It’s a believable story really, which spawned it's very own FB page. "Peter Jackson disregards environmental concerns to get the perfect scenes for his upcoming movie the Hobbit," is a plausible enough scenario. Even the lead in was somewhat credible: Alberta tar sands, "The hell on earth that he created," really does have a nice ring to it. But you should see the backlash against the understandably gullible on news that the story was a hoax.
Although the whole problematic sequence of events managed to shed a little light on the damaging practice of retrieving oil from tar sands, the hoax has generally damaged many activist’s credibility. Peter Jackson's on the other hand was not damaged in the slightest, his credibility hasn’t recovered from the Jackson/National/WB tag team that beat up on a couple of Aussie and New Zealand Unions a few months ago. Their underhanded manipulations should be considered as downright dirty and unforgivable.
Emails surrounding the controversy revealed the extent of Peter Jackson’s dishonesty in duping much of the public. All's fair in love, war and corporate greed I suppose. Because of that fraud, this is one movie buff that’ll be boycotting the Hobbit. Or perhaps I should call it the Robbit, which seems far more appropriate. “Seriously, if the Hobbit goes east (Eastern Europe in fact) - look forward to a long dry big budget movie drought in this country.”
Peter Jackson said this all the while knowing that the Unions involved had called off their action and Warner’s was committed to filming the movies here in New Zealand. National then used the media beat up at Jackson’s behest to further undermine employment laws. John Key was all too happy to fork over millions of additional taxpayer dollars to Warner’s to damage collective bargaining rights, all the while holding the country to ransom with a lie.
"Sir Peter Jackson would be a very happy camper," Mr Key said.
Warner Bros gets $US7.5 million for each film on top of the 15% tax break in corporate welfare they already receive. The full $US15 million ($NZ20.4 million) will be paid when both movies are successful at the box office. The government will also help defray the giant US studio's marketing costs to the tune of $US10 million ($NZ13.6 million).
So it’s not Peter Jackson’s credibility we should be worrying about concerning such hoaxes, it’s the credibility of the movie producer the hoax team allegedly used to substantiate the claims and those environmentalists who believed it and started campaigning against such ludicrousness, thus becoming equally ineffectual in their protest as the hoaxers themselves. Despite much literature being produced to try and pin the blame entirely on environmentalist, the Jackal smells the dirty rat of oil industry propagandists at work here.
The oil industry employs many devious tactics in their crusade against environmentalists, from dodgy email accounts to shooting activists dead gangster style. If you haven't noticed, they've recently stepped up their online campaign of disinformation. When dealing with such people environmentalists must take extreme care to protect their mana and well being.
Consider that the oil industry earns trillions of dollars each year; this is not a game to them and environmental activists must go into the ring with all their eyes open.
It seems apt that such an issue has been raised considering JR Tolkien's writings, which often ponder the destruction of the Earth from rampant industrialization. In this respect the activism is clever! But it’s a small straw to grasp and one that is lost when the hoax was exposed. Whoever the proponents were, the message must not be lost. We simply cannot afford to allow our world to be destroyed for a few numbers in a bank account.
Environmentalists made statements soon after the revelation about Robbit movie scenes potentially being shot in the Canadian tar sands:
“Exploiting the tar sands rips up the natural landscape, poisons the water, pollutes the air, accelerates climate change and impacts the health of local communities. To me, the tar sands are the epitome of the ‘land of shadow’ envisioned by author J.R.R. Tolkien, a veritable hell on earth. Canadians and the world need to wake up to the destruction sanctioned and promoted by its governments.”
Said an unnamed spokesperson from Black Flood. Melissa Booth, publicist for The Robbit soon followed that up reportedly saying:
“I can confirm that it is a fictional clip cobbled together from other things Peter has done. There is no truth to the claim that we plan to film in this area.”
Is the hoax fact or fiction… Who can tell? Being that old Peter Jackson disregarded customary beliefs when he tramped his film crews all over Mt. Ngauruhoe, which is considered sacred to local Maori, such disregard for peoples beliefs could extend to similar disregard for the environment.
It’s not as if the making of his movies is all that environmentally friendly to begin with... Most of the props used in the Lord of the Rings were simply burnt in a large bonfire after the hugely successful trilogy was made. It's hard to believe that such blatant disregard for the environment was undertaken in a 100% Pure Clean and Green country like New Zealand huh!
I bet Del Toro is happy that he left the problematic Robbit movie in the dust. Personally I think the hoax is just a clever little ploy to put egg on people’s faces. It should be noted that the articles concerning the hoax were released in questionable sequence. The oil industry has a well-funded ministry of disinformation no stranger to such fabrications. Whatever the truth of the matter, Gondor isn't going to save us from the reality of environmental destruction turning the earth into something resembling Mordor... Only we can do that.
