Abi Sutherland: Good Ideas Do Not Need You to Tell Lies About Them Department
Abi Sutherland is smart:
Abi Sutherland: Cutting a great road through the truth to get to the Devil: Lately, my Twitter stream has been going through an iterative discovery cycle over “Shell’s Arctic Ready campaign”…. It turns out to have been a hoax by Greenpeace. So was the viral video and the gormless Twitter stream, neither of which particularly registered on my radar.
I have two problems with this.
The first one is that I don’t think portraying Shell as inept is a very wise choice…. The second, larger problem, is that Greenpeace lied to us. This wasn’t a nod-and-a-wink parody; this was a dedicated effort to deceive. They played the public for patsies and herded them like sheep. That kind of contempt for the people whose support (financial and otherwise) they need is inexcusable…. Basically, Greenpeace polluted the information stream. Now, I know that our common discourse is already thoroughly befouled. But that does not mean it’s OK to add yet another dose of rainbow-shining toxic sludge to the mix, not even in the cause of righteousness. Indeed, especially not in the cause of righteousness.
We need more truth, not less. Don’t lie to me for my own good and expect my support, Greenpeace. Just don’t.
