Thanksgiving week was yet another bomb for the anti-GMO movement with the invalidation of the Big Island GMO ban. So far, two of the anti-GMO laws have been struck down in the courts. It’s pretty likely that the Maui law will also be invalidated. The sad thing is that so many activists still don’t quite understand why this is happening.

The truth is that most of them don’t even understand the scope of the issue. As you read the online commentary, the most frequent statement these people make is that clearly the judge is bought or paid off. It’s an easy cop out to make that comment but it tells a lot about where these folks’ thought processes lie.

To think that a judge is willing to risk his career and reputation for one issue is so absurd it’s not even funny. Making such baseless accusations is insulting to a person who chose a career to defend and respect the law is beyond logical and rational thinking. The activists really show that they don’t understand the judicial system that they are attempting influence. It’s no wonder they can’t quite figure out why they can’t pass an enforceable law to begin with.

If these people don’t think the judge is paid off, then they resort to companies buying politicians off. It’s interesting because when these bad laws were passed, I never heard anything being said that the Margaret Willes or Gary Hoosers were being paid off by the organic industry and the environmentalists. Those indeed were the backers behind those heavy handed social media campaigns with their messages of “I’m being poisoned” paranoia. No one pointed that out.

The greater truth is that the whole issue with agricultural technology is far beyond the general public’s understanding, yet they still feel that they are “experts” on the subject. When you look at the array of those speaking out against biotechnology, it’s rarely a true career farmer. The tactics that they use are always emotion based and targeted to create doubt in some of seemingly intelligent people.

Once you’ve established doubt firmly in people’s minds, it’s easy pickings on what you can do. It’s clear that these tactics work because so many folks repeat the same old rants beginning with, “Well, Monsanto…”

Activists can continue their ideology based crusade against this perceived evil and continue the de-education of people or actually try to figure out why they can’t pass a legitimate law. Telling the truth to their followers will likely make them lose some and that is not what they need. Keeping people from the truth is easier and protects people from straying from the ideology based flock.

With the upcoming legislative session coming up, I hope that our leaders get a clue to stop pandering to misinformation based activism. We’ve got tons of issues to deal with from homelessness to cost of living issues. Isn’t it about time that some start facing REAL problems for once???

The activists keep organizing marches that have led to angry people but no real action. How sustainable is a protest after protest that yields no food and bad policy? It’s obviously unsustainable with no results to show for it. And that’s the painful truth we have to contend with.