Monday, September 11, 2006

An Inconvenient Website?

So Al Gore, ex-Presidential candidate, has written a book and a film about global warming.
Called "An Inconvenient Truth", I'm sure it has many erudite things to say about the wasteful state of human life. It's about time that someone told the Americans how much they are squandering the earth's resources and as such I applaud any attempt by a respected American politician to bring it to the public's notice.
Having watched an interview on BBC's Breakfast Show with Mr Gore explaining the meaning of his film, shortly to be released in the UK, I decided to find out more. I surfed the net and found a site which would, hopefully, expound Mr Gore's beliefs in more detail.
The site had a prominent link on it marked "PLEDGE".
I went to it. Perhaps if it was a site where one could pledge to use less energy I would sign up. But no, it was a site where you could pledge to go and see the film. Still good, you may think, since it may make you think about the future of the planet and what we can do about it. But on the same page I see a link to "PARAMOUNT CLASSICS" which presumably advertises the other movies that studio produces. Suddenly I lost interest in the site. Here was a man who was purportedly trying to help save mankind from self-destruction helping to advertise an entertainment company.
Paramount would undoubtedly want to make money from Al Gore's film.
But when it is making money out of something as important as this - and probably wasting precious resources in the making and marketing of the movie - one wonders what the true motives are.
Is Mr Gore really a believer in saving the planet? Or is he just another cynic?
Altruism, it seems, is dying. And, until we realise this and try to revive true love of our planet and our fellow man, so is the planet.

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