EARTH IN THE BALANCE

Fellow Gaucho Nico suggests that liberals do some Passion-esque work when the global-climate-change epic blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow is released:

Religious groups have been running some creative, very successful outreach and education campaigns in coordination with The Passion of The Christ, and the Left ought to learn some lessons from their work. At the very least, one of the major environmental groups should make a well-designed leaflet that folks can pass out at theaters. Beyond that, though, it seems like a great opportunity for the Kerry campaign...

I like the premise, but there's a problem.

This is a Roland Emmerich film we're talking about. This is a man who wanted us to believe that when the aliens come to kill us, they will do so using a Mac-compatible operating system. Regardless of whatever success the film enjoys, if groups use it to further their cause, the movie will be assailed by the right (and eventually, the center) for its use of anything from "junk science" to "bullshit science".

Sure, a great many people have complained about The Passion. But the difference is that the claims made in Gibson's vanity project are essentially unverifiable. The sentiment to be expressed in The Day After Tomorrow had better be backed up by more than thematic elements, or else using it for environmental advocacy would be tantamount to using the courtroom scenes in Big Daddy to argue in favor of judicial reform.