A Kid Speaks Out: We Won't Be Cute, We Won't Be Patronized & We Won't Be Denied Our Future

[orleans]

Run time: 01:43 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgvnqv1-_D4   Posted on YouTube: September 02, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 03, 2007 By DU Member: orleans Views on DU: 7648

 
greenpeace. helping to save the environment.

from original poster:
"Greenpeace Angry Kid
This is a shocking video attempting to make people to wake up and realize the crimes they commit against their own future, their children's future.
One of the best I've ever seen.

"The purpose was to awake and to shock and i believe it did it pretty good. (more)

[depakid]

1. If boomers & Gen X'ers think that these kids will keep subsidizing them

after the way that they've been treated (with zero tolerance, environmental ignorance, and sell outs of their economic and Constitutional legacies) by Republicans AND Democrats alike- then they have a BIG surprise in store for their "twilight years" and one that's rightly due.

[YOY]

10. Great kid Blame me

I'm living high on the hog. WOOO HOOO! Swimming in money and burning as much as I can. Doing absolutely nothing for the environment because I'm a Gex-Xer. :sarcasm:


Spare us your BS. I've seen enough idiot teenagers willing to be fed pablum bs to be reaffirmed that the Republicans will have no shortage of voters in the nearby future. Want proof of that? High School Musical 2.

I've seen boomers here blame X-ers because we don't protest enough. I've seen X-ers blame boomers because they're supposedly a greater percentage of waste and misuse.

If that's not enough for you then go listen to some Linkin Park and pout.

[pstans]

48. You don't have to be wealthy to do something

Do you recycle? Do you carpool or bike to work? Do you compost? Do you have compact florescent bulbs in your lights? Have you urged you local government to follow the Kyota treaty? Have you asked candidates the hard questions about global warming?

By saying you aren't wealthy, so can you do, is a cop out and shows how apathetic our nation has become.

[Yupster]

73. We're doing a lot more than the generation that came

before us. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

Our cars are more efficient, our food is more healthy, our air and lakes are cleaner. We are much more educated about the problems.

We've gone a long way toward handing the next generation a planet that can be changed greatly for the better.

So what more needs to be done?

Pleanty of course.

Number one is to reduce the birthrate even more than we did.

So kid. We're handing you a planet better than the one we were handed. Do even better than we did, and we'll all be okay.

And don't have more than two kids. Then we'll all be okay and you won't have to be so angry and then grandma will pinch your cheeks because you're such a cutie.

[YOY]

105. Yes, No (public transportation), Yes, Yes, Not really because it's pointless, Yes

Is that satisfactory?

[tactics]

102. are you kidding!!!!!!!!!!!

its people like you who make me ashamed to be a soldier.

[Name removed]

104. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

107. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[YOY]

108. Who do you think you are Captain Specialpants??

Are you 12? Where did you get all that BS from? Pretty unzen dude. My God, you're the first self proclaimed "Zen Buddhist" who I've ever seen who has flipped out and started spouting nonsense.

What does me not liking Disney pablum offend you? You think it makes me an elitist? Guess what? The sh*t that passes for entertainment these days is beyond Pablum. That includes NASCAR and American Idol.

My god, My head hurts from reading your simple minded dribble....Grammar dude, look into it when you're not busy bragging about your service. I try not to brag too much about my own.

And where the hell did I come across as "anti-soldier"? Are you mindbogglingly insane??? If anything you seem to think that you are better than me or anyone here who has not served in the armed forces. Newsflash sunshine, that "avatar" means I've served too. It also means that I must be some hippie kumboyah type...if you're an idiot. Of course maybe you're threatened by my lifetime 30% off on Avis car rental...

If being a soldier makes you more special than mine than guess what? I've taken that oath too or maybe you actually think I need you to protect me. I've lived in some hellholes buddy. You weren't there. I've got respect for those who've served this country...I also know that not everyone who has served his or her country is worthy of a clap on the back by merit of that service alone.

[tactics]

109. i seem to have forgotten what you wrote

it was deleted so...
i specifically said i was AVERAGE. created equal or something like that.
and about the grammar. idontcare.
why dont you continue on your path, and hopefully all your posts wont get deleted.
bye

[YOY]

110. I never called you "average!" What are you getting at?

Granted, I do appreciate the proper Zen Buddhist reply.

[1monster]

12. ??? I'm a boomer and I haven't been subsidized by these kids yet...

Have you?

It is the baby boomers and now the gen-xers who have been subsidizing everyone else. But of course, it is always popular to blame the boomers for everything.

As for zero tolerance, we parents are just as victimized by it as the kids; they are OUR kids! I've been railing against and arguing against and fighting against zero tolerance since I first heard of it.

on edit: The zero tolerance zeitgeist is the same thing behind mandatory sentences and repressive laws that we all are affected by...

[GreenEyedLefty]

19. Zero tolerance = zero common sense

Oy!

[depakid]

57. Social security and medicare are and HAVE TO BE subsidized

by younger workers. That's how the system works!

And I'm saying that the way kids have been brought up- in an atmosphere of "gimme mine" excess which they learned from adults and watched as their schools were trashed, programs shut down, libraries close- college made unaffordable, etc., is bad news for people who expect them to act any differently towards their elders as a whole than the way they've been brought up to expect for themselves.

And it's rightly deserved, considering the utter lack of value that American society has placed on intergenerational equity.

I for one, don't expect to see much in the way of social security (or other programs) when my time comes in the 2030's. Times are going to be extremely tough- and my generation and the preceding one made things all that much worse for their world.

[Courtesy Flush]

61. I really can't stand zero tolerance

More stupidity is being caused by zero tolerance. It's crazy.

Imagine someone asks you to support zero tolerance for child pornography. You'd agree, right? It's a good idea, until you get arrested for possessing a fine art print of a naked cherub. They really do take things to such stupid extremes. Never support zero tolerance.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

51. We'll be lucky if they don't mulch us boomers up for use as fertilizer...

...who could blame them if they did.

[PSPS]

2. Others are going this route too

There's an excellent batch created by the Ad Council which use a similar theme. This is, or should be, a good tack to take. However, the target audience is, sadly, a bunch of sociopaths who simply have no empathy at all.

[lligrd]

3. Actually, It Creeps Me Out A Bit

I realize that is the intent but it tells kids that it is okay to treat us all with contempt.

[Primus Omega]

4. and people my age and those behind us shouldent....why?

i'm a democrat, and even i'm sick of the games. hillary swings wildly from right to left on various issues, obama still hasn't said anything of substance as to what he'd ACTUALLY do in office, and the other contenders are bending over backwards to show that their in the middle.

off course the republicans are worse, but the facts are the same.

i've heard plan after plan, announcement after announcement, but i've yet to see any actual work done.

[lligrd]

6. Because If It Weren't For Some Of Us

You wouldn't even know what was happening. If this gets the next generation to wake up and take action then I am all for it. In fact I have been waiting for them to help. Just remember that it was the "hippies" that stood up the first time.

[SmokingJacket]

52. Yeah, who does he think bought him that sweatshirt?

Made him his pb and j this afternoon? TAUGHT him about global warming?

(I'm proud that my kids are very environmentally minded -- but it's not like that happened in a vacuum.)

[provis99]

86. probably the sweatshirt was made by sweatshop labor, too

[Courtesy Flush]

64. It creeps me out too, for different reasons

I hate it when people manipulate kids. They're easy to frighten, and they repeat what they're told. Ever watch "Jesus Camp"?

The kid has either been manipulated, or he's a hired actor who's manipulating other kids. Let the adults worry about these issues, and let the kids play ball and ride their bikes. It's despicable... no matter which side does it.

[tactics]

103. waht would you fight for?

you (ambiguous you)allow a war for oil. you allow a war for money. you allow the rich to rob and steal with no reproach. wars are started for imaginary lines on a map, for insult, for religion. YET WE CANNOT FIGHT FOR OUR FUTURE???

[cooolandrew]

5. That's very cool.

[MatrixEscape]

7. That would have been much better ...

if it didn't sound scripted and preachy and bushist. It was that good old, sensationalistic, now hackneyed, black and white thinking, "You are with us or against us!"

Not everyone is for what is doing the future to this young lady. Not everyone has personally befitted from the legacy she has been told to mouth. Not everyone is sure that the Global warming we are experiencing is only man-made and not natural, even though they could totally agree that our ways need to be completely mended as far as our treatment of our biosphere are concerned.

To hear a young person mouth epitaphs of scorn, ridicule, and rage, while knowing that her stage of development does not entitle her to that viewpoint to the degree that more experience and knowledge would allow, makes me feel that this is just a from of theater, rather than a sincere and motivating voice from our youth. After all, many of us already fret and even sweat tears of blood for what this culture might inflict on future generations. We may be one of the only generations to have the means and motivations to do so with integrity, thanks to the amount of information and perspective at our disposal.

To show a young person so filled with contempt for adults without a consideration that many of us do not hold the reigns of control for what is happening, though me way be compliant, seems to be yet another offshoot of what I see as divisive tactics and I don't know if they serve a valid and cohesive cause. We are all in this together. The older folks have experience and knowledge to share and the younger folks have the energy and idealism to expose it to. We are a whole species from young to old and each has something to give to the other. The comparisons and antagonisms should be part of a natural dynamic that leads to synergistic results, not medai-induced, artificial generation gaps and age wars.

I am appalled to see Greenpeace stoop so low as to create media that mimics the very same divisions that our current, corporate mono-culture has created in order to divert and diminish personal power in order to prevent the kind of major threat that a greater, cohesive massive action by like minded, symbiotic peoples. Yes, people in the past were nationalistic and xenophobic, but today, that tendency might naturally be dissolved by the nature of our access to mass-communication and the influx of sensibly eclectic ideation. Therefore, it only makes sense to continue to divide and conquer as much as possible, and this video is exemplary in that case.

The old, young, and in-between, all matter in equal, but varying ways for compassionate beings who understand life. To set one off against the other is simply an ignorant, superficial mistake. We have no way of knowing what kind of future the hypothetical, scripted child in this video might create, should there be a future for said. That kid could be the next Hitler or Jesus or just a robot guiding fast food worker for all we know. In that respect, does that spokes-kid have any real right to stand before us and chastize the only life that we have to live right now, all things considered? No. Of course not. This video only exists as the product of somebody's imagination in order to manipulate us or incite a reaction, plain and simple.

I do care about future generations, even to the point of hoping that either we solve the endless slew of increasing and unsolved, self-made problems, or we STOP CREATING future generations by choice. That is negative utilitarianism, by the way.

[IndyOp]

9. I am with you - we MUST get beyond friend/enemy, black/white thinking.

I appreciate the fact that we need some shock delivered to the system to WAKE PEOPLE UP - and that anger can be righteous - but this does not do it for me.

[Labors of Hercules]

23. This was not intended for you. just saying. nt

[ChazII]

38. Poster 7 and 9

thanks for articulating my thoughts.

We must move past the them against us mentality. :thumbsup:

[bedpanartist]

37. you need to send that to Greenpeace

it's spot on.

[GliderGuider]

8. Greenpeace activists delayed a coal barge on Thursday

I wrote a letter to the editor of the Toronto Sun and to Joe Warmington in response to a column. Please indulge me.

RE: 'Somebody has to answer'
http://torontosun.com/News/OtherNews/2007/09/01/4462970-sun.html


To the Editor and Joe Warmington,

When I heard about the Greenpeace activists boarding the Algomarine on Thursday I was SO proud of of them. Those people are the same age as my children. I see that whole generation as a beacon of hope. They are not going to sit by, as my generation did, and let the world go to Hell in a handbag. Raising awareness about the environmental damage of power generation in Ontario is vital as the election approaches. (ed: We're having provincial elections on 10/10.)

Julian Fantino is such a patronizing, out-of-the-loop, excuse for an OPP commissioner. He said he finds it offensive that "vulnerable children are being victimized and put at risk and face criminal records when peaceful and law abiding protest would accomplish the same thing." Where are the vulnerable, victimized children? Show me one, and I'll let this pass. And if they had been children, would they really be at risk of facing criminal records? Wouldn't Fantino, all so concerned about victimized children, go after the bad guys? Nope, it looks like he'd let the victims take the rap.

I want to give Seafarers International Union rep James Given a good shake. He's calling in Stephen Harper to get charges of terrorism laid on the activists?! Terrorism, ferchrissakes! Post 9/11 world? Oh, give me a break. Those workers need to change unions. This guy gets his knickers in a twist over an afternoon's delay in schedule but I didn't hear that he called in the feds over the crappy working conditions that led to a death on board or to such stress that someone on his way home on leave was killed in a car crash. Where is his outrage there?

In closing, I want to thank you for your follow-up and coverage. This is an important story that Ontarians need to hear more about.

Sincerely,
GG's partner

And in response to other posters above who are having trouble with the aggressive tone of the message... Get a Clue, People! That younger generation is pissed and they have every right to be. This one showed an excellent command of the English language (i.e. no swearing) and an excellent command over their temper. No one that young should have eyes that angry.
And if you're not going to be part of the solution, you're going to be part of the precipitate.

[pretzel4gore]

68. i was in the SIU for 20 years

i recall the conflicts over styrofome cups; we (ship crews) used tons of em it seemed, and the Union tried to do something- the Union was quite progressive in those days, esp. with foreign sailors who jumped ship, and getting women into jobs etc. In early 80's i crewed on the Canada Marquis and the Algoway, both which did the runs from Nanticoke across the lake to pick up 35k tonnes of coal for the station...we used to joke that the shipowners had money presses at the office and cranked out a quarter million $ every trip! It was obscene, even 25 years ago (while on a fishing trawler off Newfoundland in 1981, way out in middle of nowhere, was amazed to see lights right around the horizon, each one a trawler, each one taking tens o thousands of pounds of fish- within a decade the fishery was shut down) This video tells the story. It's media which must guide social efforts, and money controls media, and even 25 years ago, the workers put into position of doing the job w/out fanfare or(?)....in mid 70's a chief engineer ordered us to p/p the sanitary tanks/bilges while out in middle of lake, at 2 am and for a joke i asked why not in the harbour in the middle of afternoon; he laffed but the reason is laws were on the books which made them huge ships, with all the money involved, forced to sneak around like petty crooks in middle of night. And they ALL were forced to, and probably still are. The newsmedia have ALWAYS been part of the problem- ihope the kid in the vid realises that or nothing gonna change..

[nam78_two]

95. Nice letter.nt

[1monster]

11. Hey, guess what? Green Peace (and other conservationalist groups) were started by the

same generation that this kid is trashing.

There have been conservationalist working to hard to perserve our home planet at least as far back as Teddy Roosevelt.

with the older always being blamed for not trying.

All one has to do is to look back at the last eight years to find out just how little people actually have when the powers that be decide what the course of action is going to be.

Anger ain't gonna stop climate. I'm not sure that anything can. Man has definitely contributed to climate change, but that contribution emcompasses far more than two or three generations. It goes way back to the industrial revolution.

And climate change happens without human contributions. The warming trend that we are experiencing now started somewhere around the 1850s...

Before that was the cooling trend that begain in the 1300s.

I don't know how much man has contributed to the "global warming," but I do know that man has polluted the planet's fresh water and has destroyed to many forests.

It is easy to point the fingers of blame, but far harder to do anything effective. Making that video was easy. But I doubt it will have much positive effect on people's attitudes and far less than that on climate change.

[RoccoR5955]

18. I'm SO tired...

Of people like you who are believing the carp put out by the big polluters, saying that climate change has not been caused by humans.

The warming trend started in the 1850s. The industrial revolution was in full swing then. Ice cores which can tell how much hydrocarbons were in the atmosphere show that the 1850s were the time that hydrocarbons rocketed up in our atmosphere. During the Industrial Revolution they started burning lots of coal. The way that this coal was burned, was far from efficient, and released hydrocarbons into the atmosphere. Not until the 1960s was there any action taken to start to address this problem.

I studied Geology in the 70s, and did some research into climate change. You know what? We knew it then. Scientists, being the anal characters that they are, needed more 'proof' that climate change was occurring because of the action of pollution. I had all I could take of these people, and told them where to go. I have been fighting for alternative energy sources, and zero pollution for about thirty-five years. AND SOME MORONS STILL WILL NOT LISTEN!!!

What we need is a Manhattan Project style operation to get us off of petroleum based energy sources NOW! We do not have twenty years, or ten years, or five years. As a matter of fact, it may already be too late to stop the massive planet-wide changes that are happening TODAY! If we care about the future, we MUST stop polluting the planet. NOW!

You can start, on a small scale by eating less meat, taking fewer trips in the car, recycling, and turning down the thermostat in Winter, and turning it up in Summer. You can also get LED light bulbs, not compact florescent bulbs. LED bulbs, though expensive, use one tenth the energy of compact florescent bulbs. You can use rechargeable batteries, and take all your electronic equipment that has any type of 'instant on' feature, or a clock/timer on them, put them on a power strip and turn the power strip off when you are not using them. You can take any electrical device that has a power 'brick' on it, and either put it on a power strip and turn it on only when needed, or unplug it when it is not being used.

I can write a book on how to save power, but instead, I have outlined a few steps that ANYONE who cares about the future, can do right above.

The kid is correct. You're either for the future generations, or you are against them.

[1monster]

54. Write a book then, because you choose to get thoroughly ticked off

by my stating that climate change is natural happens whether or not we do anything about it. This planet has been dangerously polluted and that pollution has serious dangers for Earth dwellers whether it affects climate change or not.

And by the way, if the current warming trend was set into motion by the indutrial revolution in 1850, we are doomed, because there was far less pollution then than there is now. And as you stated nothing was done about it until the 1960s (sorta done about it... if some countries did lower the out put of pollution, many did not including East Germany (notoriously poisoned the air with their unfilted smoke stacks and untreated factory waste waters) and China (I've read that some industrial parts of that country have so much air pollution that the sun is rarely seen).

(But somehow that is my fault for acknowledging climate change happened before pollution! (What pollutants brought about the end of the last ice age?)

For the record, I recycle, I keep my thermostat turned up to between 85 and 92 degrees in the summer (and I live in Florida) and down to 60 to 65 in the winter during cold spells.

I have replaced all of my incandescent light bulbs with low power florescent bulbs.
I conserve water where ever and whenever I can.

I don't drive any more than I have to drive for work and groceries.

As for this:

The kid is correct. You're either for the future generations, or you are against them.

Nothing like using the Bush Administration's divide and conquer methods. :grr: :eyes:

on edit: mostly typos and clarifications

[depakid]

62. Actually you might want to read a book

called "With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change."

http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Violence-Scientists-Tipping-Climate/dp/0807085766/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8109924-2820650?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188853834&sr=8-1

It's one of the most up to date sources- and very readable to laypeople.

The essential premise is that the earth does indeed have mechanisms that heat and cool global temperatures- and that it's precisely our affect unprecedented on those mechanism that we should fear.

The latest evidence is that climate change is likely to happen FAR quicker- and with far worse consequences than scientists imagined even a couple of years ago.

[iaviate1]

39. The point wasn't to have a positive effect on attitudes.

It was to wake people up to see the negatives of where we are headed. And I wouldn't take it so personally... as a whole, your generation... as well as the rest of the ENTIRE world has done much damage to our planet. I try, but I haven't been as good as I should be. GP is just trying to make us think and push us for more effort into the cause. It's been effective, at least for me.

[orleans]

99. nicely said. and welcome to du. n/t

[mudesi]

71. Maybe you don't know if humans contribute to global warming...

...but the world's scientists certainly do. You might want to listen to them.

[Raoul]

13. Wow!

All I gotta say is "holy sheeeetttt..."
I hope I'm around when that kid grows up - he's gonna make the headlines some day (in a good way, I hope)..

[shadowknows69]

14. Daaaaaammmmmnnnnn

I just hope this young warrior accepts a few enlightened adults into the fold when he and his start kicking our asses.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. Exactly

It's adults, including DUers, who make up all sorts of excuses about why they have to drive SUVs and couldn't possibly take public transportation and couldn't possibly walk three blocks to the grocery store and couldn't possibly have their children walk anywhere.

It's adults, including DUers, who claim that they moved to car-dependent suburbs "for the children."

It's adults, including DUers, who are so dead set on owning an "affordable" house that they don't care how much wildlife habitat they're destroying.

It's adults, including some DUers (I've been here since 2001, so I remember), who thought it was a good idea to invade Iraq and spend hundreds of millions of dollars a day in a sandtrap instead of retrofitting our own country for the future that everyone knows is coming.

It's adults, including some DUers, who think that celebrity gossip is more important than facing the critical issues of the day.

It's adults, including some DUers, who have kept the U.S. from exhibiting leadership in dealing with climate change and depleted oil supplies on the lame excuse that China and India are industrializing. Well, duh, they aren't going to sacrifice UNLESS we do. If we ask them to stop industrializing, it looks like the old story of the West keeping the Third World down. If we change our ways, they'll see that we're serious.

Yes, there are environmentally aware adults, but not enough who are willing to DO something about other than putting their separated trash out on the curb.

During World War II, Americans cut down on their food consumption, drove less, grew their own vegetables in their backyards, and repaired worn-out items instead of buying new ones--and America was spared the massive bombing raids that devastated Europe and parts of Asia. Now we're in a crisis that threatens the entire world, and all anyone is asking the American people to do is switch to fluorescent light bulbs or buy a Prius or to fall for the scams of biofuels (an agribusiness wet dream that will NOT do a thing to cut carbon emissions and will raise food prices as farmland is used to grow corn for ethanol) or hydrogen-powered cars (whose water emissions will only raise humidity levels).

We have to make changes to slow global climate change AND retrofit our communities and social systems to deal with the anticipated changes.

The kid is right. Our response is inadequate.

[chervilant]

80. Indeed

My father moved us to a 200 acre farm in north Arkansas when I was nine. He used sevin dust--and other pesticides and herbicides--liberally and injudiciously. All of them were toxic; I could tell this by my physiological responses to these poisons. Yes, the sevin dust stopped the squash beetles from decimating our zucchini and crookneck squash, but it also caused severe abdominal cramping and nausea. (I learned in later years effective organic alternatives to prevent the damage caused by various insects and wildings, but my father's generation was trained to view pesticides and herbicides as miracles of the post-World War II scientific community.)

Then, I read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring--at the tender age of fourteen. Carson's words resonated for me, and I determined then to remain childless, a decision I've never regretted. Like the young person in this clip, I tried to encourage others to read Carson, and to consider the long-term consequences of our species' hedonism. I was dismissed because of my age, and because my truths conflicted with the hubris of the adults who censured me--not least among them my poison-promoting father.

These experiences have shaped my activism. Now, I routinely encourage all of us to avoid lapping up the bipartisan red herrings promulgated by the majority of our politicians and media. We must stop playing the blame and shame game. It remains obvious to me that We The People MUST work together to effect any meaningful change--if indeed we can!

Also, I continue to hope for a massive paradigm shift, one I feel is imminent since our species seems to be at the bottom of a moral and spiritual abyss--historically right where we have to be in order to experience a spiritual quantum leap. I'm not holding my breath, mind you, just perceiving patterns so like those in our past.

I have said before (and, this is why I'm not holding my breath) that we humans are a puny infestation on this amazing planet. How arrogant to presume we're going to have any lasting impact on Earth. We will simply go the way of the dinosaur -- no huge loss. The real issue is that we disrespect what we have and fail to understand that our ecosystem tends toward a balance that is beyond our control. When it is time for Earth to roll over in the grass and scrape us off her backside, we'll just have to go along for the ride.

[Name removed]

97. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[orleans]

100. i'm sorry i missed it. n/t

[Pierzin]

16. We Need to take Extreme Steps that will alter the course of our world!

And some of those steps you won't like. honestly, Americas culture is hardly sustainable. I am writing more on this later.
This is a good first step. At least somebody is doing something!!

[MasonJar]

17. Powerful ad! I hope that it is shown on some of the neocon networks

too. Thank you Greenpeace!

[Bjorn Against]

21. Great ad, that was probably the most articulate kid I have ever seen...

And for those who are criticizing him, think about it this way. Kids can't vote, no one listens to what they have to say in politics, and yet every day decisions are made which effect their future. Right now there are decisions being made which could destroy their future, and they are not being given any input. I would say they have the right to be angry when they see their generation being treated with so much neglect.

Normally I don't like the "either you are with us or you are against us" crap, but in this case it may be justified. Global warming is a very serious issue and it needs to be addressed NOW. We don't have time to debate whether or not it is happening, we need to take action. Yet there are a good number of people who refuse to accept ANY change to our way of life despite the dire consequences for our future if nothing is done. We have reached a point in which we need to acknowledge that those who are preventing action on dealing with global warming are not our friends.

[Auggie]

49. Just watch -- he'll get his own sitcom

[kestrel91316]

53. I thought the "with us or against us" was PERFECT. He's throwing that

whole fascist BS right back in America's face.

He knows which war is the one we REALLY need to fight.

[parasim]

69. Yeah, he should have thrown a "Bring 'em on!" in there too!

That would have shown 'em!

Seriously, in my opinion, the whole "with us or against us" is absolute bullshit. It's that ideology that keeps these fascists in power.

and as for the kid knowing the war we need to fight, well, assuming that is like assuming that the dude in the Apple commercials really is a Mac and the other guy is actually a PC.

It's a friggin' commercial! The kid is an actor!

[kestrel91316]

72. I know he's an actor. It was just easier to type it that way than constantly

refer to Greenpeace and their stance. Lazy on my part.

[parasim]

77. Ok, understood. I was reacting to the "this kid" stuff...

It seemed like everybody was thinking this kid really felt this way and that the kid actually wrote those words.

However, it is the with us or against us that disturbs me most. Like even in this thread, it seems that if you don't agree with this particular advertisment, you are an anti-environmentalist. It's the exact same rhetoric the Bush admin uses to try to convince the American public that if you are against the war, you hate the troops.

I am becoming soooo tired of that rhetoric.

[kestrel91316]

81. That wasn't rhetoric per se. I saw it as mockery.

[parasim]

83. Ahhh, so it was satire. hmmm...

But if it was mockery, it kinda dilutes the rest of the message, doesn't it?

Or maybe I'm just an old fogie who doesn't get the post-modernism of today's advertising...

[kestrel91316]

106. Not really. I see it as mocking our misplaced priorities.

[Danger Mouse]

22. Too bad so many kids from his generations are drinking the kool aid, too.

[depakid]

59. And they'll be the ones who feel most betrayed

when they get a major dose of climate change, peak oil and economic calamity.

They've grown up seeing and coveting ostentation and conspicuous consumption. Imagine how it'll be when even the possibility of that becomes a thing of the past.

[Danger Mouse]

82. Yeah. I mean, honestly, this broad brush self-righteous crap doesn't help anyone.

To us, the kid is just preaching to the choir. To the idiots with their heads wedged firmly in the sand, it'll fall on deaf ears.
The ad does nothing for me.

[parasim]

24. Call me cynical, but...

This is an advertisement. If this kid had put together this video in his basement and posted it up on YouTube himself, than I might be inclined to believe he really feels that way. However, I suspect he is just a paid actor hired to be angry and now will have a nice entry in his resume as "The Angry Kid".

As for the message he spouts, it seems to me to be just more polarizing, us vs. them, either-with-us-or-against-us rhetoric.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with the underlying point, I just don't think this will be very effective in making the case. The majority of the people this concept really needs to reach will not be swayed by some precocious kid talking down to them. I can guarantee that.

[loudsue]

25. With greedy corporatists in charge of government at every level,

and a dictator as head of the U.S.A., we don't even have a shot at stopping war with Iran, much less anything else. If the entire country was not so DIVIDED, we could all start rioting....even us old folks, and maybe displace the government. We hit the streets by the MILLIONS to stop the war with Iraq, and it hardly made it on the news.

Finger pointing at one another isn't the solution.

:kick:

[ooglymoogly]

26. Looks like a whole new generation of V for Vendetta heroes

are moving up the chain. Great add...great Kid. Shock treatment looks to be the only way out of this slumbering stupidified morass of kool-aid drinking, logic impaired zombies who are allowing the rug to be pulled out from under them with nothing but a bored glazed look impatiently waiting for the rapture. (Jesus works in mysterious ways)

[acmavm]

27. Jeeze, and just yesterday I heard here on DU that kids from CAL were

telling the people trying to protect the Oak Grove on the Berkely Campus that the '60s are dead, cut the trees'.

Wonder, does this kid pass up any of the perks himself. Or has he been leading a life of self-deprivation that would entitle him to be so disdainful of everyone? I agree that its disgusting that more people have taken to the streets, held sit-ins at their congressman's and senator's offices, been more vocal when it comes to the corruption. But this kid is over the damn top because the only group of friggin' young people you ever hear from is the damn hypocrites in the Young Republican's Party. These kids aren't doing a damn thing. Not like the kids did back in the late 60s and the 70s when it was JUST NOT COOL to be socially aware.

[nam78_two]

28. Great ad! nt

[toymachines]

29. The adults are the gatekeepers

that allow this system to continue on its path of destruction. It's harsh, but true. The kids do not have any control within the system, and they are the ones who will live with what we have wrought. I think they are a great angle to attack the system with. although most unscripted kids are as far on the apathy scale as this kid is on his pissed off scale. As much as the kids today have been shit on, they have been broken and molded into sheep that will simply keep on moving, only to be crushed by the gears of the system. It may be cynical, but I am surrounded by apathy.

[GoldenOldie]

31. "and a child shall lead them!"

I am amazed how many on this thread are upset with this video because a child, who looks as though he/she may be in the onset of the teen years, dared to, or was paid to, question adult authority????

As a senior who spent considerable time as an activist within the school system, women's rights, peace movement, etc., I have known for sometime that we do a disservice to a majority of our young when we simply blow them off as being to young to understand or simply as tools being used. If armed with honest facts and told to personally investigate the facts given, they are ready and willing to open their eyes and ears and arrive at their own decisions. Seeing and doing, is believing. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how many young people have become activists simply from discovering a problem within their community and caring enough to do something about it.

For those offended by this young person or those who enlisted him/her into "reading a script," I was impressed that one so young had more ability of doing so than the President of the United States.

[mopinko]

30. i hate it.

i have teenagers of my own. anybody else who does doesn't to hear this kinda lip from a little punk like that.
and my teenagers are way, way, way more materialistic than i am, and much bigger consumers.

greenpeace- you are unleashing something that i don't think you really understand.

[orleans]

35. sounds like my daughter and your kids have a lot in common

but i remember when i was a kid (7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, etc) i was very passionate about social issues & environmental issues. there has to be kids out there like that still. and their anger and outrage is a wake-up call to the "majority" of adults--just as it was back in the day w/me.

of course not everyone in our generation was out to fuck up the world.

not everyone in my parents generation was either.

[Honeycombe8]

32. I liked it...very moving. But it's too strong for the general public.

If the idea is to reach those who haven't jumped on the bandwagon (I have), this is too dark and strong to reach them. Some of what the child says is really not proven yet...the naysayers will hear that and then shut off the rest of the message.

But as someone who is totally on teh bandwagon, I loved it. So if I'm someone they're trying to reach...someone who already perceives this as a serious threat possibly too late to stop...then they hit the target.

[Lorien]

74. What did he say that hasen't been proven?

I have an old friend who is on the front lines of this issue; he studies climate change in Antarctica. I didn't hear anything that was "unproven" in that clip, and I've been hearing the facts on climate change for 30 years now. Those facts convinced me that I should never even consider bringing a child into this world.

[dembotoz]

33. wow

now if we could just turn this into an x-box game, maybe there would be more hope.
wish like hell my kids would show as much passion about something like this instead of a fried game box console-they are pretty passionate bout me buying a new one.

[bedpanartist]

34. the generational schtick is retarded

with my sincerest apologies to the genuinely retarded.

If anyone thinks that the problems in this world exist because of generational differences, they are clueless.

I know people in the generation above me who feel fucked, as well as mine, and the one's below me.

[iaviate1]

41. But you would agree that older generations...

NOW have control of the path we take, right? This kid doesn't have influence in our government (as if we did, either), or at our Corporations, in our cities, etc. We have more influence and will be handing this planet over to the next generation in pretty bad shape. It's really up to us to fix this for future inhabitants and people who will be around for a lot longer than us.

[bedpanartist]

42. No, I think generational thinking is stupid

because that would completely denigrate everything I do (I'm an elected labor union president), my grandfather did (he was a fire-bomb thrower for the union movement), and on, and on, and on...

It's a power vs. powerlessness thing. It's a class war, not a generational war. The generational thinking is just more divide and conquer propaganda.

I always thought the "don't trust anyone over 30" mantra to be one of the dumbest sayings ever, and that was popular before I was born.

[bedpanartist]

44. Why is no responsibility laid at the feet of youth?

you wanna' talk about disinterested, docile and compliant.

If you want to use the generational analogy, then it is obvious that the mess we are in today is the fault of the youth, for they vote less than any other demographic.

[Courtesy Flush]

66. Good point

That kid is from a very materialistic generation. Tell them we're cleaning up the environment, and that they'll have to give up their cell phones and iPods. They'll sing a different tune.

Part of the reason we're in this mess is because kids demand so much plastic crap. Plus, people need bigger cars to haul the kids to soccer and dance classes.

Shut the fuck up, kid! You're to blame as much as anybody.

[alfredo]

36. It's well past the time to be nice. Being nice hasn't helped.

[BlooInBloo]

40. Kids shouldn't look angry like that. Sigh.

[moblsv]

45. kids should be angry like that

on this and many other subjects where Bush is destroying their future

[FredStembottom]

43. Wow. Jesus Camp for enviromentalists.

:thumbsdown:

[Tafiti]

46. In my opinion...

...it's a pretty good ad. A lot of people seem to take offense with its "black-and-white mentality", but I think that's just silly. The problem of global warming looms too large to come about this meekly and hand-in-hand. Sorry, it's never going to happen. This isn't just another PSA. As some of you may know, many scientists believe the tipping point is very close, and anything that's being seriously proposed is a twig in an attempt to dam the river. We have to make serious cuts in our carbon emissions, I mean a radical downshift in our entire way of life, if we're going to stop this thing before it tips. We're talking about the planet as we know it vs. a radically transformed (read nihilated) planet, and I think this ad is an attempt to inject some gravitas into the "issue". That's the problem right now, it's just another "issue", as opposed to the single greatest threat to humankind in the history of humankind. Maybe this "angry" approach won't work, but a nice-n-soft approach definitely isn't going to either...

[nam78_two]

96. Good post.nt

[BeatleBoot]

47. Corny

Way too corny for me.

And the whole hooded "gangsta" thing is really silly.

Bill Maher would have a field day with this stuff.



But, there I go thinking independently again....

[bedpanartist]

50. as an inner-city resident, I couldn't agree more

the whole gangsta' look is nothing more than a costume to mask fear and powerlessness.

The real bad asses you need to fear don't walk around with "I'm a bad-ass" written all over their demeanor, talk and fashion. They don't have to.

[hatrack]

113. Fear and powerlessness? True - you are what you feel and convey those emotions accordingly . . .

Arctic sea ice cover, September 4th, 2005



Arctic sea ice cover, September 4th, 2006



Arctic sea ice cover, September 4th, 2007



Feeling fearful and powerless yet? Or was this posting insufficiently "badass" for you?

[Phoonzang]

70. Ridiculously pretentious is the term I'd use...

But your point is valid. ;)

[piesRsquare]

75. Agreed

Sorry everyone, but while watching this video, I felt embarassed. I'm still trying not to laugh...

The whole "badass", tough-guy act--topped off with the gray "hoodie"--played by some pretentious geeky pipsqueek whose voice hasn't even changed yet--it's ridiculous! Little shit thinks he's so tough...

This ad is laughable...I can't imagine the public-at-large taking this seriously!

[stuntcat]

55. "life will change in ways you can't even imagine"

Comments at YouTube and some of the comments here^ make me even more ashamed of my species.
I can't believe I'm finding anti-environmentalists at DU.

And we're the 'educated' first-worlders right?
I have zero hope from now on that people will stop mega-consuming and fighting wars in time to help our future.

[Lorien]

76. Even DU has members who are consumers first and citizens second

I've also been shocked by the anti-environmental pro-consumerism crowd on this board. Unfortunately, some people call themselves Democrats because of one issue only; it may be worker's rights (unions), the legalization of pot, GLBT rights, being anti-war, etc. The fact that we can't agree on any of the truly important issues anymore is one of the primary reasons that we've been in the minority for so long, imho. The whole country has shifted to the right, so what remains on the true left is small and fractured.In addition, the mainstream media is united in it's support for pro-corporate candidates. They have only one mission; to promote consumerism as a lifestyle. It's worked, too. America is now a fat, miserable,undereducated, exhausted and depressed nation that is up to it's ears in debt and doesn't see the writing on the wall. We're killing ourselves, and robbing every living thing of it's future. :-(

[stuntcat]

85. and..

we're the first-worlders :eyes:
This is the plainest thing to me. I'm more amazed every day by all the things 'educated' people feel are more important.

[parasim]

79. So, you're saying that you think that everyone who think this ad stinks...

... are anti-environmentalists?

Doesn't seem to me that there are substantial numbers of people here who doubt global warming as being caused by man or that environmentalism is a bad thing.

"I have zero hope from now on" suggest that you do.

[stuntcat]

84. yes, zero

The biggest way this ad 'stinks' is that it's totally utterly useless. There is only one thing I'm sure about from this point on and it's that the future is a stinking mess. People who think humans are better someway than animals are always offended by my opinion even when I didn't pick them out.. it's funny how many people have defended all mankind to me in online fights when I never addressed them, just was honest with my feeling. But if you want to change my mind about this then give it a try.

I read comments up there from people who seemed proud of what Consumers they are, and that they're raising. And I've seen a lot worse from other groups online in the past few years. Reality will get much nastier, mark my word. A lot of "educated" first-worlders won't wise up in time to how meaningless all their Stuff is when collecting it has fycked up their children's future.

If you think you can change my mind somehow or impress me with what people are really capable of then Please, have a go :yoiks:

[stuntcat]

56. some of your comments?^

I don't even wanna be in your Democrat club seeing how some people feel. I came to DU because I was fed up with anti-environmentalists at every site I've been a reg on. I don't even belong here.

[INDIA]

58. k bye! n/t

[stuntcat]

63. don't be afraid to exhibit your genius

public and undeletable. I can only imagine your pride.

[nam78_two]

67. "I don't even belong here"

Sure you do :hi:. It is going to be a long time before entrenched attitudes are going to change in our society and there is going to be a certain amount to annoy an environmentalist just about anywhere, but that being said DU is overall a very environmentally conscious community.
Have you checked out the E&E forum yet? Mr.Hatrack is a DU treasure and he and a few others keep that forum rocking. Don't go yet -as a fellow environmentalist I extend a hearty welcome to you :hi:.

[stuntcat]

78. TY nam78

Yah, DU really is okay.. especially compared to every other group I've know online. But it does not take much to send me over the edge about this, and for me there's no going back from now on, I'm more disgusted by the hour.
And thinking consumers are sickos makes me the wacko :eyes: Oh well!

I bookmarked the E&E forum before but then I forget it's there. I should go there to see I'm not alone instead of letting such simps scare me.
Thank you for the good words! :hi:

[valerief]

60. I think it's the ruling class being subsidized. That ain't most of us! nt

[Beam Me Up]

65. ^^ Yep.

This isn't a "generational" issue, it is a class issue. If the kids don't have that analysis, dumping on us (pushing 60 here) ain't gonna help. I don't participate in the corporate structure any more than I have to. I live simple and have for years. But if you don't change the economic infrastructure then NOTHING will change.

[cigsandcoffee]

87. He looks like the creepy little kid from 'Flatliners' n/t

[orleans]

101. that's it! i kept thinking it was a familiar yet distant bell. the kid from

flatliners is what i must've been thinking of.

[otherlander]

88. I don't get it, man.

Are we now getting angry at each other over the passage of time itself? I'm not sure if everybody who's posted on this thread realizes this, but we don't actually get to choose what year we're born in.

[Voice for Peace]

89. ack don't like this ad

I think this is an awful ad.. it seems utterly manipulative and I don't see
how this angry child will inspire change.

Downloading adult anger into kids is a bad bad bad idea. Kids have enough
problems of their own, just trying to have fun and stay free.

[nam78_two]

90. I think the point of the video was less about the whole generational clash thing

And more about how a generation that is entirely powerless by and large about decisions being made right now, will be most affected by global climate change, over-fishing, over-hunting, clear-cutting and all the other environmental destruction we are responsible for.

The hood, the whole schtick -that is all mainly part of the whole performance art aspect of it (at least I took it that way :shrug:). I think it is pretty clear that he isn't suggesting some generational war.
It doesn't apply to every single person of any generation, I don't think :shrug:. They are merely trying to put across the idea again, that if we "care about the children" (hackneyed phrase I know), we have to start considering the ecological debt we are careening into and the future we leave for these kids and their kids.

The Trillions in debt that Bush is running up with this war is nothing to the ecological debt we as a species are running up :-/. There will be a price to pay at this rate and the younger you are the more likely these things will affect you a lot more in your lieftime.


As for it being creepy/manipulative to make kids (this child actor in this case) say these things, well corporations do it all the time and I don't see complaints about that :shrug:? I don't think this is even remotely like a Jesus Camp for enviros-this is a kid actor in an ad. Where else do we see that? Why, Welch's grape juice, McDonalds, Oscar Meyers, the list is endless. Greenpeace is certainly not the first to use a kid to sell something. In this case an idea. What they are "selling" is a lot more important at least imo, than what most of those corporations are selling. If this works for them, I say good for them.

I do think the ad might be less effective than I thought at first (or maybe not I don't know) because the main point is being ignored and trivial things like the kids outfit etc. are attracting most of the attention.

[Voice for Peace]

92. corporations do it all the time, but... so it's ok?

"As for it being creepy/manipulative to make kids (this child actor in this case) say these things, well corporations do it all the time.... "

I am sure you didn't mean to imply that... since integrity has its own realm; it is not relative.

[nam78_two]

94. My point was that

if people have a problem with child actors being used in this manner, and this isn't something I have really heard too many people voice a concern about here before this, it is strange that nobody seems to find the constant bombardment of kids selling products, that we are faced with all the time, more noxious than the one Greenpeace ad.


I have not had a problem with the ad as I said. Like I said, I think of it as more similar to performance art than anything else. I don't have a problem with child actors, as long as they are treated well.

Given the ignorance in this country about climate change and just science in general, unfortunately the flashier, gimmickier ad campaigns etc. may have more of a shot at it than an information-filled piece of scientific journalism on the same, so I think GP might have something here. Of course the disinformation and distortion of the truth on this issue by now is so extensive it won't be an easy task (Phillip Cooney, James Hansen, Peter Doran-who even remembers even the major news stories about the extensive disinfo. campaign, in a society where instead, some tawdry sex scandal absorbs so much attention).

[Sanctified]

91. Kid looks like a thug to me.

And the ad seems to be pretty threatening not exactly something that would make me send a check to greenpeace.

[Voice for Peace]

93. that's the thing... make the future world safe for angry, blaming thugs

I don't think this ad is going to inspire anybody to help the environment.

[Prophet 451]

98. I like it

I like the militancy of it, I like the anger. It's way past time to be militant and angry.

Yeah, I know the kid's an actor. I don't care. He might be an actor but the feelings he's expressing are a long way from unique. I like the "friend or enemy" line. It didn't work for Bush because there were way more than the two sides to his problems, it works here because there really are only two options: Either the planet lives or it dies (or we dump lots of cash into space travel and start colonising, I guess).

I find it kinda depressing that there's so many comments on here that amount to "Don't include me in that" or just hating the kid (or Greenpeace in this case) for speaking. Guess it's the way of things: Kids resent adults, adults resent kids.

[wundermaus]

111. That Kid Spoke For Me...

and I am from the generation he blames... He's right, my generation sold our souls to the corporate lie. The next generation has every right to see us as the enemy... because our actions (and our lack of actions) has robbed them of a livable, sustainable habitat. We knew better and failed to act as good stewards of the earth. God help the next generation, we didn't.

[silverweb]

112. I think it's brilliant.

I'm a boomer and despite the growing number of aware and concerned environmentalists I see, I also see a vast number of "I got mine, so fuck you" people in all age groups, including among my own relatives.

Aware young people today have every right to be angry and frightened by the awful mess that the selfish old geezers running the world are leaving them.

Those of us who are doing our best to minimize the damage are doomed to be ineffectual without major world-wide government backing, and it's our own, corporate-run government that is working hardest against us.

The selfish among us are literally committing mass murder/suicide. Young people today are perfectly right to be angry. I'm angry for and with them, and share their frustration that too many people of all ages care about nothing beyond their own selfish wants.