Heritage’s Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing was host to a cheeky Irish couple yesterday who have started a website as a home for their new feature- length documentary, Not Evil Just Wrong.
Producer and director Ann McElhinney hopes the documentary will show “how extreme environmentalism is damaging the lives of the most vulnerable populations in the developed and developing world.” The spirited McElhinney, joined by husband Phelim McAleer, spoke almost non-stop for 45 minutes and posed some interesting dilemmas for global warming enthusiasts. She also made some memorable remarks on Bill Gates, Bono, Al Gore, NASA scientists and Rachel Carson.
McElhinney began by lambasting the 1972 ban of DDT, blaming millions of malaria deaths since then on it. She and Phelim were just warming up, however.
“Shame on you, Bill Gates, for offering people bed nets when they need modern pesticides; for offering people a 19th-century solution to a 20th-century problem,” said Phelim. Ann then felt compelled to add: “And shame on you, Bono… you … little leprechaun.”
Indeed, few were spared.
The couple called out environmentalists to practice what they preach, at one point exhorting fans of renewable energy to take their sick relatives to hospitals powered only by windmills: “They know the problem with renewables is they don’t renew themselves very often.”
They also urged parents who trust mosquito nets over pesticides to send their children to malaria-infested parts of Africa.
Besides seeking to shine a light on faulty science and offering logical conundrums, Ann and Phelim want to empower laymen with tools for verbal sparring–under any circumstances.
“What we’re trying to do is give people who watch the film the language so they can take on their opponents in a pub after 10 pints,” Ann said to hearty laughter.
She said conservatives have lost an important messaging battle and let environmentalists get away with their extremism and choice of words.
“How do you know when you’re really, really rich? It’s when your children come home and tell you they’re environmentalists,” she said, before turning to her husband. “My God, honey, we’ve made it–because our children are so disconnected from the world!”
Not Evil Just Wrong premieres this fall.