Remember when conservatives had the bad rap of being sort of “church lady” like?  

The Left has so thoroughly taken over the role of public scold that those on Saturday Night Live skits seem downright anachronistic.  Instead of the “church lady” being the judgmental nag, now we have to watch out for the “environmental scolds.”  

Channel 7 News in Boston has the latest example of the way leftists use shame and mockery against people who won’t do exactly as they say…. And it is all catalyzed by unnecessary, extraneous laws.  A Canadian supermarket’s new “environmental strategy” is giving out plastic bags which have humiliating messages emblazoned on them. 

“It’s hard to always remember a reusable bag. We redesigned our plastic bags to help you never forget again,” a Facebook post from East West Market explained. 

In other words, you don’t buy a reusable bag, you will be shamed.  The large messages on the bags include: “Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium,” “Dr. Toew’s Wart Ointment Wholesale,” and “The Colon Care Co-Op.”   

These bags are the consequence of a Vancouver law that mandates that every business have a strategy to deal with reducing single-use bags.  Yes, really.  Note that they also are targeting plastic straws, so you Vancouver residents can rest easier tonight. (Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, wants to ban all single-use plastics by 2021.)

Silly lawmakers, silly laws, silly implementation.   That’s how this works.  Of course — and I know you saw this coming — this has already backfired because people believe these bags are actually hilarious instead of shameful.  Dylan A. Kent wrote, “They’re just making collectables.” He’s right, as others indicated a desire for these bags.

“I will burn 200.00 worth of gas throwing Styrofoam coffee cups, and plastic straws out the window the whole way from Massachusetts just to get one of those bags,” tweeted Scott Bishop. In fact, feel free to call the store (+1 604-873-8082) and tell them you would like to purchase a few.

Such shame campaigns don’t work on me, either. I’ve seen first hand their hypocrisy and double standards of the so-called environmentalist movement, and I will not kowtow to their every whim.  Especially when their strategy is to bully their own customers.

The next time I’m in Vancouver, I’ll be pretty easy to spot. I’ll be the Texan in a cowboy hat proudly carrying the “Dr. Toew’s Wart Ointment Wholesale” bag.  

Scratch that.  I’ve got a better idea.  I’ll be the guy in a cowboy hat shopping at a store that actually respects its customers.

Image Credit: Twitter embedded tweet

Hat Tip: Channel 7 News Boston

About The Author

Mark was a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, and served as the national coordinator. He left the organization to work more broadly on expanding the self-governance movement beyond the partisan divide. Mark appears regularly on television in outlets as diverse as MSNBC, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, Fox Business and the BBC. He’s highly sought after for the tea party perspective from print and electronic media outlets, from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Examiner, Politico and the The Hill. Mark blogs at MarkMeckler.com, and his opinion editorials regularly run in many of the leading political newspapers both on and offline. Mark has a BA in English from San Diego State University and graduated with honors from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1988. He practiced real estate and business law for almost a decade. For the last eleven years of his legal career he specialized in Internet advertising law. When not fighting for the future of our nation, Mark is an avid horseman, and lives in rural northern California with his wife Patty and two children.

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