretty ugly way to be caught with your hypocrisy showing.

Ethanol, biofuels, skyrocketing food prices, $4 per gallon @ the pumps and hey, where is Al Gore?

EDITORIAL

If you took a position that became untenable, unworkable, impractical and unpopular because you and your supporters had myopically failed to anticipate the full financial consequences of what you were recommending and the pain you were now causing, especially to poor folks, you probably wouldn't be available either.

We're talking about biofuels and the negative impact many are saying they're having on worldwide food supplies, as per The New York Sun:

“I don’t think anybody knows precisely how much ethanol contributes to the run-up in food prices, but the contribution is clearly substantial,” a professor of applied economics and law at the University of Minnesota, C. Ford Runge, said. A study by a Washington think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute, indicated that between a quarter and a third of the recent hike in commodities prices is attributable to biofuels.

Last year, Mr. Runge and a colleague, Benjamin Senauer, wrote an article in Foreign Affairs, “How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor.”

“We were criticized for being alarmist at the time,” Mr. Runge said. “I think our views, looking back a year, were probably too conservative.”

So why is everyone looking for a statement from poor Mr. Gore?

“Crop-based biofuels are not part of the solution. They, in fact, add to the problem. Whether Al Gore has caught up with that, somebody ought to ask him,” the professor said.

Frankly, we're active environmentalists, recycling paper, plastic, batteries, ink cartridges, fluorescent lights, we're even buying hybrid vehicles, essentially taking whatever steps are necessary to do our part in preserving and protecting our environment.

But now, faced with $4 per gallon prices at the pumps, OPEC warning us of $200 a barrel for oil, warehouse clubs restricting sales of certain foods, articles detailing the unprecedented coming food shortages in the U.S., riots and death from rising food prices in the Caribbean, the domino effect that surging fuel prices have on air travel, weekly grocery bills and overall forced cutbacks in spending worldwide - as well as the mounting scientific challenges to and allegations against his environmental theories - at this point, we kind of think Al Gore should have just retired, maybe sit on the front porch of his estate smooching Tipper, do lunches with Leonardo DiCaprio or count chads.

Ouch?

Hey, if the above isn't sufficient proof that Al Gore has gotten it all wrong and that too many innocent and poor are now paying the price, then let's just wait for some more suffering, you know, just to be sure.