Glenn Beck has promoted a conspiracy that the United Nations is plotting to centrally control local communities through green initiatives. (Image Credit: Mediaite)
First they assailed the incandescent light bulb, and then made “investments” into green energy, high-speed rail, and other outwardly innocuous “sustainability” initiatives. That was before United Nations finally took over after siphoning away our liberties through its blood funnel.
Don’t worry - I didn’t just subject my brain to a marathon of Jersey Shore. There’s something that’s even more ridiculous: a faction of Americans who fervidly believe that the U.N.’s vision for sustainable development is actually a clandestine attempt by the “New World Order” to centrally control their communities.
The New York Times wrote an expose the movement today, which has ties to the Republican Tea Party and is gaining traction in communities throughout the United States. Community meetings have become their latest battleground.
A United Nations initiative called Agenda 21 has been the catalyst for right wing activists such as Alex Jones to suspect something green is afoul. Agenda 21 is not a binding treaty, and the U.N. refers to its as a framework for a “common vision.”
Former Fox News cable television host Glenn Beck promoted the conspiracy on his program last June saying: “Some people now have begun questioning and standing up to what, on the surface, seems like a harmless initiative just to save the environment. But it is not. Be awake. Spread the word. Watch your local community. The answer will be found with the individual. The answers and the solutions will be found in the local communities. But once they put their fangs into our communities, they’ll suck all the blood out of it, and we will not be able to survive. Watch out.”
Indeed, many heeded Beck’s John Birch stylized claxon call. The anti-green activists have come to believe that proposed bike lanes and smart meters on appliances for energy savings in Roanoke County, VA. are part and parcel of a big government plot to strip you of your individual rights. A bike-sharing program in Denver has also been met with the same resistance.
A tea party mayoral candidate stated that the bike-sharing program was a “very well disguised” attempt to “convert Denver into a United Nations community.” Any effort to prepare for climate change is truly anathema to this crowd. ICLEI USA, a network of local governments working toward sustainability, is one of their primary targets, the Times reports.
“Across the country, we’ve witnessed a small but vehement group of activists who often resort to intimidation tactics to disrupt local planning meetings and halt healthy dialogue at a time when it is needed more than ever,” ICLEI USA executive director Michael Schmitz said in a statement following the Times article.
It’s not appropriate to pick on people who are a loyal opposition; civic participation is a good thing that should be encouraged. Citizens have the right to question whether their government should be subsidizing green energy, to demand accountability about Solyndra’s failure, and debate how to best handle climate change.
However, unhinged craziness isn’t constructive. It accomplishes nothing toward advancing the national discourse and improving public policy. Sadly, tuning in to watch Jersey Shore is a greater intellectual exercise in comparison to what’s now happening in America’s meetinghouses.
