The Worst Thing I have Seen From a Major Media Company in Quite a While
The Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) web site has an absolutely horrible kid's game called "Planet Slayer." In this game, kids answer lifestyle questions and the program tells them when they should die because they have used up their "fair share" of the world's resources. The less politically correct kids are, or the wealthier they are, the sooner they are told they should die. Accepting the default, average choices in the games tells kids they should die when they are 9 years old.
Yeah, I know you think I am exaggerating. Because this is likely to get pulled down soon, I will show you a series of screenshots from it. Whether it gets pulled down or not, a major media company (with all of its famed multiple levels of editorial control) thought this was a good game for kids. I actually delayed publishing this, because I wanted to make sure this was not some kind of hack or joke site. But you can get there right from the ABC home page by clicking "science" in the top menu and clicking on the planet slayer game icon at the bottom of the science page. I still wonder whether it's a put on - it's that bad.
Here is the landing page (click on any page to increase the size):
Yep, that little sign does indeed say "find out when you should die." Here the game is explained:
Here is the first question:
With each question, if you choose any answer that might not indicate that you are a subsistence farmer in Africa living on a $1 a day, your pig gets fatter. I really encourage you to check out the whole thing. It is one politically correct litmus test after another. My pig got slightly fatter, until I got to this one:
Answering that you spend any more than $10,000 AUS (about a 1:1 conversion with US dollars), your pig will get really fat. The wealthier you are, the more evil you are in a direct relationship. It is a point I have made for a while: global warming alarmists consider their preferred solution to environmental issues to be universal poverty.
There is me, really evil, because I earn a good living. And, as we can see with this question, since I spend my money on ordinary stuff that I actually want, rather than where the authors would like me to spend it, I really suck. When you hit the final button, you pig is actually exploded in a bloody mess (yes, the red is blood). As it turns out, I should have been strangled at birth:
Hat tip to Watts Up With That. Really, in some ways this is an awesome game. Never have I seen such a pure combination of Marxist-style zero-sum economics with science-challenged warming alarmism.
I don't think I need to bother refuting any of this. If you are new to the site, you can find a basic refutation of zero-sum economics here and a series of resources on global warming, from a book to free Youtube videos, here.
Dr. T:
I died at 2.9 years.
I just loved some of the choices. For example, the site considers spending money on 'organic foods' to be better for the environment. Sure, if you want lower yields per acre, more farmed acres, and less acreage for wetlands, forests, grasslands, etc. Organic farming also takes more labor to grow and harvest the food. Since people are the main cause of environmental destruction (many environmentalists believe that most people should drop dead now, and the few survivors should live a stone age-type existence), labor-intensive organic farming is doubly harmful to the environment.
May 31, 2008, 3:44 pmZach:
You missed out on the best part: clicking the little dude to figure out the "science" behind the questions.
May 31, 2008, 3:58 pmmhg:
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is actually a government organisation, funding by taxpayers. That explains everything you need to know about it.
The people behind this deserve to be castrated.
May 31, 2008, 3:59 pmBrad Warbiany:
Holy Crap! I just got to the question on flying, and somehow you become more of a carbon pig if your travel is work-related than if it isn't.
I guess that means that if you're Al Gore, jet-setting around proselytizing worldwide about climate change, it's a lot less environmentally harmful than when I catch a flight from CA to the Midwest to engage in sales activity?
Absurd.
May 31, 2008, 4:15 pmAaron:
I should die at age 10, according to this test. And I'm a college student whose biggest expense is paying a huge sum of tuition for a top university. This is rich. Also, you missed the best thing on their website.
The "Civilized" Test
This is the most blatant socialist propaganda I've ever read that doesn't have the word "socialist" anywhere. It's so horrible. My favorites are 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, and 25. I don't even know why they added 25. It's literal nonsense, and it's self defeating. What if I aspire to own a corporation? Oh, wait. Can't do that, forgot number 14. Looks like my country doesn't protect my ability to achieve my aspirations.
Seriously, this site is hilarious. It's almost awesome how hilarious this is.
May 31, 2008, 4:51 pmMichael Stack:
Brad,
I too saw that if your flying is work-related, you're charged more carbon - anyone know why that might be? They already ask how many miles you fly (or kilometers), so I have no idea why flying for one purpose vs. another (after controlling for distance) should make any difference.
May 31, 2008, 5:04 pmDKH:
Michael and Brad,
Their figuring is that, if your flying is work related, it means that your company paid for it, leaving you more of your money to spend. And apparently every Australian dollar spent produces 1.6 kg of carbon "somewhere along the line". That phrase is a little nebulous and disturbing. How is that number calculated? Is something double counted along the way? No way to tell.
Luckily, I'm a college student and my expenses are low. I can live close to campus and walk there, and work doesn't pay for much of my travel. But whoops! I eat a lot of meat. And on top of that, I accumulated some money and put it in a CD! Horribly unethical of me. Anyway, I'm fortunate to live to the age of 15.4.
The key to that seems to be the expenses (scholarship = no tuition costs = <$10000 expenses). But if my expenses were a little higher, or if I counted tuition (that money's coming from somewhere and being spent on me), my age goes down to 8.9.
May 31, 2008, 5:53 pmThe Dity Mac:
I made it to age 1.4. Of course, I am an enemy of the people.
May 31, 2008, 7:17 pmMichael Stack:
DKH,
Thanks for the info.
May 31, 2008, 7:34 pmKyle Bennett:
Isn't that cute... I answered every question as green as possible (not actually physically possible, but the greenest answer available), and got down to -15 tonnes produced per year. Somehow, I became a net consumer of CO2 - I guess their goal is for everyone to be a vegetable. And at the end, my little piggie flew up to heaven instead of exploding, and they said I could live forever.
May 31, 2008, 8:42 pmJosh:
If you play the "Planet Slayer" game, one of the things that they deem harmful to the earth is nuclear energy. I almost thought it had to be a parody at that point, but given the general ignorance displayed on the site, they probably meant it.
May 31, 2008, 9:20 pmDKH:
There are other funny things, too:
Question 2: Tell it you don't you don't usually use a car. Then tell it that work pays for 100% of your non-use. And there you go, 5.2 tonnes generated right there.
However, the same effect doesn't exist for air travel (question 3).
Questions 10 and 11: I can't seem to reproduce Kyle's situation, but spending over $100,000, with 100% in "ethical investments", leaves me at -355.6 tonnes of carbon. Under this situation, spending more money is better for the environment.
But I hope you made that money as an organic farm mogul, or some other magical profession that produces no carbon.
May 31, 2008, 9:26 pmChris D:
In this group's defense, their scientist is obviously a dog in a lab coat, so it's hard to hold this against them.
June 1, 2008, 9:12 amBobH:
On the entry page, I saw this notice: "Get the dirt on greenhouse without the guilt trips."
I'm glad that they feel telling me I should have been dead fifty years ago doesn't qualify as a guilt trip.
(Aside: Which creates more carbon damage -- a business trip a guilt trip? Sorry, couldn't resist.)
(Second aside: Since this is supposed to be for kids -- how many kids are taking business trips and making "ethical" investments?)
June 1, 2008, 11:02 amJonathan:
What a bunch of wicked people we are!
Having fun with it I only lived 1.2 years. Being more realistic I was graciously allowed to live the ripe old age of 7.6 years. Being someone who lives in a small one-bedroom apartment, drives a small car with good mpg, uses electricity sparingly, and even walks places every so often I can't imagine why that makes me such a horrible person. I guess if they knew that I was an airline pilot who delights in burning fossil fuels (what else are we going to do with fossil fuel, drink it?) they probably would have given me a lifetime of -1.
What a shame that the maximum distance flown is a measly 40,000km; just in leisure traveling when I'm not flying for work I've probably come close to 20,000km traveled in a month. Although without a doubt I'm sure that pales in comparison to the many miles traveled by a certain Mr. Gore.
June 1, 2008, 11:49 ambob r:
I put in the "worst" answer for all but the last two: spent over 100,000 and 100% of spending for "green". Result: -300.7 tonnes.
I guess it doesn't matter how "bad" you are as long as you make the appropriate "sacrifice" to the Green God.
June 1, 2008, 11:56 amSteve LeMaster:
This has got to be the most reprehinsible thing I have seen on the Web yet in regards to this topic. This is just more proof that these loons will go to any length to push it down everyone's throats.
Though I suppose it's probably a waste of time, you could go to the Contact Us page and drop them a line like I did.
June 1, 2008, 1:12 pmla petite chou chou:
My pig exploded at age 5.4.
When I told it I lived in a flat (cuz they don't option "studio") my size didn't really get smaller, but when I said I lived alone pig got quite large. Apparently living in a tiny studio doesn't mean anything if you aren't also sharing it.
Also...I spent 25 to 40 k...Guess paying back the government student loans is killing me in more ways than one.
HA!
June 1, 2008, 5:44 pmBill:
It may or may not be the stupidest example of green propaganda on the web, but it closely mirrors that with which my grandchildren are being indoctrinated daily in their public school in California.
It's practically a full time job to offset the green garbage that the schools are handing out.
June 1, 2008, 6:32 pmAllen:
Telling kids when they should die (or that they already should have)? And the Aussies actually have the gaul to crack jokes about Kiwis in sheep?
June 1, 2008, 7:59 pmJay:
What would be fitting is if ABC posted a similar quiz, but asked you questions relating to the law of Moses. The result would be the number of years you will spend in pergatory, and for those that have committed at least 3 "sins" well eternal damnation to you.
June 1, 2008, 11:27 pmMiklos Hollender:
Warren,
I think you are mistaken, this must be a satire, a parody. I mean it MUST be... no one can so depraved, right? Right?... ...
June 2, 2008, 3:55 amCraig:
FYI, your RSS feed just started working for me again today.
June 2, 2008, 1:36 pmTim:
Hmm...
Extrapolating to a perverse conclusion...
Shouldn't I receive credit for "killing" other people? I would be reducing CO2 output greatly. Perhaps Iraq will turn out better than the liberals expected...
June 2, 2008, 2:45 pmCT_Yankee:
Global warming sermons from the pulpit:
The Bishop of Stafford, the Right Rev Gordon Mursell, an expert on Christian spirituality and near the bottom of the hierarchy of Anglican bishops, said...in a pastoral newsletter to parishes that such people were "destroying the future of our children" and were "as guilty as" Fritzl (recently exposed man who kept his daughter locked underground as a sex slave).
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4048461.ece
This article did find someone to express another viewpoint:
"It is with horror and shock that survivors sexually abused as children or as adults within Christian churches and by Christian clergy and ministers should hear their own bishop declare that perhaps buying oranges from South Africa is the equivalent to being locked into a dungeon and being raped repeatedly for 20 years by an evil father.
June 2, 2008, 3:16 pm