Fellow travellers, one thing that has perturbed me deeply recently is that more and more people are starting to poke fun at the environmentalist agenda! And I don't just mean appalling peenie-waving conservatives. They've been mocking us for many years now. But since they are so literal-minded and simplistic (unlike we on the left, who are so complex, sophisticated and ironic) their "comedy" and "satire" always falls flat.
No, the thing that really worries me is that now some
on the progressive side of politics are starting to treat the issue of combating climate change with less than the reverence it deserves. Take the American comic Kristina Wong, for example.
Now Ms Wong is clearly of the liberal left, since she has received arts funding for her work raising awareness about the high rates of suicide among Asian American women.
She also graduated from UCLA.
But in the theatre production
Going Green the Wrong Way she seems to be making fun of the idea of trying to save the planet through changing one's own behavior.
Take this description of
the show, for example:
Essentially a one-woman show, Going Green is an allegedly
autobiographical account of Wong’s frustrated attempt to be
environmentally responsible. There’s not much of a message here other
than lampooning self-serious activists who push their altruistic causes
past the point of practicality.Can you believe this, fellow travellers? She seems to expressing open disdain for those of us who have sacrificed so much to help save the planet, and who are urging others to do the same!
If the political subtext is not offensive enough, Mother Nature - our beloved Gaia Herself - is represented in the show as a "shiny ball hanging from the rafters".
Quite frankly the very idea of
any depiction of Gaia - even one created with a deep and genuine reverence - is highly disrespectful and should be forbidden. So this appalling act of sacrilege is offensive beyond words.
I will be sending some sternly worded e-mails to my fellow activists in the US performing arts scene. If Ms Wong did get government money for this particular travesty, then it will be the last such grant she ever receives,
I can assure you.
Appalling. Just appalling.
