Gotta Love Headlines
“Eco-Scandal! AA Plane Flies 5 Passengers From US to London.”
I just noticed this headline. It caught my attention, and pissed me off.
The situation is horrible. The plane used 22,000 gallons of fuel to fly 5 people from Chicago to London. It’s disgusting. But something about the headline trivializes that. Like we’re silly granola heads for caring. Eco-Scandal! Like this is the treehugger version of Britney going out with out underwear.
It’s kind of like the “eco-terrorists” burning luxury homes down a few days ago. There’s a facetiousness in adding eco to unrelated words, like the media is poking fun at people who care about the environment. The people who burned down those homes were arsonists, even terrorists, but while what they did may have been fueled by misguided environmental militancy, it was not an environmental act, the same way serving special Kool-Aid to your followers is not a religious act.
Maybe I’m being overly sensitive. But after all, I am a dirty treehugging, crunchy granola-headed nut, right? We get easily agitated.
March 6th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Perfectly stated. If I had written this, I only hope I could have said it as well.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Thanks, Mickey.