The Green Police, Big Brother out of control

[jimmy olsen]

While the author goes a bit over the top, I agree with the sentiment. People have the right to be stupid and live unhealthy lives.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/02/14/big_brother_out_of_control/

Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe
Big Brother out of control
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Columnist / February 14, 2010

THE AUDI motor company's idea of an environmentally-correct America, to judge from the TV commercial it spent several million dollars to air during the Super Bowl, is one in which homeowners could be arrested for using incandescent light bulbs, customers choosing plastic bags at the supermarket would be manhandled by the Green Police, and anyone tossing an orange peel into the wastebasket could find himself in the beam of a searchlight, hearing a voice bark through a loudspeaker: "Put the rind down, sir! That's a compost infraction!''

It's also a place where highway traffic would back up at an "eco-roadblock,'' but anyone driving a "green'' car like Audi's A3 TDI would be waved through the checkpoint.

Of course, the notion of an environmental police state terrorizing citizens for not being sufficiently "green'' is just parody meant to be laughed at. Or is it? On its website, Audi USA earnestly describes its Green Police as "caricatures'' created to "help'' consumers "faced with a myriad of decisions in their quest to become more environmentally responsible citizens.'' And what better way to "help'' them than with scenes of ruthless Greenshirts handcuffing hot-tubbers whose water is too warm, or raiding the home of residents who threw a used battery into the wrong trash bin?

"Green has never felt so right,'' proclaims Audi's dystopian ad. Others agree. David Roberts, who writes for the environmental webzine Grist (and who has called for putting global warming skeptics on trial), says the "thrill'' of the ad "turns on satisfying the green police.'' The commercial makes sense, he writes, only "if it's aimed at people who acknowledge the moral authority of the green police - people who may find those [environmental] obligations tiresome and constraining . . . but who recognize that living more sustainably is in fact the moral thing to do.''

On Twitter, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom expressed his approval more concisely: "That 'green police' Audi commercial hits home.'' He would know. Under a composting ordinance Newsom signed last year, throwing orange peels, coffee grounds, or greasy pizza boxes in the trash is now illegal in San Francisco, and carries fines of up to $500 per violation.

There was a time when Americans were thought capable of deciding for themselves what to do with their coffee grounds or whether to carry groceries home in paper or plastic bags. It isn't only in San Francisco, and it isn't only when it comes to "green'' issues, that such mundane or personal choices are being supplanted by government coercion. One thin slice at a time, liberties we used to take for granted are replaced with mandates from above. Rather than leave us free to choose, Big Brother increasingly makes the choice for us: On trans fats. On gambling. On smoking. On bicycle helmets. On health insurance.

In Massachusetts, the Globe reported last week, new regulations will soon require thousands of restaurant workers to undergo state-designed training on handling food allergies, and every restaurant menu will have to be revised to include a new message: "Before placing your order, please inform your server if a person in your party has a food allergy.'' In Pennsylvania, the Reading Eagle notes that it is illegal for volunteers to sell pies or cookies at a charity bake sale unless the treats were "prepared in kitchens inspected and licensed by the state Agriculture Department.'' In Oregon, an eight-year-old boy was suspended from his public school on Monday because he came to class with a tiny plastic toy gun from his G.I. Joe action figure.

It isn't to evil dictators with a lust for power that Americans have been slowly surrendering their autonomy. It is to well-intentioned authorities who believe sincerely that our freedoms must be circumscribed for our own good. At the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced what The New York Times called "a sweeping initiative . . . aimed at revamping the way American children eat and play - reshaping school lunches, playgrounds, and even medical checkups - with the goal of eliminating childhood obesity.''

Nothing in the Constitution authorizes the federal government to take charge of "revamping the way American children eat and play.'' It is only our passivity that makes such an encroachment possible. This used to be the land of the free. Is it still?

Jeff Jacoby can be reached at [email protected].

[MadImmortalMan]

It was a terrible commercial.

[Grey Fox]

Incandescent light bulbs are better then this eco BS, atleast here in this frozen country.

[Darth Wagtaros]

You'll regret not being GreenCommie when the tides rise and overwhelm your little fascist compounds. 

[DontSayBanana]

Look, while I agree that people should be free to make their own choices, it boils down to this: it's only a private decision until it leaves the door.  Once it's at the curbside for pickup, it's the city/county/removal company's call.  I dunno if you've seen a landfill recently, but the Cumberland County Landfill has a pile so large it can be seen almost two miles away over the treeline.

[Martinus]

You'll regret not being GreenCommie when the tides rise and overwhelm your little fascist compounds.

Don't forget the mind worms. 

[Martinus]

What a sad little story. I fail to see whether there is any common theme or thread to the article at all, or is this just an incoherent rant. The author bundles up together all kinds of grievances he has without a rhyme or reason - for example, what does "not bringing guns to school" or "informing people about common allergens in food you serve" have to do with "being green" is beyond me.

[Martinus]

Also, Tim, I take it you are also for legalizing hard drugs use and drunk driving, because people are free to choose stupid and unhealthy lifestyles (I won't even mention prostitution, gambling, and pot).

[Darth Wagtaros]

Marty is kinda right Timster.  The article is a long shpeel loosely tied to some fucking commercial.

The restaurants want to know about allergies so they don't get sued by some zagnut who thinks their problems are everyone else' too.  It being a regulation is just formalizing that.

A community low on storage for trash might try some sort of radical or stupid means of regulating what gets thrown away. 

[Martinus]

The restaurants want to know about allergies so they don't get sued by some zagnut who thinks their problems are everyone else' too.  It being a regulation is just formalizing that.

yuppers. Regulations like this usually serve both sides of the transaction, by providing a common standard that not only serves the customer's needs but also offers a safe haven to the service provider because he knows what to do. Otherwise, you end up having tons of lawsuits trying to decide what a common standard in informing about allergies is (for example should you inform about traces of nuts, due to the relatively common nut allergy, but not about traces of seafood or eggs, because the allergy to shrimps or eggs is less common).

[Agelastus]

Incandescent light bulbs are better then this eco BS, atleast here in this frozen country.

Britain has banned incandescent light bulbs. So now we are stuck with flickering fluorescent tube type lights with a lower output and a light less suitable for reading by. And I do wonder exactly how much energy is saved compared to that wasted by the increased recycling cost of these items.

No wonder I've had a headache for the best part of a year.

[Ed Anger]

I don't recycle. 

[Faeelin]

I agree with Tim. Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright? None I say! Let us take what is ours, chew and eat our fill.

[jimmy olsen]

Also, Tim, I take it you are also for legalizing hard drugs use and drunk driving, because people are free to choose stupid and unhealthy lifestyles (I won't even mention prostitution, gambling, and pot).

I'm not against legalizing the last two.

[Razgovory]

Guys a libertarian who believes that information should be free.  Specifically information he plagiarizes.