It’s nothing about climate

THIS week’s carry on by the socalled environmental activists Extinction Rebellion has hurt the cause of climate change.

As the rolling disruptions to city traffic only serves to annoy normal people, it is the words of these ‘movement’ leaders that have lifted the mask on what this issue is really about.

By their own admission these protesters say they are about ending ‘postcolonial systems of oppression’ and the ‘patriarch,’ yet much of the media keep referring to them as an extreme environmental movement. The truth is they are using the environment to demand parliament be replaced with citizens’ assemblies and the end of capitalism as we know it. I’m not making this up or trying to grab your attention with wild claims. This is what was said on camera this week. Again, not some loon up the back of a march, but the leaders in Brisbane, Sydney and London.

These aren’t the demands of “environmentalists”, they are the ravings of the fringe. They aren’t the kids who protested a few weeks ago, nor are they those who genuinely claim climate change is a major issue.

These are anarchists rebranded and the media is helping them do it. Even after sitting through their press conferences and hearing their demands, most news reports ignore their stated objectives. Why do they keep calling people who want to get rid of our system of government as ‘climate change’ protesters? Well it seems there is a template for how protests are covered on TV: Show the dumbest person who has stuck to an idea first, some chanting, then someone making a speech. Only then do they show normal people inconvenienced by their tactics and finally end with politicians saying they will do something about it. In between all this, the media uses ‘protest’ slogans and gives them millions of dollars of mainstream coverage for their nutty causes.

But where’s the real reporting? Why not tell us what they really want? Expose their true cause. Why keep saying their name and showing the faces of the same people over and over who will use the infamy of being arrested to further their standing in the group?

I loved the reporting in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. They made videos asking the protesters what they really knew about the issues and of course they knew bugger all. They even had a reporter go behind enemy lines and dress as a bee as part of the protest to learn their tactics and expose how planned the whole thing is. He exposed that the group tell people what to say to the media and give out flyers to protesters who aren’t sure what they are protesting for.

Now I understand how annoying these people are and I’m not saying don’t cover their mass disruption in places like Brisbane. But it’s time to lift the mask off these people and expose what they are really about. The best way to attack their growing power in parts of the community is to openly mock them.