Who killed liberal brain cells?
Wednesday night I witnessed my first liberal propaganda film, "Who Killed the Electric Car." A good friend and I hit up the Parkside Theatre in Oakland for a viewing of this little conspiracy theory Bush-bash we'd been hearing so much about.
Aside from being the only Republican in the house as well as the only individual not sneering at George Bush, GM and the Oil companies, it wasn't that bad. Okay, okay, "Princess Diaries" would have been more tolerable than this left-wing dribble, but it's all about the experience...right? I mean, I got to see more retired hippies in that one setting than my last visit to Berkeley.
It all gets started back in 1990 when the progressive thinking California legislature decided the government knows best and mandated private auto-makers to build a zero-emissions vehicle. For fear of not being allowed to sell their gas-engine cars in California, GM, Toyota and other automakers were forced to develop a product. In other words, it was a liberal government telling a private company what to make and private citizens what to buy.
In this case it was the EV1; a small, cramped, short-distance pug-like vehicle that could, if lucky, take a commuter from Oakland to work in SF and back. Then again, if you hit the usual traffic on the Bay Bridge, fugettaboutit!
So this little electric car gets pulled from the market because average Americans just aren't interested. Sure, most would say they'd like to help the environment. But not by spending more money on a vehicle that could leave them stranded along the 880 in East Oakland. It was just a bad investment.
But the tree huggers who grew to hold deep rooted affection for their little EV1 staged protests. Liberal activists were determined to force their eco-ideology on the mainstream, quality be damned!
They blocked transport vehicles at a California GM plant and even stalked a truck driver until he passed through a security gate at the Port of LA/LB. All of this while demanding to put an electric vehicle back on the street that would ultimately cost more jobs than the gallons of gas it saves.
The movie goes through the usual suspects the left loves to hate. They blamed GM and the auto makers. They blamed the big oil companies. They blamed Ronald Reagan. They blamed you and me. And of course, they blamed George Bush. You blame Bush for anything these days. I hear he's flying in a plane right this minute trying to stir up another hurricane to hit a depressed ethnic neighborhood along the Gulf Coast.
So in true fashion of a propaganda film, facts were left out for clarity sake. You're supposed to hate Republicans after this film, not understand why the darn car sucked. UCLA Law Professor Stephen Bainbridge has a good theory. Ken Shepherd at News Busters has some links as well.
But what got me even more than the pure hatred no-so-subliminally hid between the plot lines was the reckless use of bogus info. Global warming was a hot topic of choice. Oh I'm telling you folks, anyone who’s anyone is talking about global warming these days. Environmental fear mongering is the new black in the hipster world!
But I digress; let's get to some of the garbage being passed off as fact. First, the film showed glaciers breaking from natural air-pockets and tried to pass it off as melting. You've know the scene, a large chunk of ice falls into the water. Liberals show this scene as a sign of their claims that the glaciers are getting smaller. But the scene is actually a natural phenomenon that has nothing to do with climate. And yet they leave out the part about the glaciers actually getting thicker.
They show an image of a hurricane cloud while proudly claiming a dramatic increase in severe weather activity...even though the hurricane season predictions, regrettably to liberals, has been down-graded. Not to mention the overall weather trends aren't even close to the severe weather of the 30s and 40s. Back then they were claiming another ice age.
They show elk meandering through ANWR as they blast drilling in the region, even though the drilling would have zero effect on the wildlife and actually help solve some of our energy issues (while simultaneously creating over 2 million U.S. jobs). Kinda funny half the movie is devoted to showing an oil shortage and yet they oppose drilling.
Then they go into the standard "I can't think of anything else to say" line about war in the Middle East because of oil. Again, it's a movie trying to prove an oil shortage and the affects of high gas prices, while also suggesting we've tapped into one of the largest oil sources in the world. Um...control of oil with no shortages equals low prices. Something doesn't add up here kids. That damn Halliburton must be hiding the oil in Crawford. Oh yeah, the jihadist in Iraq say hi.
But seriously folks, overall the movie was more about pointing fingers at the usual capitalist pigs than telling a factual story about electric cars. The director obviously hates Bush. He obviously hates oil companies that are making profits after decades of making nothing. And he obviously hates the government because they would rather see companies put money into products that sell rather than an environmentalist’s pet-project.
To sum it up, the car just wasn't worth it and neither was this movie. Ditching an electric car program in favor of something more likely to have success however is.