With the mainstream media devoting to trying to turn policy differences into racism it leaves the task of asking hard questions to people in power open to the rest of us

Inspired by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles who have shone an uncomfortable light on Acorn by asking obvious questions and by simply letting people answer I decided to cover the New York premiere of  “The Age of Stupid” – a documentary that claims the human race will be extinct by 2055 because of Climate Change.

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Much of the “Age Of Stupid” is spent attacking those in the developing world who want our lives and lifestyles. The documentary is particularly critical of those in countries such as India who want to fly more for business or pleasure.

The documentary is quite clear that flying in aeroplanes is disastrous for the planet. “Apart from setting fire to a forest flying is the single worst thing an individual can do to cause climate change,” we are told.

So after applying for and being given press accreditation by their publicists I decided to find out whether the film makers and their celebrity supporters have stopped or even reduced their flying hours.

Or is it only the people of the developing world who must fly less while environmentalists continue with their luxuries because their campaigning is so important it has to continue.

I had been told that Franny Armstrong “The Age of Stupid’s” director, had been careful whilst making the film but has been on a massive flying binge promoting the documentary. Then there were the rest of the celebrity supporters such as Kofi Annan, the head of the UN, Mary Robinson, the former Irish President, actresses Gillian Anderson and Heather Graham and Moby who is apparently a famous DJ.

Are they making the sacrifices they demand be enforced on the people of the developing world?

Unfortunately there seems to be one thing environmentalists dislike more than flying and that is hard questions about their own flying habits.

After a few questions which revealed that none of those at the premiere had the slightest intention of living up to the standards they demand of others the film makers decided they didn’t want to be accountable. Along with their security guards they manhandled me and and forced me of the press deck despite having given me accreditation to be there.

I didn’t realise press accreditation now comes with provisos that you are not allowed to ask awkward questions of environmental activists and their celebrity supporters.

They then used their security team to block my camera.

There were lots of other press at the premiere but they didn’t seem interested in seeing if environmentalists even tried to live up to the standards they demand of some of the poorest people on the planet.

They didn’t even seem interested in covering the obvious expulsion of another reporter for asking difficult questions.

And they wonder why no one is watching their TV news or buying their newspapers.

The first episode of “Law & Order” UK has just ended on British television. Spreading the franchise across the pond does have difficulties because of the differing legal systems but it still stays close to the setting and pacing of the US original.

Unfortunately, they have not escaped the predictability of the US show when it comes to the identity of the killer. The moment we saw the dead black child and later met his white businesswoman landlord it was fairly clear where the “mystery” was headed.

Just like the US show, the villain is always the white person who runs a business or is a corporate lawyer or landlord. 

It would be entertaining for the entertainment industry to put some mystery into our modern detective dramas. But it is probably more important to show that white landlords/businesspeople/financiers will stop at nothing, including child murder, to make more money.

The Irish Times is, like the New York Times, the country’s most influential newspaper. 

They recently teamed up with Irish government’s overseas aid department and produced an educational supplement for every Irish classroom. 

In the supplement Irish children are informed that “more natural disasters are happening now than in the past because the world’s climate is changing”. They are then invited to “hear about what happened to Vathyia when extreme weather affected where she lived.” (their emphasis)

Twelve year old Vathyia then gives a moving account of how her mother, sister and brother were killed in the 2004 tsunami.

 I had to read it a couple of times to be sure there was no mistake.

The Irish government and the country’s most influential newspaper were telling schoolchildren the tragic Asian Tsunami was caused by climate change. It seems no one is too young or too vulnerable to be misled for political reasons – even to the extent that earthquakes and Tsunamis are now being spuriously linked to climate change.

So children get this and so much more in the classroom, in newspapers and from their teachers and their government.

Which is why it is so important that that other great influence in their lives – the popular culture – tells the truth. However, in a land that created Bono, that could be difficult.

But most Irish children watch popular American TV shows and go to the cinema to see popular American movies.

But for too long they have been seeing more of the same. From” WALL-E” (consumption will destroy the planet) to “The Day the Earth Stood Still ” (Global Warming will destroy the planet) to the “Dukes of Hazard” movie (coal mining will destroy Hazard County). Children should be forgiven for believing that industry and progress are to be feared and not welcomed.

In the movies and TV shows the villain is always the businessman. (Don’t the makers of “Law and Order” ever get tired of people working out who the killer is in the first five minutes? Note to Producers – There really is no point in having all those dramatic plot twists if the killer is always, and I mean always, the richest person/biggest businessman on the show.)

Deep down Irish children and Irish adults know that their lives have been made better by industrial progress. They know that industry has created jobs that lifts millions out of poverty every year in some of the poorest regions of the world. They also know that their wealth has funded medical breakthroughs which extends life expectancy in the developed and developing world.

But who would condemn children, and eventually adults, for forgetting this if the government, the media and their movies and television shows constantly tell them the complete opposite?

Big Hollywood, by shining a light on how the entertainment industry distorts reality, may eventually bring change. The change may come because of the reasoned arguments by this websites writers or it is more likely to come because it will embarrass those in control and force them to produce original and interesting material that truly looks at who uses and misuses power in our society.

Then maybe Irish children will be able to watch entertaining movies and TV shows that reflect the reality of their lives