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May 2, 2006

Terrorism for Tots, American Style

Molding eager terrorists requires brainwashing, and the earlier you start, the more effective you will be. This is how they do it in the psychotic death cult known by some as the "Religion of Peace":

American terrorism is still in its infancy. For the most part it originates in the animal rights and earth rights movements. So far it hasn't been as deadly as the Middle Eastern variety, but in its hostility not just toward some humans but all humans, it is even more profoundly antisocial. Here too seeds are strategically planted in minds too young to reject them, as in the kiddy movie Hoot, which is coming out Friday.

As described by CNS News, Hoot tells the story of a band of middle school children who have resolved to save some owl nests from a development project. They trespass, rip out surveyors' stakes, flatten tires, vandalize machinery, spray paint a police car, kidnap a land developer, release poison snakes, etc. in order to prevent the owls' little corner of the wild from being encroached upon by civilization.

There are no negative consequences for the kids' antisocial acts; on the contrary, they are portrayed as heroes who successfully prevent the construction of a restaurant. The bad guys are the builders; in the end the project manager gets arrested for violating environmental protection laws.

"Break the rules!" the trailer exhorts. It features a shot of the heroic teens standing in front of a bulldozer just like Rachel "Saint Pancake" Corrie; ironically, the restaurant they won't allow to be built is a pancake house. "You gotta start thinking like an outlaw," urges one of the teenage eco-warriors.

Jeanne Wolf referred to Hoot as "soft-core eco-terrorism," but director Wil Shriner characterizes the vigilante vandalism as "mischievous" and proudly observes that there is no smoking or farting in the film.

The story comes from a novel by Carl Hiaasen, whose work has been praised by Al Gore and Earth First, the extremist group that spawned the arson-oriented terrorist outfit Earth Liberation Front. Says Hiassen of Hoot's teenybopper outlaws:

There are times when you have to step across the law to do something right. It's nothing new in literature...

It certainly isn't. The concept of "stepping across" is central to Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. But "stepping across" doesn't turn out quite as rosily for Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov.

How long did it take us to get from "Give a hoot, don't pollute" to urging children to sabotage construction sites? Where are we heading next?

Posted by Van Helsing at May 2, 2006 8:39 AM

Comments

Posted by: BelchSpeak at May 2, 2006 11:37 AM