< Changing Worldviews.Commentary >

Words are powerful - Thoughts shape - Ideas have consequences

Marc Morano

CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
Posted January 3, 2005

Green Group's Recruitment of Grade Schoolers Called 'Shameless'
Manipulation and Propaganda

(CNSNews.com) - An environmental group dedicated to "protect[ing] the rainforest" is under attack for recruiting public elementary school students to protest the lending practices of a major U.S. bank in New York City.

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) organized the group of second grade children on Dec. 16 to protest JP Morgan Chase. A RAN press release stated the elementary school children attended to "hand deliver over 700 colorful handmade posters from children around the world asking William B. Harrison, chief executive officer of JP Morgan Chase, to keep his promise and stop lending money to projects that destroy endangered forests and cause global warming."

But Robert Bidinotto, an editor at the nonprofit watchdog group Capital Research Center, called RAN's efforts a "shameless manipulation" of the children.

For more of the story go to:
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200412\CUL20041222a.html

© Marc Morano 2004 Reprinted with Permission

Alan Caruba is a Science Writer and Journalist, and the Founder of two great media spoofs, the Boring Institute and the National Anxiety Center, founded in 1990 to debunk "scare campaigns" designed to influence public opinion and policy. Headquartered in Maplewood, NJ, it maintains an internet site at www.anxietycenter.com visited by more than a half million people every month. Formerly with the New Jersey Daily Record and the East Orange Record, Alan is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Association of Science Writers. He also is a former officer for the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal. Alan Caruba is the author of “Warning Signs."