From Financial Post
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute U.S.-made cartoon narrated by former Greenpeace activist Annie Leonard that bills itself as a “fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns.” It has achieved broad popularity as a teaching tool in American schools. Now it has apparently migrated to Canada. I know this because my son, who is in Grade 7, came home two weeks ago with a science assignment based entirely on the video. If this is what passes as science curriculum today, our kids are going to need help with a lot more than just financial literacy.
The cartoon format serves as a clever delivery system for a non-stop stream of outrageous leg-pullers and eyebrow-raisers. References are deceptive, misinterpreted or plain wrong. And the message is explicitly intended to make the kids watching feel ashamed of their lives and interests. (See www.storyofstuff.com.)
Leonard’s prejudices and deceptions are obvious from the first frames. Businessmen are drawn as Mr. Monopoly Moneybags with top hats (naturally) and dollar signs on their chest. Then a figure representing government suddenly morphs from a legislative building into a tank, reflecting the fact that, as Leonard claims, military spending comprises 50% of the federal U.S. budget. But wait a minute. Is that really true?
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This kind of child friendly messaging is nothing new for the green movement. I remember when I was younger the enormous popularity of captain planet a cartoon geared towards making kids more Environmentally conscious. of course now we are cultivating a generation of Greenpeace activists that are ecologically aware but can’t manage money to save their lives.
