108 Comments

1. Class Clown:

I’ll second all that. I honestly can’t say whether global warming is happening or not, but I can certainly say that it doesn’t really matter to the believers. They have latched onto a secular religion, and they aren’t going to let go.

It was said that once we all let go of religion, the world would become a rational place. Tragically, that is not coming true.

Those of us who are religious can tell you, faith doesn’t make one irrational, rather, it sets one on a constant and lifelong quest to search our own hearts for what we believe and why. We are compelled to weigh reason and faith, and make constant decisions as to the limits of both.

Post-modern secularists have entirely lost that capacity. Therefore, rather than saving us from superstition, the modern marginalization of religion is in actuality creating a world in which people can no longer even tell when they are being irrational. Because they have alreay decided that they believe nothing, they have lost the capacity to parse the difference between reason and faith.

I teach school down the hall from a very loud (and very angry) athiest environmentalist. Listening to him always sounds like a mad-libs version of the Book of Revelations, with all of the references to God substituted with Mother Earth. Fire, brimstone, floods, plagues and punishments for the wicked, who will burn for their sins, until the earth is renewed as the Garden of Eden.

I will never understand how so many people can’t see this.

May 18, 2009 - 11:30 pm 2. Klavan On The Culture » Movie Reveals Truth About Environmentalism « Snow Report Blog:

[...] via Klavan On The Culture » Movie Reveals Truth About Environmentalism. [...]

May 19, 2009 - 5:52 am 3. d neal:

“…give themselves colonoscopies with their own heads”, indeed. I once had a boss who liked to say that people needed a “headarectomy”. Funny thing is that I’ve used the gag for decades and never run across anyone who did not get it.

May 19, 2009 - 8:38 am 4. Patrick:

I turned the movie off during the scene where John Cleese was begging Keanu Reeves’ character for a second chance. Saw where it was going pretty early on, couldn’t take it. Should have asked for a refund.

May 19, 2009 - 10:31 am 5. robert rumbarger:

Brilliant!

Good job Klavan

May 19, 2009 - 10:35 am 6. James Hudnall:

Not only was the movie bad and the hero a drone, it was boring. As a fan of the first film, to me one of its biggest crimes is they replaced the excellent Bernard Herman score with some forgettable boilerplate music. They removed just about every cool thing from the original they could.

May 19, 2009 - 10:51 am 7. Kels Goodman:

Wonderful comments. The Hollywood left think they are doing us a favor.

As for aliens and cap and trade, I made a video on the subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXmyewljsAs

May 19, 2009 - 10:51 am 8. Righteous Bubba:

The DDT claim is false.

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2008/10/roger_bates_false_history.php

May 19, 2009 - 11:00 am 9. Fragmentarian:

The original movie sucked, as well. Whether the aliens are murdering all human life because of our militarism or our “killing the planet”, I’m not pulling for them. At least, the first movie had the rationale that we might expand into space and eventually kill the aliens. These new alien dudes are just silly. Only a handful of planets capable of supporting advanced life? Let’s eliminate one of them!
Righteous Bubba – One man’s opinion in a blog? Is that all it takes to convince you? Even the very liberal National Geographic has admitted the case against DDT wasn’t that strong and the resulting deaths due to malaria and other mosquito borne illness, devastating.

May 19, 2009 - 11:45 am 10. Peg:

One thing I noticed in the film was how beautiful the earth looked. They had these scenes of really beautiful locations. So it didn’t make any sense when the alien said he was destroying everybody because they were hurting the planet. Don’t know why they didn’t show scenes of garbage, smog, blight, etc. to make their point. It was all just stupid.

May 19, 2009 - 11:50 am 11. Righteous Bubba:

Righteous Bubba – One man’s opinion in a blog? Is that all it takes to convince you?

You may wish to read the link and discover that it is not one man’s opinion on a blog.

May 19, 2009 - 11:50 am 12. Chris Bolts Sr.:

Righteous Bubba, umm, that article you linked to did not disprove anything about DDT. In fact, the blogger is countering Roger Bate on the notion that the lack of DDT use was due to environmentalist influence. However, this is foolishness. Only one group is against using DDT and it ain’t people who want to kill bugs.

Of course, we can solve it this way: why is there no spread of malaria in countries that riven with mosquitoes (i.e. ours), but it spreads in Africa? On top of that, do we really expect kids to stay in bed nets all day? Spray the bugs, and if the bugs become resistant, then develop new sprays to fight the DDT-resistant bugs.

May 19, 2009 - 1:18 pm 13. Seattle John:

So let me get this straight. If the US had invaded Iraq because of what Saddam did to the environment in Iraq, it would have been peachy-keen?

I’m just trying to draw the correct message.

May 19, 2009 - 2:15 pm 14. Righteous Bubba:

Righteous Bubba, umm, that article you linked to did not disprove anything about DDT.

It obviously and clearly disproves Klavan’s claim.

In fact, the blogger is countering Roger Bate on the notion that the lack of DDT use was due to environmentalist influence.

This disproves Klavan’s claim.

May 19, 2009 - 2:54 pm 15. The New Pagans « Idea Anaconda:

[...] Klavan

May 19, 2009 - 3:28 pm 16. Kdaunt:

James Hudnall: “They removed just about every cool thing from the original they could.” – another parallel to the green movement!

May 19, 2009 - 4:10 pm 17. danebramage:

@1, Class Clown wrote: “Therefore, rather than saving us from superstition, the modern marginalization of religion is in actuality creating a world in which people can no longer even tell when they are being irrational. Because they have already decided that they believe nothing, they have lost the capacity to parse the difference between reason and faith.”

Or, as the great G.K. Chesterton put it: The problem with modern man isn’t so much that he believes in nothing. It’s that he’ll believe in anything.

May 19, 2009 - 5:59 pm 18. Stevo:

Can’t argue with the righteous…

May 19, 2009 - 6:02 pm 19. Larry:

The first time I saw “The Day the Earth Stood Still” it became one of my favorite movies.
The story to me was about the interaction of Patricia Neal and her son with the alien.
Why he came was an interesting facet and at the time, we as a country was in fear of a nuclear war.
I absolutely had to see the remake and am so so sorry I did.
They destroyed the story and the characters and created a crap filled left leaning tree hugging surmise that we are the problem and the world would be wonderful without us.

May 19, 2009 - 7:14 pm 20. SeanLA:

This movie also presented New York, and the USA in a weird Orwellian fascist way. It was very much a turn off. Kathy Bates was bizarre and scary in it. I just remember laughing when my friend pointed out how the space robot looked just like the Oscar statue, the only idol the peasant producers worship.

May 19, 2009 - 10:39 pm 21. Pajamas Media » The Day the Earth Stood Still: The Truth About Environmentalism:

[...] Read the entire piece here. [...]

May 20, 2009 - 12:40 am 22. Tony R:

“What’s so great about the earth? It’s just a rock floating in space, after all”

Rubbish!! Surely you must know that the Earth is, in fact, a beautiful woman in a green dress, twigs in her hair and birds flapping around her shoulders where occassionally a gentle tear will roll down her cheek if an oil tanker spills or some trees get cut down.

Don’t let Mother Earth hear you calling her a “just a rock” otherwise her minions (Gore-ites) will come and get you.

May 20, 2009 - 2:24 am 23. Political Observer:

Mr. Klavin:

Your second to last paragraph in your article was one of the most insightful arguements that I have ever read. In your observation of what gives meaning and purpose to the life you have provided me with a powerful arguement to silence the eco-nuts that I have to put up with on a daily basis. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

May 20, 2009 - 2:52 am 24. Lawler:

For all the leftist leaf-loving Luddites who would take us back to the 17th century, please go away.

May 20, 2009 - 2:56 am 25. Brian:

“Al Gore’s current assault on our economy in the name of an hysterical nonsense”

Amen, and have you noticed how every manufacturer has now turned to advertizing “green this and green that” with cars built in green factories by little green workers…
I am so tired of the green BS! ENOUGH already!!! I don’t even enjoy turning the TV on any longer for all the propoganda spewing forth. If it wasn’t for deadliest catch it would never be used.

May 20, 2009 - 3:07 am 26. Boris:

“from the banning of DDT that left the third world to the mercy of malaria”

Except DDT was never banned. You have bought into the right wing lie, good sir.

May 20, 2009 - 3:52 am 27. D-wah:

Your review could have just as well been about today’s stupid mileage restriction news and Obummer’s nauseating guilt trip comments.

Great slam, well said–only misgiving–last line “shows us how dangerous it may one day be.” I think we’re as good as there.

May 20, 2009 - 3:57 am 28. G-man:

The enviromental wackos have always been anti-human life. They see us as a virus on the face thier new goddess, Gaia.
Just look at CAFE standards. In short the enviromentalist are killing thousands of people a year for the sake of saving gasoline!
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-adelman011702.shtml

May 20, 2009 - 4:09 am 29. Trimegistus:

Boris:

The US banned it in 1972, the Stockholm Convention banned it internationally in 2001. So you are either lying yourself, or have bought into Greenie lies.

May 20, 2009 - 4:16 am 30. Fragmentarian:

No ban on DDT? So what happened then? And why did the Environmental movement take credit for something that didn’t happen? Jaysus! Just Google Rachel Carson and get back to us when the facts match your certainty.

May 20, 2009 - 4:18 am 31. chris in Toronto:

I rented it. It was a The Day the Earth Stood Still double feature that included both the original and the remake. Naturally, I watched the original first and enjoyed it thoroughly. I was excited to see the remake and, a few minutes into the moralizing snoozefest, I fell asleep. And I didn’t try again to watch it. Judging from this article and the comments, I’m glad I didn’t waste my time.

May 20, 2009 - 4:18 am 32. Brett_McS:

What, is there a band of environutters trolling for any mention of DDT in a post, no matter how peripheral? The banning of DDT occured in the US (Rachel Carson, take a bow); this resulted in the shut down of much of the production of DDT, and the removal of aid for buying DDT by African countries. The cheapest, most effective means of mosquito control was denied to Africa, resulting in massive death from Malaria. So, along with everyone but the few nutty denialists on a “science” blog, Klavan is perfectly correct.

May 20, 2009 - 4:27 am 33. Jim Shaw:

Remember the reason given why the aliens were removing humans from Earth? It was stated that there are very few planets such as Earth that will sustain life. Since humans were in the process of ruining Earth, the aliens were going to kill all the humans and return Earth to its pristine state. The aliens kept saying that ‘It’s not YOUR planet’.

So, whose planet is it? I guess it would belong to the aliens after the humans were removed. And I have to wonder how this shows these galactic imperialists as somehow advanced. Think of how the Left views those ‘advanced’ cultures of a couple hundred years ago that moved in on mostly empty, unused parts of Africa and the western hemisphere. Why is it these people are so accepting of the actions of extraterrestrials who can travel in space? Again, it shows that they are self-hating, nature worshiping pagans with no rational thought processes.

asdReme

May 20, 2009 - 4:52 am 34. Parabellum:

DDT Ban: http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/ddt/01.htm

Junk Science on DDT: http://www.junkscience.com/ddtfaq.html

DDT ban fallout: http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.442/healthissue_detail.asp

DDT Ban Would Increase Deaths: http://www.unwire.org/unwire/20010109/12449_story.asp

Disproofy enough for ya, Righteous?

May 20, 2009 - 4:57 am 35. CJinMadison:

Excellent write-up, Andrew. Thanks for your commentary. And, thank you for the spoilers. I would have been really ticked if I had shelled out money for that tripe.

However, I must admit that I had my suspicions (about the hidden leftist messages). Not sure why. But, they were there. The truth is, I am suspicious of every movie these days. The lefties are very wiley in sneaking their subtexts into the most unexpected places.

The part that makes me laugh… and the part that proves to me that Hollywood must simply go away for good… If the whole reason our species (humans) were target for destruction was because of our abuse of the Earth (via pollution), why didn’t that make it into the previews?

Surely there is some way those masters of story-telling could have hinted at that in the previews, and teased the audience with that.

But, No. Hollywood chooses to HIDE that message… distract and awe us with the computer-aided special effects… the explosions… the rumbling of the massive alien craft rising out of the ground… the mysteriously passionless Keanu… etc, etc, etc.

So, us chumps, who just want to see a good sci-fi flick, will shell out or hard-earned money, plunk our carcasses down into a theater seat, and proceed to be lectured at by the pretty faces of Hollywood.

If we don’t dissolve Hollywood, then we deserve what they give us.

Keep up the exposes, Andrew, while we eagerly await the New Hollywood.

May 20, 2009 - 5:11 am 36. Righteous Bubba:

No ban on DDT? So what happened then?

Please just follow the damned link and poke around there.

Just Google Rachel Carson and get back to us when the facts match your certainty.

Wait, you need your hand held.

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10175

Yet perhaps the most striking feature of the claim against Carson is the ease with which it can be refuted. It takes only a few minutes with Google to discover that DDT has never been banned for anti-malarial uses, and that it is in use in at least 11 countries.

May 20, 2009 - 5:28 am 37. C3H Editor:

For those who think the world has never been “warmer,” here you’ll find a multitude of scientific studies that clearly document the past was much warmer (and colder) prior to human CO2.

http://www.c3headlines.com/are-todays-temperatures-unusual/

BTW, the remake was awful, and the global warming hypothesis remains speculation without proof, despite what Hollywood “scientists” claim.

C3H Editor

May 20, 2009 - 5:58 am 38. sheesh:

Hey, here’s a great idee for a movee . . . The Day the Earth Blew Up!

May 20, 2009 - 6:04 am 39. mountain man:

When I worked in construction I came up with an eyelid rating system. Both eyes open (good), one eye open, etc. This movie put me to sleep.

Your review sums this movie up nicely, Klavan…..at least the parts I remember seeing with both eyes.

May 20, 2009 - 6:23 am 40. Barry 0351:

Does the term Klattu nikto barabas still exist in the new movie or is it in Spanish now?

May 20, 2009 - 6:36 am 41. Stickwick Stapers:

…they, as environmentalists, are human-hating, self-hating cultists worshipping a planet as a god like the savages of old.

Yes, they are.

An acquaintance of mine who adores the fiction of Michael Crichton actually said this about his global warming heresy:

…but when he started with that “we’re not warming up” stuff, well… he had to go. It was good he went when he did. He was a good writer. I loved his stuff, but that was just sick.

Cold or what?

May 20, 2009 - 6:37 am 42. mdgiles:

Righteous Bubba:

As opposed to all those EnviroNutter sites, did you think to just go to the official EPA.gov site?
Like here?

May 20, 2009 - 6:59 am 43. mdgiles:

Sorry about that link
http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/ddt/01.htm

May 20, 2009 - 7:00 am 44. Terbreugghen:

ON a slightly different subject, I agreed with much of what Mr. Klavan wrote about the concealed message behind the transformed movie, though I’m not sure the message that humanity must be destroyed because of its militarism is that much different than having humanity destroyed because of its pollution. The goal is the same. Submit to what is considered the “benign” social organization (currently enviro-socialism,) or be labeled a threat to humanity.

I did, however disagree with the idea that the beauty of the universe arises solely from human perception. This is a very deeply buried avenue toward postmodern placement of Man at the center of the universe, and thus the arbiter of truth. This is a subtle cosmological sleight of hand that our education system has foisted upon western culture for decades, and I believe it must be rejected.

If Man creates truth, beauty, and wisdom, then Man can change it as he wills. He becomes God. When we study history, one message that repeats again and again is the danger of that view.

The beauty of the universe is there whether we can see it or not. We didn’t make it, and it’ll be here when we’re gone. It is up to us, however to have sense enough to see it, and build wisely enough to give it to our children. Mr Klavan agreed in his second to last paragraph. Now the problem is working out how we’re going to sustain growth and preserve what we have. Hollywood’s visions are distracting but mostly misguided, as is the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Good dialogue on DDT, though. Good links from both sides.

May 20, 2009 - 7:14 am 45. wildman:

Klaatu Barada Nickto = Gore’s an idiot. Translated from the original

May 20, 2009 - 7:16 am 46. Professor Guvinoff:

In the end, reality has the upper hand over fiction, so we don’t really need to worry about the gorish hordes trying to drive the world into one utopia or another.

Yet, I am grateful for Mr. Klavan’s ability to illuminate reality through the practice of fiction. Well done, sir!

May 20, 2009 - 7:18 am 47. Tcobb:

Although there are a lot of useful idiots who believe the Gaia-shtick, for the most part the major political components of the movement see it as a means to an end rather than as an end in itself. Socialism is a solution that has been in search of a problem for more than a century. Combating global warming is just the current excuse. If you want to destroy the capitalist economy of the US, just shut down the energy supplies. Make it scarce. We are not allowed to build nuclear power plants. We have oil reserves that we cannot drill for, oil shale we cannot mine, and we have the greatest coal reserves in the world. There is no structural reason why the US is not totally self-sufficient in terms of energy. There are only political reasons.

May 20, 2009 - 7:28 am 48. Avitar:

What do you mean a SciFi classic. The production quality of the first film were relatively superior but the plot, dialog and cultural setting was as much Leftist fuzzy think as this one is now.

May I suggest for Uma Thurmons next movie “Kill Klavan”

May 20, 2009 - 7:32 am 49. Fragmentarian:

Never banned for anti-malarial use? And when you get guns banned, you’ll be able to use similar “logic” to say with equal certainty that guns were never banned for self defence.

May 20, 2009 - 7:38 am 50. Avitar:

Back when the late John W. Campbell was still editor of Astounding/Analog magazine and referred to disparagingly by the cultural elite as the Guru of Science Fiction he published a genre of stories within science fiction literature called Terra Uber Alles. Back then, the terms were ones of ridicule because the smug set had determined that mankind would be destroyed in nuclear war before the twenty first century.

It might be time to make a good old Terra Über Alles Science Fiction Video. People are more than a little sick of the stories of the Hollywood nihilists. Anyone know any young CGI/film makers?

May 20, 2009 - 7:53 am 51. Righteous Bubba:

As opposed to all those EnviroNutter sites, did you think to just go to the official EPA.gov site?

From your link:

Public health, quarantine, and a few minor crop uses were excepted, as well as export of the material.

Therefore Klavan’s claim is disproved.

May 20, 2009 - 8:39 am 52. G Alston:

Klavan — I mean, they actually thought we were going to root for a creature who was going to slaughter our children in service to An Inconvenient Truth.

Perhaps the intense discussion at watercoolers in Priusland led them to believe that Americans were on board the enviro-bandwagon.

e.g. “I can’t believe Reagan won! I don’t know anyone who voted for him!”

Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

May 20, 2009 - 9:08 am 53. scott:

It surprises me that intelligent conservatives patronize Hollyweird at all. Waste of money, time, and mental anguish. Hollyweird movies all suck. TV is a vast wasteland. These are undeniable truths.

May 20, 2009 - 9:11 am 54. Sebastian Shaw:

I refused to see this remake precisely because of the Global Warming propaganda nonsense.

May 20, 2009 - 9:21 am 55. len hrica:

keanu monotone….al gore monotone…i don’t believe it….or perhaps good casting…bad acting….uva65

May 20, 2009 - 9:44 am 56. LBC:

The original was great. It was a movie that entertained…the new one is crap.
It would be really cool if a conservative would produce, State of Fear by Creighton. That book is awesome and sends chills up my spine.
No, no tingle up my leg…sorry Chris! LOL

May 20, 2009 - 9:55 am 57. Boris:

“The US banned it in 1972, the Stockholm Convention banned it internationally in 2001. So you are either lying yourself, or have bought into Greenie lies.”

They banned DDT for agricultural use. Link to where they banned it for insect vector control or admit you know nothing about the issue.

May 20, 2009 - 10:32 am 58. Boris:

“Never banned for anti-malarial use? And when you get guns banned, you’ll be able to use similar “logic” to say with equal certainty that guns were never banned for self defence.”

Just link us to the treaty or document that banned DDT for insect vector control. Until; then, how about a nice cup of STFU?

May 20, 2009 - 10:35 am 59. PoliTech:

Righteous Bubba: Typical leftist propaganda tactic, trying to change people’s understanding through deception and confusion, rather than persuasion and understanding.

If I remember correctly (and I do) the use of DDT in Mozambique was stopped because 80% of the country’s health budget came from donor funds, and those donor organizations refused to allow the use of DDT.

In effect a “Ban”, and one in which there didn’t necessarily need to be some kind of a “International Law” passed to ban the substance altogether.

As late as 2004 the UN had instituted strict controls on DDT at the behest of international environmentalists who were proudly announcing their intentions to eventually press for a permanent UN ban.

Whatever it does to different types of eggshells, DDT remains unquestionably one of the most effective means to control the mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite.

It never seems to matter to the environmental anti-human quasi-communist troll brigade that 40 million or so children suffered and died from a preventable disease, just as long as they maintain their deniability

…”never a Ban” … please.

“Remember the following first rule of disinformation analysis: truth is specific, lie is vague. Always look for palpable details in reporting and if the picture is not in focus, there must be reasons for it.”
– Gregory Sinaisky.

May 20, 2009 - 10:37 am 60. Righteous Bubba:

If I remember correctly (and I do) the use of DDT in Mozambique was stopped because 80% of the country’s health budget came from donor funds, and those donor organizations refused to allow the use of DDT.

This – again – is not a ban and I agree that some groups would not fund DDT use. However other contries continued to use DDT for anti-malarial purposes because there was no ban.

I repeat: no ban.

DDT remains unquestionably one of the most effective means to control the mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite.

This misses the point of the drop in DDT use due to resistance. DDT is not a cure-all, it’s a tool that may be worthless in some instances.

May 20, 2009 - 10:54 am 61. Righteous Bubba:

Interestingly, here is a post-2000 article in which Mozambique does not agree to DDT use.

http://www.malaria.org.za/lsdi/Progress/entomological_aspects_of_vecto.html

You will be happy to note that the malaria rate is down there because they have found other chemicals to use.

http://www.malaria.org.za/lsdi/Progress/progress.html

May 20, 2009 - 11:07 am 62. PoliTech:

Righteous Bubba: Nice! Repetition, Card Stacking, Talking Points, The Big Lie, and Disinformation. Don’t stop now – you’re on a roll.

“Propagandists use a variety of propaganda techniques to influence opinions and to avoid the truth. Often these techniques rely on some element of censorship or manipulation, either omitting significant information or distorting it.” – Wiki

I will award you 2 of 10 trolling points.

Your blather does nothing to negate the point of the article. The movie sucks, Hollywood lives in it’s own little warped version of reality, and the environmental movement has proved to be dangerous to humans.

May 20, 2009 - 11:29 am 63. ChipD:

OK, it may be too late to restore reason to the debate, but the straw man created by Klaven is a bit much:

First, painting all those who care about the environment as anti-human radicals is silly.

Is it ridiculous to suggest that keeping the air, water, and soil clean allows us to live better, happier lives?

The point advocated by the movie was that human actions are causing the Earth to become unable to support life- which is perfectly true, if we don’t use natural resources carefully, and conserve and protect the various eco-systems.

I know, this isn’t as sexy and fun as pounding the drum of war against those wacky greens, but it is common sense.

And Politech, you make a good quote- truth is specific, lie is vague- and Klaven’s article is nothing but wild vague cliches about eco-radicals.

What specific points did he make, aside from the offhand comment about DDT?

Which environmental laws or actions does he oppose, and why?

He doesn’t say- he is more concerned about appearing tough and conservative, bravely battling against the phony army of green radicals, than with raising any serious points.

May 20, 2009 - 11:33 am 64. Righteous Bubba:

Righteous Bubba: Nice! Repetition, Card Stacking, Talking Points, The Big Lie, and Disinformation. Don’t stop now – you’re on a roll.

You may enjoy a bingo card.

May 20, 2009 - 11:46 am 65. John:

Regarding DDT.
I wonder how many of you have had real world experience with this substance? I have.
It was used for many years in an area that I used to live in. It was used to eradicate pests in a farming community. It worked well but the water used to irrigate and the rain water runoff carried the substance into the ocean that was within one mile. The result is that even though the usage was stopped 40 years ago, there are still huge mounds of the stuff on the sea floor just offshore. testing of the White Croaker and other bottom fish reveals to this day, extensive DDT contamination of the fish and it is estimated to continue until the DDT is cleaned up. I don’t know about you folks but I don’t want to eat any of that fish with high DDT levels in it’s meat. People dive around the area and are amazed at the size and number of the DDT mounds.
Just an observation…

May 20, 2009 - 11:47 am 66. Friendly Girl:

It is always revealing the way enviro-nazi’s like Bubba and Boris never show any compassion for the victims of their experiments upon the human race.
Tens of millions of dead, mostly children, but they want to disrupt and confuse about the banning process that they are responsible for creating.
It’s as if Boris/Bubba is the reincarnation of Dr. Mengele: performing cold-blooded experiments on the human race that cause untold pain and suffering without a flicker of compassion for his victims.
Their desire to feed the human race into enviro-nazi like ovens on the flimsiest justification is a crime against humanity.
Shame on you.

May 20, 2009 - 12:02 pm 67. PoliTech:

John: Gordon Edwards, author, park ranger, legendary mountain climber, and esteemed entomologist, would swallow a tablespoon or two of DDT on stage before every lecture on the subject.

DDT finally did catch up with him. Edwards died of a heart attack while climbing Divide Mountain at Glacier National Park. He was 84 years old.

In 1959 unprotected workmen applied over 60,000 tons of DDT to the inside walls of about 100 million houses. Neither the 130,000 workmen nor the 535 million residents living in the treated homes ever reported adverse effects.

The reported half-life for DDT in a water environment is 56 days in lake water and approximately 28 days in river water. The main pathways for loss are volatilization, photodegradation, adsorption to water-borne particulates and sedimentation.

Stop worrying.

May 20, 2009 - 12:20 pm 68. Righteous Bubba:

It is always revealing the way enviro-nazi’s like Bubba and Boris never show any compassion for the victims of their experiments upon the human race.

Given that I support the use of DDT where appropriate my Nazism is in full bloom.

May 20, 2009 - 12:30 pm 69. Righteous Bubba:

Stop worrying.

As you’ve quoted Wikipedia above, have another link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT#Environmental_impact

There are definite non-hysterical reasons for restrictions on its use.

May 20, 2009 - 2:28 pm 70. Shef Rogers:

Anybody else remember Chad Castagana? He wrote a lot of articles like this.

May 20, 2009 - 2:47 pm 71. John:

67. PoliTech: Thanks for the info. Good to know.
So the 10 to 15 foot tall mounds of DDT about 40 feet underwater that can be accessed by scuba diving are harmless to people, fish and the environment?

May 20, 2009 - 3:27 pm 72. Self-hating Boomer:

Mounds of DDT. Really. And what phase (do I have to explain what phases of matter are?) was the DDT in when it was sprayed?

And if there are mounds of DDT sitting at the floor of the ocean, why hasn’t the area been declared a superfund site, and cleaned up?

May 20, 2009 - 4:01 pm 73. Ellen K:

And this surprises you that Hollywood would use their clout for political purposes? Remember, they also pushed through beliefs about Global Warming, Nuclear Meltdowns and countless other things through the tyranny of the media. Because so many people are so uninvolved in any sort of reading, lots of the things that movies pass on as facts become conventional wisdom. And that is what gives us the type of election we got last year.

May 20, 2009 - 4:34 pm 74. lefroy:

10 to 15 foot mounds of DDT in the ocean?

Where do these people come from?

May 20, 2009 - 4:42 pm 75. fred:

Jeffrey Immelt of GE said today that he considers the science compelling and settled. At least he was honest enough to admit that he supported cap and trade because GE stands to make a ton of money off of the wind turbine business, regardless of how it greatly harms the U.S. economy and kills up to two million U.S. jobs.

The science is neither compelling nor settled, but that fact has not been allowed fair debate in Congress. The money has changed hands, and the decision has been made. Jeffrey, please stop by the president’s office to pick up your thirty pieces of silver.

I did not see the movie which this thread is about. Much of what comes out of Hollywood today is crap and it’s crap because the crappy Communists have controlled Hollywood for decades.

Communism/Marxism is just an intellectual rationalization for old time oligarchy/feudalism. I’m a former Marxist and it was the hauteur and behavior of many Leftists that played a role in how I came to understand that point. They hate humanity, and only tolerate it to the extent that human beings would be servile to their enlightened rule.

May 20, 2009 - 5:32 pm 76. John:

In case you are wondering where the mounds of DDT are and want to go scuba diving there, it is Palos Verdes Peninsula. Start where Marineland used to be..remember Shamu?
Then continue towards Long Beach/LA harbor. The lobster North of the wreck of the Dominator is is fine.

May 20, 2009 - 7:17 pm 77. BPT (Australia):

Ah yes, the Hollywood movie industry is a cringe-worthy mess of clichés.

May 20, 2009 - 7:33 pm 78. hBG:

I prefer the term “craniorectal impaction”

May 20, 2009 - 8:44 pm 79. Ed Driscoll » The Day The Box Office Stood Still:

[...] Klavan watches Keanu “Whoa!” Reeves’ remake of the classic 1950s sci-film so you don’t have to: Over the weekend, I watched The Day The Earth Stood Still, a 1950’s [...]

May 20, 2009 - 11:24 pm 80. lefroy:

I just can’t stop thinking about these 10 to 15 foot mound of DDT. So, is it in watertight gladbags? I mean, I can’t work out why it hasn’t, um, dispersed.

May 21, 2009 - 1:07 am 81. Boris:

“It is always revealing the way enviro-nazi’s like Bubba and Boris”

You know someone is really stupid when they call their opponents “Nazis” in the first sentence.

May 21, 2009 - 2:47 am 82. Boris:

And, hmm, no one has linked to the treaty or document that banned DDT for insect vector control. It would be nice if you would now admit you were wrong, but that’s probably asking too much on this site.

May 21, 2009 - 2:51 am 83. Fearless Leader:

Yes, what a dope. Everyone knows that if the name is “Boris”, it’s different variety of totalitarian.

May 21, 2009 - 6:41 am 84. Self-hating Boomer:

Ok, I get it. John’s a funny guy. I’m just rolling on the floor. Ha ha, yuk.

May 21, 2009 - 6:44 am 85. Floradora:

The original is one of my favorite 50s scifi’s. I don’t detect a leftist slant, with the exception of Klatu’s message to stop war. However, this was made during a time when people were building bomb shelters next to their backyard bbq grills. However, I do love the line at the breakfast table that goes something like this:

Man: “Why doesn’t Washington do anything about it…after all, their just people.”

Other man: “People my foot…they’re Democrats!”

As for the remake, once I heard rumblings that the story line changed to a liberal, environmental whacko talking points revamp, I knew right then & there I wasn’t going to watch it.

May 21, 2009 - 7:16 am 86. G Alston:

#75 fred — Much of what comes out of Hollywood today is crap and it’s crap because the crappy Communists have controlled Hollywood for decades.

The movie was panned by critics; many said things that were similar to what’s been said here. There wasn’t much subtle about it. On the other hand as others have pointed out the original wasn’t any less subtle in its day.

What made the original work at all was the consistency. Saucer lands in central park. Tanks etc. surround it. OK, so we’re over militarized… foreshadowing the message. Tanks surrounding the guest who dropped by sorta proves it.

In the new movie a sphere lands in central park. Tanks etc surround it. Yet the message is Envio this time? OK, so wouldn’t we surround it with — wait for it — MOUNDS OF DDT?

May 21, 2009 - 7:47 am 87. EMF:

The original was an very enjoyable movie and I still love watching it today. However, I did get the DVD for the remake and I now use the disk as a frissbee. What a piece of crap the remake is. Please, burn the masters and just show the original from now on. Thank you.

May 21, 2009 - 9:03 am 88. GClarke:

Seattle John # 13:

“So let me get this straight. If the US had invaded Iraq because of what Saddam did to the environment in Iraq, it would have been peachy-keen?”

At the end of the First Gulf War Saddam lit 700 oil wells on fire and dumped who knows how much oil into the Persian Gulf, and I remember I was shocked that not one environmental group questioned Bush 41’s decision to leave Saddam in place as “a regional buffer.” I was incensed even though I think the planet mostly heals itself and I am certainly not a tree hugger.

Then I knew. Environmentalists don’t care about the Earth. They only care about the destruction of Western Capitalism. The Saddam incident is clarion proof of that. Environmentalism after all first emerged out of failed communist agitation and this, I believe, explains everything. Pity the fools that actually believe what is ultimately only a black [red] flag operation.

May 21, 2009 - 12:18 pm 89. Clayton E. Cramer:

“First, painting all those who care about the environment as anti-human radicals is silly.

Is it ridiculous to suggest that keeping the air, water, and soil clean allows us to live better, happier lives?”

Not at all. But we’ve all had one too many envirowhacko encounters to not be a bit nervous. I remember sitting at a cafe at the end of the Russian River in California one day. My wife and I had been hiking through the redwood forest. A group of very trendy Goretex-clad environmentalists were sitting around talking about the importance of protecting Mother Earth, and one of them mentioned the bubonic plague epidemic killing people in India at the time. “Why can’t we get those plagues in the U.S.?” The temptation to shout, “Arbeit macht frei” at him was rather strong–but being an envirowhacko, I’m sure that he wouldn’t have a clue where that phrase appears.

Where the line is crossed from “a healthier, nicer environment” to “envirowhacko” is where you start talking about blowing up dams, “Visual Industrial Collapse,” and destroying the jobs of millions of people based on a theory whose predictions the last few years have been utterly wrong about global temperature.

May 21, 2009 - 12:35 pm 90. Chris Bolts Sr.:

‘Given that I support the use of DDT where appropriate my Nazism is in full bloom.”

And where, pray tell Righteous Bubba, do you support use of DDT “where appropriate”? DDT, like any other man-made chemical, has side effects, but what you have to ask is if those side effects outweigh the benefits of helping control malaria. Put it this way: if I were a poor African and was given a choice between a bed net and DDT to control the spread of malaria, I would choose the DDT. However, you lefties won’t even give the Africans the choice on which to use. You automatically assume that Africans want to be stuck in nets all day and all night.

May 21, 2009 - 3:46 pm 91. Righteous Bubba:

However, you lefties won’t even give the Africans the choice on which to use.

The point here has been that they have always had the choice to use DDT for anti-malarial prevention.

May 21, 2009 - 6:36 pm 92. Jason:

Lakeview Terrace was another filled to the brim with left-wing cliches. At one point, the villain, a conservative, actually calls the hero a democrat. It’s really quite pathetic that these people are so arrogant that they somehow think playing make believe for a living makes them an authority on everything. If anything, the fact that they peddle fiction for a living makes them an authority on, well, nothing.

May 21, 2009 - 6:48 pm 93. Self-hating Boomer:

Environmentalism after all first emerged out of failed communist agitation and this, I believe, explains everything.

Sorta. Patrick Moore, cofounder of Greenpeace, describes an infiltration that took place shortly after the fall of the USSR. He was in a position to observe, and prior to the fall of the USSR, the environmental movement had its share of loonies, but afterward, the communists moved in and took over. He eventually left the organization over this.

May 21, 2009 - 7:33 pm 94. Righteous Bubba:

the environmental movement had its share of loonies, but afterward, the communists moved in and took over. He eventually left the organization over this.

No he didn’t. Ask him.

May 21, 2009 - 8:04 pm 95. Righteous Bubba:

That was unclear. I meant “He didn’t leave Greenpeace because there were too many commies.”

May 21, 2009 - 8:07 pm 96. James:

Bravo, Klavan. Also refer to “The Happening” by M. Night Shyamalan, another loud, Envirofascist, anti-humanist piece of anti-civilization agitprop in the service of the new and all too fashionable Post Modernist ethic.

May 21, 2009 - 9:54 pm 97. Pappadave:

Phooey, Righteous Bubba: DDT, about 3 weeks after application in liquid form breaks down to its constituent components and isn’t toxic enough to kill the bugs it was intended to kill. Neither was DDT EVER responsible for causing raptor eggshells to be too thin to support the weight of nesting birds–which WAS the original impetus for banning the stuff anyway. Two NC scientists force-fed comparatively MASSIVE amounts of DDT to pheasants and domestic chickens and then checked their eggs. Eggshell thickness wasn’t affected in the slightest. It (eggshell thickness) was entirely a function of the amount of calcium and phosphorus in the diet…period…and no, DDT didn’t have any effect on these birds’ ability to absorb calcium or phosphorus either. In short, the whole peregrine falcon, bald eagle, DDT scare was simply a hoax–mostly engendered as a result of Rachael Carson’s schlocumentary, “Silent Spring.” The one thing it DID do, was embolden the greenie idiots to believe that, if they could co-opt just the right “scientists,” they could literally destroy Western economies–which was their primary aim in the first place.

May 22, 2009 - 7:37 pm 98. Pappadave:

I had heard enough about the film to know that it was garbage and not worth my time. However, I let my curiosity overwhelm my good sense and got a copy from Blockbuster and watched the whole nauseating thing from start to finish. I should have trusted my first instinct. It wasn’t worth the a bag of sweepings from a barber shop floor.

May 22, 2009 - 7:40 pm 99. Boris:

“Neither was DDT EVER responsible for causing raptor eggshells to be too thin….Two NC scientists force-fed comparatively MASSIVE amounts of DDT to pheasants and domestic chickens and then checked their eggs. Eggshell thickness wasn’t affected in the slightest.”

Pheasants and chickens are not raptors. That this has to be pointed out to you is rather telling.

May 23, 2009 - 2:56 am 100. Righteous Bubba:

Phooey, Righteous Bubba: DDT, about 3 weeks after application in liquid form breaks down to its constituent components and isn’t toxic enough to kill the bugs it was intended to kill.

Read the literature: you’re just wrong.

May 23, 2009 - 8:54 am 101. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:

Read the literature: you’re just wrong.

Let me guess. This guy’s a law professor at U/ Chicago. What a magnificent example of a well reasoned, persuasive, and air-tight argument.

May 23, 2009 - 2:14 pm 102. Righteous Bubba:

Let me guess. This guy’s a law professor at U/ Chicago. What a magnificent example of a well reasoned, persuasive, and air-tight argument.

Irony.

May 23, 2009 - 5:06 pm 103. HondaV65:

Thanks for the review – I’ll definitely skip this movie until I can pirate a dvd of it off the internet.

May 24, 2009 - 8:05 am 104. Sebastian Shaw:

The liberals next propaganda film should be remake of Return of the Living Dead; the dead return when due to “climate change” instead of the strange chemical that animates the corpses.

The dead can also be chanting enviro-nonsense while eating brains.

Several of the zombies can be former vegetarians & wearing PETA shirts.

May 24, 2009 - 11:39 am 105. Nonner:

Why is it that no one can concede just a few points? With regards to environmentalism, I mean.

I’ve considered myself an environmentalist all my life, (though I’ve taken to using the term “conservationist” to avoid attacks from the Right) and while I frankly disagree with much of what conservative commentators have said about DDT, I readily admit that many environmentalists are, knowingly or not, anti-human.

Let’s face it, guys; the movement’s been hijacked. Too many people call themselves environmentalists just because it’s superficially popular right now. Too many people scream that they’re “Greener than Thou” whilst indulging in the kind of consumerism that would make a Gilded Age robber baron blush. Too many movie stars think they have greater authority to dictate ecological morality to the masses than actual scientists.

Anybody remember Ralph Nader? Why are we choosing to ignore him while swallowing everything Al Gore shoves down our throats? Come to that, why do we pay any attention to the self-serving pseudo-intellectual that is Gore? All he does is make us look bad.

To the Right Wing commentators I say: No. We are not all mindless vegetarian drones bent on destroying civilization. Please do recognize that.

But you’re right to be concerned.

May 25, 2009 - 12:27 pm 106. Righteous Bubba:

Why is it that no one can concede just a few points? With regards to environmentalism, I mean.

I believe I did upthread. Happily this netted me a comparison to Josef Mengele.

May 25, 2009 - 1:28 pm 107. t.g.:

The first greens in germany were actually the nazis. I mean the real ones back in the ’30s. If you dig up about the SS you find crazy pagan stuff. Like reviving the good old times without big cities and mechanized agriculture. In this context arable land (lebensraum) is the limiting factor and to conquer enough lebensraum was the goal of world war.

It’s just a miracle of political marketing to sell this really right-wing extremism as left-wing progressive!

May 26, 2009 - 2:08 am 108. Righteous Bubba:

Don’t be an ass. There were ecology-minded individuals in Germany long before the Nazis, who not incidentally built one of the greatest industrial machines ever seen at that point.

It’s nice that you want to fit everything into your world view, but good lord, I have it on good authority that Nazis liked sweets! Therefore DISTRUST ALL CHILDREN!

May 26, 2009 - 6:36 pm

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