Goode Will

George Will hates greens, cartoons ... and shopping 4

Shrewdly waiting until the buzz died down, George Will weighed in today on Mike Judge’s The Goode Family. His verdict: It sorta sucks, but thank god someone’s taking environmentalists down a peg.

Let’s take a look at my paragraph-by-paragraph CliffsNotes version of his column:

  1. Too many people are asking “us” to save the planet.
  2. The media is in on it.
  3. The “incessant hectoring” of the “media-political complex” inspired Judge’s show. Drat, it’s too bad cartoons are an effective medium. But it’s great that this cartoon is helping to burst the green bubble.
  4. Summary of show and characters.
  5. The New York Times didn’t like it, because the reviewer is “complacent” and “smug” and doesn’t believe in the “reasonable dissent” of climate deniers.
  6. The show is not actually that good. But it touches upon “ecology as psychology.”
  7. Now I am going to pivot and talk about Nordhaus and Shellenberger!
  8. Green consumption/individual actions are ridiculous.
  9. Green consumption/individual actions are ridiculous.
  10. Green consumption/individual actions are ridiculous.
  11. Green consumption/individual actions are ridiculous.
  12. Oil and coal will save the world’s poor!
  13. The green bubble has burst because the economy is slowing green consumption. Thanks, recession, for forcing us to get real.

Which ... has literally nothing to do with Mike Judge skewering greens? Among other flaws.

I’m pretty sure George Will is officially the Andy Rooney of the print world.

 

Katharine Wroth is a senior editor at Grist.

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  1. Bart Anderson's avatar

    Bart Anderson Posted 10:10 am
    04 Jun 2009

    Two comments. As a one-time conservative, I feel a twinge of sadness that conservatives have lost their minds. George Will is one of the most literate of the conservative writers, but does anyone read him to learn about reality?  Another grumpy old guy bitching about things of which he hasn't a clue.When something like The Goode Family appears, it's a sign that the eco/greens are being taken seriously and seen as a threat.  Notice that there are very few actual rational arguments raised against environmentalism, because ... well ... there aren't many.  So, instead, we have "cultural" attacks which focus on how strange and silly the people are.

    As the old lawyer says, when you don't have a case, sttack the witness, the opposing lawyer, and the lawyer's mother.Bart / EB 

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  2. Spence's avatar

    Spence Posted 12:17 pm
    04 Jun 2009

    I saw Mike Judge's new show. In 1994. Which, coincidentally, was the last time George Will said anything relevant.

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  3. Teuthis Posted 12:17 pm
    04 Jun 2009

    Please remind me...why shouldn't we be concerned about this show?

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    1. Spence's avatar

      Spence Posted 12:20 pm
      04 Jun 2009

      Because it's not funny, and will probably be off the air by the 4th of July.

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