Friday, May 30, 2008

"At What Age Should You Die So You Don’t Use More than Your Fair Share of Earth’s Resources?"

Jonathan Kayser alerted me to this weird (and pretty chilling) internet "game" for kids that informs you at just “what age you should die at so you don’t use more than your fair share of Earth’s resources!”

I'm not making this up.

The game requires you to answer ten questions about the miles you travel, what size your house is, and so on.

"With each answer, see how your CO2 production compares to the Average Aussie greenhouse pig, and to an environmentally-sustainable 'green' pig."

Note that no matter what you do, you remain a pig!

After you answer all the questions, then you press the death's head symbol, a pig explodes into blood, and you're informed at what age you should die (note the ethical "ought" assumed) "so you don't use more than your fair share of Earth's resources."

This charming game is called The Greenhouse Calculator. It's part of a web site called Planet Slayer (a game by that name is also there on the site) which is run by the Australian government.

The game, of course, is rigged and not in the sense of being foreordained (I found the same answers could generate different ages at when one's demise was suggested), but in the overriding lesson being that simply being a human being means that you are...a pig. And, more than that, you're a pig that would do the planet a big favor if you would just die and be done with it!

Now, by putting this offensive game on the internet, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has done a serious disservice not only to Australian kids, but to your kids as well. Therefore, a polite e-mail (no exploding pigs necessary) is in order, asking them to remove this distasteful and injurious brainwashing.