A viral buzz is probably not something you want to have in
these days of H1N1 (swine flu) paranoia.
But if you’re Ann McElhinny and Phelim McAleer this week
it’s not a malady, but a desired condition. That’s because Sunday
marks the formal public introduction to their film documentary
“Not Evil Just
Wrong,” which follows their 2006 joint
effort “Mine Your Own
Business.” The plan was (and is) to
generate enthusiasm and interest in a “premiere” for “Not Evil”
via DVD sales, nudged along by Internet promotion and social
networking. Purchasers had to promise to simultaneously host
screenings and parties for friends and others who are interested
in the movie’s topic, which is to debunk global warming
alarmism.
After unsuccessful efforts last year to raise funds for a
massive theatrical rollout, the Internet plan shows signs of
contagiousness. The Irish pair, married, can thank a fortuitous
timing of events upon which they have been able to capitalize
with some clever journalism.
McElhinny and McAleer first generated interest in their
work in August, when
they drew attention to a BBC
interview with Gerd Leipold of Greenpeace, who admitted that a
July 15 claim that the Arctic would be ice-free by 2030 was “a
mistake” and defended the group’s practice of “emotionalizing
issues.” It was a classic catch of
environoiacs in their own
excesses.
Then last month McAleer brought a microphone, a camera and
a friend (to operate the camera, silly!) to environmentalist
filmmaker Franny Armstrong’s premiere of “The Age of
Stupid,” which like every other eco-doc,
attracted current and former Hollywood celebrities like David
Letterman
lures interns. As McAleer noted in
a blog post for Big
Hollywood:
Much of the “Age Of Stupid” is spent attacking those in
the developing world who want our lives and lifestyles. The
documentary is particularly critical of those in countries such
as India who want to fly more for business or pleasure.
The documentary is quite clear that flying in aeroplanes
is disastrous for the planet. “Apart from setting fire to a
forest flying is the single worst thing an individual can do to
cause climate change,” we are told.
So of course McAleer, who had gained press access to the
“Stupid” event, showed up in New York as the celebrities and
Armstrong walked the green carpet and
asked them how they transported themselves to the
premiere. It wasn’t long before the
“Stupid” security team realized he had no palatable questions,
shut down his camera, and muscled McAleer far from the
proceedings.
Apparently this only whetted his appetite for more
interruption and rejection. Last Friday he jumped into the
question line first after a speech by Al Gore at the annual
conference of the
Society of Environmental Journalists.
McAleer then promptly asked about
nine critical errors in Gore’s film
“An Inconvenient Truth,” which a British court two years ago said
must be righted before being shown in schools there. The former
vice president has done nothing to correct the record, and
McAleer asked, “Why?”
The “Stupid” security team may not have liked the
challenging questions, but the media toadies who wanted to
protect their green leader were downright afraid, so they also
used their only defense mechanism: they
turned off McAleer’s
microphone.
That was good and timely for the release of “Not Evil Just
Wrong,” since the high-traffic Drudge
Report highlighted McAleer’s exchange
with Gore over the entire past weekend. That spurred more radio
talk show and other media appearances earlier this week,
including an unforgettable
debate on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight”
between McAleer and Environmental Defense president Fred Krupp,
who the Irishman reduced to nothing more than a “millionaire
lawyer who calls himself an environmentalist.”
So what about “Not Evil Just Wrong” as a film?
It effectively makes its points, which are to illustrate
how global warming alarmism and its anti-fossil fuel agenda will
harm poor countries and their people, because it reduces their
access to cheaper, more efficient sources of energy. It makes a
mockery of the scientific methods practiced by the climate
fearmongers, especially the infamous and now-debunked Michael
Mann and his “hockey
stick” warming chart. It follows the life
of a lower income family whose breadwinner’s job is with a local
coal-fired power plant, which provides them cheap energy and a
higher standard of living.
And the film (as have others) likens the environmentalists’
climate change hysteria to the Rachel Carson-inspired DDT ban on
pesticides, responsible for millions of deaths in poor African
countries. McElhinny and McAleer even interview a U.S.
environmentalist working in Uganda, who can’t bear the idea of
promoting DDT use because of its threat to birds.
If it sounds like the movie jumps around a lot, it does.
But that matches the personality and the passion of its
filmmakers, and it is surprisingly effective. Best of all, it
provides a truthful counterbalance to the award-winning
documentary that Gore has yet to correct.
If you’re not able to catch a
premiere showing of “Not Evil Just Wrong”
on Sunday night, that won’t be the end of its
availability.
Watch it soon, and you might even be inspired to suggest it to
your children’s science teacher.
