Al Gore's Penguin Army is a video spoofing An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary film about Al Gore's efforts to raise awareness of global warming. The video appeared on YouTube.com, ^[1] where it was claimed to have been an amateur production by a 29-year old in Beverly Hills, California. Controversy emerged when the source of the video replied to inquiries made by the Wall Street Journal, which determined that "computer routing information" showed that those replies came from "a computer registered to DCI Group", a public relations and lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., ^[2] led exclusively by Republican party officials.^[3] Video is the technology of capturing, recording, processing, transmitting, and reconstructing moving pictures, typically using celluloid film, electronic signals, or digital media, primarily for viewing on television or computer monitors. ... An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary film about global warming (also known as global climate change) by Davis Guggenheim, starring Al Gore. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2005 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans in recent decades. ... YouTube Screenshot YouTube is a website that allows users to upload, view, and share video clips. ... For other uses, see: Beverly Hills (disambiguation). ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ... In computer networking the term routing refers to selecting paths in a computer network along which to send data. ... DCI Group is a American lobbying and public relations firm. ... Flag Seal Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location Location of Washington, D.C., with regard to the surrounding states of Maryland and Virginia. ... This article is about the modern United States Republican Party. ...

Video

The video, Al Gore's Penguin Army, combines several effective rhetorical devices. It is a series of straw man arguments building on an appeal to ridicule and an appeal to ignorance. It attempts to discredit Gore and the global warming awareness with which Gore is associated by presenting unflattering images of Gore and associating those images with absurd claims which are unlike anything that Gore has actually said. Those who are inclined to view Gore negatively and are ignorant of the actual content of the film might nonetheless attribute those claims to Gore. Because the ultimate end of the video is to discredit global warming by ridiculing the most visible harbinger of the threat, it is an ad hominem attack, attempting to raise doubt about global warming itself by attacking a person associated with it instead of investigating the science that supports the theory. The straw man fallacy is a rhetorical technique (also classified as a logical fallacy) based on misrepresentation of an opponents position. ... Appeal to ridicule is a logical fallacy which presents the opponents argument in a way that appears ridiculous, often to the extent of creating a straw man of the actual argument. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2005 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans in recent decades. ... An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin, literally argument against the person) or attacking the messenger, involves replying to an argument or assertion by attacking the person presenting the argument or assertion rather than the argument itself. ...

The video opens with a faux Newsweek cover quoting Eleanor Clift saying "If you liked March of the Penguins, you'll love An Inconvenient Truth." The quote is dated April 28, 2006. In the first scene of the video shows a "grossly overweight", umbrella-wielding parody of Al Gore, dressed like the Penguin from Batman, rising from the bottom of the screen in front of a group of Tux penguins, and letting out a short, high-pitched laugh. Gore leads the Tux penguins to an ice cave with a picture of the "ManBearPig" used to spoof Gore's global warming message with similar hyperbole in a South Park episode of that name. The Newsweek logo Newsweek is a weekly news magazine published in New York City and distributed throughout the United States and internationally. ... Eleanor Clift Eleanor Clift is an American news editor, columnist, political commentator, pundit, reporter and author. ... March of the Penguins (French: La Marche de lempereur; literally: The Emperors Journey) is an Academy Award-winning documentary film by Luc Jacquet, co-produced by the National Geographic Society and Warner Independent Pictures. ... The Penguin, from Batman #287, May 1977. ... Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man, and still sometimes as the Batman) is a DC Comics fictional character and superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... The concepts behind Tux, the Linux mascot, were developed in email exchanges on a public mailing list. ... ManBearPig is episode 1006 (#145) of Comedy Centrals South Park which originally aired on April 26, 2006. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2005 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans in recent decades. ... South Park is a Peabody Award-winning American animated television series created, written and voiced by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. ...

A screen descends from the ceiling and the words "Overview of Global Warming" appear on the screen. The Tux penguins appear surprised. The parody of Gore begins making the global warming presentation, pointing to various charts that show upward trends and making a monotonous quacking sound. The Tux penguins quickly fall asleep and snore audibly. The parody of Gore than goes to a slide titled "Due to Global Warming:" and, as ominous high-pitched wailing music arises, shows images captioned "Mid East crisis", "The skinyness of Lindsay Lohan", "Chris Daughtry being voted off American Idol", and "Heather Locklear & David Spade". The final slide contains only text, listing "Record Rain in New England (May 2006)", "Coldest Day in New York City (Jan 2005)" and "Boston Red Sox win World Series (Nov 2004)". The middle entry may be a reference to a speech the real Gore made in January of 2004, warning of global warming on what happened to be the coldest day in decades in New York City. Snoring is the act of breathing through the open mouth in such a way as to cause a vibration of the uvula and soft palate, thus giving rise to a sound which may vary from a soft noise to a loud unpleasant sound. ... Combatants Israel Hamas Popular Resistance Committees, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Palestinian Army of Islam Hezbollah The 2006 Middle East conflict began in June 2006 as a series of attacks between Hamas militants and the Israel, which resulted in an invasion of the Gaza Strip by the IDF, leading to the... Lindsay Dee Lohan[1] (born July 2, 1986), known professionally as Lindsay Morgan Lohan, is an American actress and pop music singer. ... Christopher Adam Daughtry, credited as Chris Daughtry, (born December 26, 1979) is an American rock singer-guitarist. ... American Idol, formerly known as American Idol: The Search for a Superstar, is an American television series. ... Hilary Duff and Heather Locklear in The Perfect Man. ... David Spade David Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, comedian and producer. ... Rain falling For other uses see Rain (disambiguation). ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... Flag Seal Nickname: Big Apple Location Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,214. ... Major league affiliations American League (1901-present) East Division (1969-present) Current uniform Ballpark Fenway Park (1912-present) Major league titles World Series titles (6) 2004 â€¢ 1918 â€¢ 1916 â€¢ 1915 1912 â€¢ 1903 AL Pennants (11) 2004 â€¢ 1986 â€¢ 1975 â€¢ 1967 1946 â€¢ 1918 â€¢ 1916 â€¢ 1915 1912 â€¢ 1904 â€¢ 1903 East Division titles (5) 1995... For other events named World Series, see World Series (disambiguation). ...

In the video, the parody of Gore sees that the penguins are sleepy from the presentation, opens the umbrella and begins twirling it around. Its spiral oscillation pattern hypnotizes the Tux penguins, whose eyes begin to oscillate in the same way. The Tux penguins are sent to a theater with a marquis reading Red State Theater, which is showing X-Men III, which has drawn a large cheering crowd of moviegoers shown in sillhouette. It is unclear whether any of the Tux penguins go to see X-Men III, but three penguins are shown going to see An Inconvenient Truth. As the crowd noisily cheers and calls "yee-ha" to a still frame from X-Men III, the theater showing An Inconvenient Truth has a sound effect of crickets chirping, lifted from a Bugs Bunny cartoon. A hurricane twirls on the screen over a caption "Weather Systems 101" and the Tux penguins again fall asleep and snore. Oscillation is the periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure as seen, for example, in a swinging pendulum. ... Red states and blue states are those U.S. states having residents who predominantly vote for the Republican Party or Democratic Party, respectively, in elections in the United States. ... For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed... Bugs Bunny is a fictional street-smart gray rabbit that appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. ... This article is about weather phenomena. ...

The scene cuts back to the parody of Gore in the ice cave in front of a group of sleeping Tux penguins, again making a monotone quacking sound while a thought balloon announces "You must take action to stop global warming". The screen then goes black and heavy metal guitar music plays while the title "Things you can do to Stop Global Warming", appears and things such as "Stop Exhaling", "Become Vegetarian", "Walk Everywhere (no matter the distance)" and "Take Cold Showers" scrolls by. The last scene is of a shark leaping up in the ice cave and snatching a lone Tux penguin. Four different shapes of speech or thought balloons Speech balloons (also speech bubbles or word balloons) are a graphic convention used in comic books, strips, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing the speech or thoughts of a given character in the... For animals adapted to eat primarily plants, sometimes referred to as vegetarian animals, see Herbivore. ...

The video was purported to be an amateur production by "Toutsmith," a 29-year-old from Beverly Hills who claimed to have put it together in his basement. The Wall Street Journal traced an email from Toutsmith's Yahoo! Mail account to a computer from the DCI Group. ExxonMobil denied knowledge of the video, while DCI Group refused to comment on it. For other uses, see: Beverly Hills (disambiguation). ... Yahoo! Mail is a web-based e-mail (webmail) service from Yahoo! It is one of the largest e-mail providers on the Internet, serving millions of users. ... DCI Group is a American lobbying and public relations firm. ...

Controversy

The Wall Street Journal consulted a professor of communications who described the spoof as "'Propaganda 101.' It contains no factual information, but presents a highly negative image" of the former vice president."^[4] When asked if they created the video, DCI Group responded "We do not disclose the names of our clients, nor do we discuss the work we do on behalf of our clients."^[5] Another source also found that sponsored links to the Al Gore video had been placed on Google, and were taken down after it was reported, noting that the identity of the party who paid for the sponsored links remained unknown.^[6] U.S. propaganda poster from WWII depicting a Nazi stabbing a Bible. ... The Vice President of the United States is the second-highest executive official of the United States government. ... Sponsored links are text-based advertisements that describe an advertiser’s Web site and the products and services offered. ... This article is about the search engine. ...

References

1. ^ Al Gore's Penguin Army at YouTube.com
2. ^ Where did that video spoofing Gore's film come from?
3. ^ DCI Group "Leadership" page
4. ^ [1]
5. ^ [2]
6. ^ [3]

External links

• Al Gore's Penguin Army at YouTube.com
• Video: Parody of Al Gore film tied to ExxonMobil lobbying firm,
• Slashdot posting
• Roblimo challenges use of Tux the Penguin
• Tux homepage