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Karl Burkart

Exploding children featured in 10:10 UK video

10:10 UK campaign video explodes on contact.

Mon, Oct 04 2010 at 2:38 AM EST
 30

Photo: 10:10 Campaign

This is a guest post by blogger and media expert Harold Linde.
 
Furor has erupted over the new 10:10 UK campaign video involving a school teacher who asks her children what they are doing for climate change and then blows up her uncooperative students.
 
Conservatives are rabid. Progressives are embarrassed. It is not clear how many children have been frightened into cutting down their carbon emissions ... likely very few.
 
I have a personal perspective on this spectacle. When I was in junior high school, my life was changed in not dissimilar circumstances. While flipping through the channels one Saturday night, I came across a force of medieval knights charging a field.

Many men were massacred by a small, carnivorous rabbit. Limbs were severed. Steel armor was chewed clean though. Blood bathed the battlefield. I had experienced one of the most epic scenes in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

Within weeks I was inspired into action. Using neighborhood friends, my mother’s dresses, and my father’s super-8 movie camera, I shot my own remake. We included the carnage and even a decapitation (substituting a Big Bird doll for the rabbit). Twenty years later, I became a professional film and television producer.

 

Of course, the Python film was intelligent, historic, multi-faceted, insightful, witty — and so hilarious it's still hard to watch without fits of laughter. Part of the reason for its success is that the makers were NOT trying to make an important political point — they were just being funny.

 
The producers of the 10:10 video, in an attempt to get some attention, tried to combine two idioms ... unsuccessfully. In fact, this gory video may do damage to the ailing U.S. climate movement that lasts months (maybe years).
 
In an apology letter, the filmmakers said the video was intended for a British audience, as if they forgot that in the digital world you can't just "take down" a piece of media. No doubt it will be played over and over ad nauseum by Fox newers like Glenn Beck, who will use it as living proof of the most popular talking point of the conservative, anti-climate spin machine — "progressives hate people."
 
Maybe 10:10 UK has proved them right.
 
Karl's note: Bill McKibben wrote an excellent piece that distances his organization, 350.org, from the UK branch of the 10:10 Day of Action — perhaps the largest ever collaboration of thousands of nonprofit organizations, businesses and concerned citizens around the world demanding action on climate change. You can learn more about the event on the 350.org website.
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Related Topics: Carbon Footprint, Climate Change, Go Green, Video

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anonymous
Mike 07/29/2011 22:23 PM

Man made gobal warming is a hoax. I look forward to EARTH HOUR every year.During that hour I turn every light and electrical appliance I have on.Expoding people who disagree is really sick. Would you think it was funny if just before she pushed the button the two victims pulled out a 38 and filled her with lead???My goal is to INCREASE my carbon foot buy as much as possible every year. Mother Earth is fine and needs saved from you kooks!!!

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anonymous
Gillyfan 11/10/2010 17:40 PM

CHECK YOUR FACTS - GILLIAN ANDERSON IS "NOT" THE TEACHER!! TRY WATCHING THE WHOLE VIDEO BEFORE PASSING JUDGEMENT!! Go to www.gilliananderson.ws and then try and tell us we're wrong!!

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anonymous
Ivana 10/10/2010 08:58 AM

just wonted to say,that I don't get it,how that blowing up thing hits everyone but in the wrong way! IMO they wanted to point out that if we don't make some changes we're all gonna "blow up" from this planet,and that we have to do something about it ant learn our kids how to do something about it,it's so shocking cos thing are shocking when it comes to climate changes! so wake up or blow up!
and to say one more time Gillian Anderson and the teacher in the movie are two totally different.... More

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anonymous
Drummerboy 03/21/2011 11:32 AM

Global warning is not man made. The sun is responsable for it. It's a cycle running for hundred of thousand years. Co2 is not a menace for humanity and the children who say that they don't want to participate in this scam are wright! And they have the wright to disagree. They don't deserve to die for their opininions. Liberty of speech... remember! You better wake up man. Or somebody will consider you as someone who's breathing out to much CO2 and while put a bullet in your back head for.... More

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anonymous
Lizzie 10/09/2010 16:22 PM

As other people have already commented, Gillian Anderson does not play the teacher in this 10:10 video. Why haven't you corrected your article yet? It's really unprofessional to have such a big mistake. The woman who plays the teacher looks nothing like Gillian Anderson!

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shicks
shicks 10/10/2010 13:32 PM

You're right. She doesn't look anything like Gillian Anderson. (Maybe Harold Linde thinks she does?) We've finally removed the name. Sorry for the delay and thanks for the comments.

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anonymous
Mike 10/09/2010 11:57 AM

No surprise here. The ultimate aim of most left wing causes is the control and elimination of certain human beings. Whether it's abortion, euthanasia, the climate hoax, animal "rights", gay "rights", the healthcare takeover, censorship, gun control, or food control (transfats, salt, soda, etc), FORCING others to conform to your personal point of view, is the essence of the "no pressure" left. Underpining their tactics is the belief in eugenics, that permits them to view the elimination of.... More

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anonymous
Rebecca 02/03/2011 10:11 AM

The people who actually DO kill those who disagree with them are usually the right wingers. Look at fascism for instance, and think about what happened with it and eugenics in WWII. There was a shooting in my hometown of Knoxville a few years back http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoxville_Unitarian_Universalist_church_sho... that was done by a right winger.
The list could go on, but you sound so set in your opinions that I'm quite sure this is going to fall on blocked ears.... More

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anonymous
Lou 10/09/2010 09:53 AM

Just adding my voice to the mix. She is, as others have already pointed out, the woman at the end of the film in the sound booth.

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anonymous
Rebecca Long 10/07/2010 18:37 PM

I just saw this video and I am simply stunned, not to mention disgusted. The only thing that would make me feel better is if I found out that it was actually made by climate skeptics who want to associate the movement as some "commie plot on par with fascism." That those who want to help protect the planet from climate change would think it was in any way acceptable to show images of murder as a means to this end is simply unfathomable. How could people who I presume are relatively educated.... More

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anonymous
Clearer 10/07/2010 12:57 PM

The important thing to understand is the message.
If you do not go along w what these freaks believe, they intend to destroy you.

Take a lesson from the jews....if someone says they intend to kill you, believe them.
This commercial gives great insights into their views towards others

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anonymous
Jim 10/06/2010 21:13 PM

Seems to me, 10:10 was following along the line of anti-texting PSAs, where snapping necks and dead daddies might catch your attention. This certainly caught my attention, but not in a way that effectively delivers their message.

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anonymous
Lauren Blake 10/06/2010 16:36 PM

As others have pointed out (but Becky still seems to miss), the teacher is most definitely NOT played by Gillian Anderson. Gillian Anderson is the actress at the end who's doing the voice-over. Even if you didn't recognize her face, surely you can recognize her voice. And if you listen, you'll even hear the guy in the booth call her "Gillian."

Every other article I've read on this idiotic video has got that right. You really should fix.

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anonymous
MichaelHP 10/06/2010 08:12 AM

I make TV commercials and PSA's for a living. I understand what went on "in the room" as the creative process took place. Unfortunately, I blame the client AND the creative house because nobody from the client side said "Excuse me, the emperor has no clothes..."' and it is also quite likely that that didn't happen because the client was led to believe that the agency "knew best what would work". Shame.

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anonymous
Don 10/05/2010 12:16 PM

This video goes beyond the pale. There is no possible explanation for this terrorist garbage. If the environmental movement had any credibility before, it is gone now. Let's try the opposite and see how funny you think it is. Nuke the environmentalists, they are morons anyway. No real loss there

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anonymous
Don 10/05/2010 12:16 PM

This video goes beyond the pale. There is no possible explanation for this terrorist garbage. If the environmental movement had any credibility before, it is gone now. Let's try the opposite and see how funny you think it is. Nuke the environmentalists, they are morons anyway. No real loss there

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anonymous
Pigpen 10/05/2010 09:46 AM

I am going to have an open fire, cut my Christmas tree down early, and drive about for no other reason than to clear my head. And if you are smart, you will too. Man-made climate change is a fraud. If you continue to give them power by voluntarily complying with this nonsens, then they will eventually "blow-up" even those of YOU socially-minded, yuppies (whether or not you cutback your carbon) just because you are "useless eaters." (Their words, not mine.)

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anonymous
Lindsay 11/11/2010 04:07 AM

Follow your own trash for a day, create your own food and power your own life and then try to tell me that we are not raping this planet.

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anonymous
Bill 10/05/2010 09:41 AM

When I was a kid, the "Duck and Cover" films shown to schoolkids and the ads touting nuclear destruction for the entire world convinced me that there would be a devastating nuclear war and I would not live to be old. Now I'm entering the world of old age and I am very sorry that the video spots were ever made. They were destructive beyond any nuclear threat that was real during all that time.

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anonymous
Herb 10/05/2010 09:24 AM

This video is a permanent black mark on the climate change movement. It will taint any future effort they make. The most helpful thing 10:10 members can do for the larger movement is disband and join organizations that are more competently run.

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anonymous
Becky S Canter 10/04/2010 23:45 PM

The teacher was Gillian Anderson. Better take a better look.

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anonymous
Paypal 10/09/2010 09:18 AM

You need that better look. This is not Gillian Anderson! Check this out if you don't believe me :
http://yfrog.com/76nopressurej

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anonymous
Rupert 10/09/2010 08:36 AM

The teacher was very obviously NOT PLAYED by GILLIAN ANDERSON, who, self-deprecatingly, appears AT THE END OF THE VIDEO, where she is blown up for not doing enough.

I'm using capital letters, though I doubt you'll pay attention and admit to making a mistake. That people like you insist on perpetuating the lie makes me think you're just interested in finding a convenient scape goat (in this case, a celebrity). Shame on you and the author of the above report.

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anonymous
Rupert 10/09/2010 08:35 AM

The teacher was very obviously NOT PLAYED by GILLIAN ANDERSON, who, self-deprecatingly, appears AT THE END OF THE VIDEO, where she is blown up for not doing enough.

I'm using capital letters, though I doubt you'll pay attention and admit to making a mistake. That people like you insist on perpetuating the lie makes me think you're just interested in finding a convenient scape goat (in this case, a celebrity). Shame on you and the author of the above report.

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anonymous
Melissa Carter 10/09/2010 08:19 AM

That's exactly what you need! Ahahaha... you don't know her... it's so obvious! Google it! =P

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anonymous
Michael Bailey 10/04/2010 21:41 PM

The average internet server has the same carbon footprint as a 15 MPG SUV...

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anonymous
Bryan 10/04/2010 20:56 PM

stop being a *****... its a freaking commercial... man up. if you cant watch it, then simply dont.

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anonymous
Carl McPherson 10/04/2010 20:53 PM

I have updated my article to include more videos:
http://tinyurl.com/Eco-or-Die-Updates

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anonymous
Chrissie4ever 10/04/2010 17:40 PM

Gillian Anderson is NOT playing the teacher, she the last person in the video who gets blown up. Guess you didn't watch it!

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anonymous
Cathy O'Donnell 10/04/2010 10:26 AM

Please amend this article, the teacher is not played by Gillian Anderson, Ms Anderson features at the end of the video as the narrator and as the final victim.

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