Air raids and aerial bombings of innocent Smurfian civilians, straight from UNICEF, those nice people who brought you donor-funded feministic social-engineering programs...

Not that this film would have any political commentary or angle.

No way.

Never.

So which countries have air forces capable of wreaking such [blue] bloody havoc?

USSR? no, what's left of theirs is too busy carpet-bombing Chechnya.

NATO (EU countries)? No, theirs is governed by committee, which means it hardly ever gets in the air, much less supports or conducts REAL combat ops against anyone.

China? Nope, still training its pilots how to avoid running into lumbering USN EP-3's.

Japan? No, it's constitution prevents use of its military in combat ops, other than support roles. No aerial bombing ops by them, post-WWII.

New Zealand? Nope, sold its vintage Skyhawks back to the US, because the island republic of NZ doesn't believe anyone would care to invade such a small, insignificant, remotely-located country, and if they did, well, the Labour party likely has a counseling program for the invaders, along with weekly WINZ (welfare) checks.

Islamic states (Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc.)? Nope. For those countries whose air forces possess modern combat-ready equipment (Saudi Arabia & Egypt), you never hear of them doing anything other than conducting the odd training exercise. As for the rest of Islamic countries, they haven't yet figured out how to get individual suicide bombers airborne (but the Palis will succeed eventually, when suicide bombers jump from buildings and detonate themselves on impact).

Who does that leave...? Can't place it.

Oh, that's right!

Air Forces that possess operationally ready combat aircraft, trained pilots, and who have a will to fight when it protects their national interests:

USA

Australia

Israel.

There! NOW I get it!!!

Must be the jooooooooooooooooooos. I just knew it was a conspiracy!

Thanks, UNICEF!

p.s.: a question: if the fleeing Smurfs forget to grab their animals when they evacuate, will PETA lobby to have them put into jail?

I'd pay good money to see the little blue bastards get theirs! Hope they lay on the napalm extra thick...

Already, Cindy Smurfhan is arranging a demonstration and press conference which is to include the Rev. Al Smurfton to make sure that everyone places blame where blame is due: George BushGargymel!

I'll be selling bootleg "Nuke A Smurf" t-shirts in the back alley starting in 15 minutes....$5 a pop...

Yes, war is a terrible thing, but perhaps the people of Europe should be reminded that some things are worse.

How about another small film, this one with Nazi smurfs of Communist smurfs taking over. Then we could have a cultural revolution with thousands of smurfs being murdered, tortured, or sent to slave labor camps where they are worked to death. Then we could have those helpless smurfs that are still alive crying to the UN, and the UN could issuage another resolution against the violence and injustice. Then the oppressed smurfs could cry to NATO, and NATO could respond with, "We can't do anything without the United States." Then the down-trodden smurfs could appeal to the United States, and we can say, "What a monsterous idea. Don't you know how terrible war is? Here, watch this film about how war is bad. It has the smurf village being bombed."

Yeah, I remember the pilot episode of The Smurfs when Papa Smurf used to take hours to arrange his hat in the shape of Israel... thankfully, they cut out that bit as well as let his beard grow out.

Wanderlust, nice little analysis. I think that's one way of looking at it, but a bit of a stretch. IMO, the 'message' it's trying to put out is this: War Is Not Good.

Which is fine, and something I agree with (but sometimes it's necessary. John Stuart Mill can explain it better than I.) . Thing is, the Euro-rugrats get indoctrinated with this all the time, to the point where they won't fight anyone to save their own lives. The folks who need to see this shit are the Palestinians!

And gargemels castle lays in ruins bombed into rubble and gargemel and asrel are in the basement and big mouth is stranded somewhere out there hiding

"Philippe Henon, a spokesman for Unicef Belgium, said his agency had set out to shock, after concluding that traditional images of suffering in Third World war zones had lost their power to move television viewers."

But seeing the destruction of a fucking cartoon has set off a controversy.

You just can't make this shit up.

It's about time Gargamel beat those little blue turds.

I'm no expert, but those kids at the beginning of the video could possibly have stepped on land mines, which happens in many places that aren't 'at war', and I would go as far to say that had their village really been carpet bombed, they wouldn't be around.

.02

Wanderlust- you forgot the most likely candidate:
FRANCE!
Aren't they the ones who used their air force last on unarmed Africans, and use puppies as bait?

Soon, a Smurf cartoon will be released showing the horrors of being in a pizzaria, shopping mall, or nightclub when some terrorist clown decides to sneak in and blow himself up, causing all sorts of misery and iestruction, in the name of Allah. Let's all sit down and wait for this forthcoming cartoon, shall we?

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I suspect Gargam'al Qaeda

Let's have a little fun at the expense of the IAEA, Mr. Smithers...

Excellent!

"Don't let war affect the lives of children."

Can anyone think of a stupider, more naive slogan?

BTW: Anyone have nude pics of Mama Smurf?

I recall you could never tell which ones were female Smurfs.

Not to worry. Finding the female Smurfs is the UN's job, during the "relief" operation.

"In the original final scene, cut from the film short by personal request from Kofi Annan on the basis that it was too factual - er, frightening for children, UN workers are bribing baby Smurfs with eggs and dollars for sex."

That is, after the hapless, unarmed Smurfs were shot up by Fwench troops providing "security" for the UN workers...

p.s.: moseby, nudes of mama Smurf??? that's sick. Just...sick.

psst: How many eggs does mama Smurf cost?

Smurfs are totally gay anyhow. Why not a cartoon using such badasses like Cobra Commander or Megatron or Skeletor? I'd also say Mum-Ra but that may be too close to Islamic sounding for our U.N. friends.

Can't believe Smurfs was the best they could do. What, the snorks are carebears were taken?

What little respect I had (and by little, I mean very little) for the majority of people who comment here at Wizbang, that respect has been shot down in flames by the lunatic ravings you have written on this subject.

Not a single person - not even one - showed that they had managed to read the Telegraph's headline. I'm amazed that any of you are capable of turning on your computers. How did you manage to find you way to this site if you can't even read - and understand - a headline.

Here it is: "Unicef bombs the Smurfs in fund-raising campaign for ex-child soldiers".

Can you read that? Do any of you understand that? Here's another article on the smurf ad from USA Today

Let's see if any of the morons who shout first and ask questions later can understand that one. Have any of you ever heard of child soldiers? Do any of you have the slightest idea where this problem is prevalent? Do any of you care?

UNICEF's Belgian office said the campaign was intended "to shock a complacent public into backing its fundraising efforts for ex-child soldiers in Africa."

Did any of the mentally-challenged among you pick up on the last few words - "ex-child soldiers in Africa"?

The campaign is to "raise money for UNICEF projects in Burundi, Congo and Sudan". Do any of you give a @#$@ about that?

Obviously not because Wanderlust summed up the collective intelligence and caring of the Wizbang community:

"Must be the jooooooooooooooooooos."

If - and this a very big if - there is just one person here who cares about the children who are forced by adults to kill and rape, you can find information here

This is inappropriate on so many levels. Your tax dollars at work. I hope our legislators remember this one next time the United Nations comes to them for funding. How did things ever get so messed up?

Wanderlust is a crackpot who can't read and sees conspiracy in everything. Hey wait, isn't that the definition of a moonbat?

cat:

Yeah, it is for former child soldiers. Did you actually bother to read what people said in the comments? The little cartoon is totally inappropriate for the cause it was made for, and smacks of a secondary message. What does bombing the smurfs en masse, killing —presumably— men, women, and children have to do with aiding children who were soldiers?

We could all go out and make a film starring the Fraggle Rock gang getting lined up against a wall and executed, then claim we are raising awareness —and money, always money— for the child victims of kidnappings in Mexico; that would not make the message of choice appropriate for the cause.

Noble cause, sure? Appropriate way to draw attention to said cause? Hell no. Who can honestly say the first thing they thought was, "Wow, those poor Burundi former child soldiers. The message is so clear," when they saw the smurfs get wasted and the message, "Don't let war affect children" flash across the screen?

Maybe if it actually showed Baby Smurf as a child soldier and then having to cope with that it would be another matter, but that was not what we got, was it?

Yes, Inquiring, I did read the comments. Did you? Given the subject matter, those comments were disgusting. If you don't think so, go back and read them. Just for the record, you are the first person other than me to even mention child soldiers - and that was only because you were responding to me. So I think you just proved my point.

None of you slimeballs give a damn about anything or anyone except yourselves. But why care? It's much more fun to make snide comments like:

"I'd pay good money to see the little blue bastards get theirs!"

"I'll be selling bootleg "Nuke A Smurf" t-shirts in the back alley starting in 15 minutes....$5 a pop..."

"Then the oppressed smurfs could cry to NATO"

"Yeah, I remember the pilot episode of The Smurfs when Papa Smurf used to take hours to arrange his hat in the shape of Israel"

etc...etc...

The campaign is to "raise money for UNICEF projects in Burundi, Congo and Sudan". Do any of you give a @#$@ about that?

I guess since you're all so fired up about this, the question is what the carpet bombing of Smurf village has to do with child soldiers in Congo? I didn't see any little smurflings toting AKs or crowds of smurfs getting massacred by smurfs from a rival tribe.

Can you point out any of that? It may be relevent...

If - and this a very big if - there is just one person here who cares about the children who are forced by adults to kill and rape, you can find information here

I guess I care as much as the UN cares about the genocide in Darfur

Shark, the point is that we are talking about it - before the ad (made for a Belgian audience) we weren't. So it worked...well, no it didn't work because instead of talking about child soldiers, the only thing people like you can do is criticize because of your kneejerk reactions to the letters UN. But...if you really mean what you say, you can still put your money where your lying mouth is...here

Shark, the point is that we are talking about it - before the ad (made for a Belgian audience) we weren't. So it worked...well, no it didn't work because instead of talking about child soldiers, the only thing people like you can do is criticize because of your kneejerk reactions to the letters UN. But...if you really mean what you say, you can still put your money where your lying mouth is...

Can you tell me where I "lied"? Why exactly do I have a lying mouth?

cat:

I mentioned the child soldiers not only in response to you, but also to point out the message of the smurf snuffing was in no way appropriate or related to the supposed cause of helping these former child soldiers.

Face it, if that article did not specifically point out that UNICEF is trying to raise awareness about child soldiers with that cartoon would you have honestly thought that was the cartoon's message? Did that cartoon (did you even bother to watch it? I did) give any indication that it was about child soldiers?

That is how I read the other comments in this thread. They are not making fun of the issue of child soldiers, they are mocking the —very— arguably propaganda-like nature of the cartoon. The very absence of mentioning child soldiers while heavily criticizing the merits of said cartoon displays this handily.

No mention of child soldiers while the smurfs die, no mention after the smurfs are killed, the only mention is a seperate press release, and this is supposed to help raise awareness of the issue?

Oh, but this is a campaign to help the children, so naturally anyone who does not instantly genuflect in humility and praise this cartoon —despite its lack of merit or appropriateness— is a slimeball in your eyes.

As we all should have learned by now, if it something is claimed to be for the children it must instantly be accepted without question, no matter what the content.

Cat-

I'm glad you have a pet cause in this, I really am. However, since you've been such a graceless, humorless self-righteous twit here, let me assure you that no matter how worthy, I will never donate to or support that cause.

My supply of money, time and compassion is finite. Why would I ever want to throw in with someone like you on any cause?

Cat:

You know if you took that itchy old hair shirt off once in awhile you might not be in such a pissy mood all the time.

Does this:

"Philippe Henon, a spokesman for Unicef Belgium, said his agency had set out to shock, after concluding that traditional images of suffering in Third World war zones had lost their power to move television viewers."

not bother you at all?

hint: shocking people repeatedly just makes them numb- stop trying to shock, try educating, and you might have better results.

Inquiring, I am not saying that anything shoud be "accepted without question". But, I repeat - until I reacted to the obscene comments here at Wizbang, not a single person had mentioned child soldiers. If people think the ad could have been made in a different way to properly reflect the tragic violence...fine, say so. But no one did.

Now, let me say again, s-l-o-w-l-y...an ad made for an audience in a foreign country thousands of miles away in a foreign language has generated discussion in the US. It wasn't intended to spark articles in the Daily Telegraph and USA Today, but it did. The target audience was Belgians - and they are talking about it. They are arguing whether or not the ad is appropriate...and they're discussing the problem of child soldiers. They weren't doing that before. So, the ad worked.

If they bomb the smurfs will they do it to the whos there in whosville? and they going to bomb THE GRINCH? or HORTON THE ELEPHANT or THE CAT IN THE HAT? on my gosh SAM I AM is in trouble and theirs UN troops marching up MULBERRY STREET

With a minimum of effort, you can find the link to the actual commercial, of which the smurf toon is only a small part.

http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/versie2/nieuws/details/051004Unicef/index.shtml#

which I found at this site:

http://monkeyfilter.com/link.php/9998

It's hard to interpret the entire commercial unless you understand Belgian and European culture. They were allegedly going for the shock value to get folks to ante up Euros. None the less, the air raid theme and the only folks with big Air Forces are indeed well noted above. Another part of Belgian culture.

Remember when we used to collect pennies for UNICEF on Halloween?