I keep thinking I am unshockable, and then I get shocked.

Last year I heard about “coal rollers”: people who alter their car engines to emit choking black smoke as a deliberate act to mock environmentalism.

I shouldn’t have been surprised: this is the logical result of ongoing decades where foresighted individuals who simply wanted to preserve breathable air and drinkable water for their grandchildren have been mocked as treehuggers and greenies.

Here is the anti-environmental movement in a nutshell: “We glorify in the destruction of our planet. Pollution is glorious because it is in the service of unbridled capitalism, and only sweeter because we get to rub the noses of the greenies in our filth.”

These are our enemies.

But our enemies’ language has much better branding than ours — brands on us, brands like greenie, treehugger, Feminazi, politically correct, bleeding heart and social justice warrior.

These brands are seductive for a small group of people and maddening for the rest of us. When I first heard the term “social justice warrior” I was baffled — surely that’s a good thing?

So I propose a new brand for us to use on them — a brand for the enemies of the Earth — a brand for coal rollers; for the fossil fuel companies and their bootspittle lackeys; for climate change deniers.

They advocate for fouling our planet, so let us call them The Filthies.

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I think this hits the mark.

It’s instantly understandable.

Indeed, its adjective “filthy” is already an insult, but one that’s a little old and so out of common speech — “You filthy coward,” sounds mid-twentieth century to my ears.

But “The Filthies” as a collective noun — this is a new thing.

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The Filthies.

Let’s try it out — in anger.

“You Filthy polluter.”

Nice.

Nothing new, but it’s angry without being profane.

“Scott Pruitt and his band of Filthies use junk science to screw up our future for their Filthy profits.”

That’s nicer.

Identifying an individual as part of these evil Filthies and then putting them in opposition to “us” and “our future” frames the grim picture squarely. It is both inflammatory and brutally rational.

“You Filthies would allow Exxon to shit in your mouths if people standing next to you had to smell it.”

That’s really on target.

“You Filthies” makes it transparently clear that this is a slur or insult aimed at a broader demographic. The image is graphic and vilely funny. It makes it clear that the typical Filthy is cutting off their own nose to spite someone else’s face.

And again, it puts the Filthy into opposition with the people in general.

It is important never to put the Filthy up against us specifically, particularly against one of their brands for us. We must always emphasize that it’s a tiny minority of selfish and arrogantly psychopathic Filthies that are screwing up the world for everyone else.

We need to aggressively other them, and spread news of this othering like we teach children to avoid infections, so that all rational or compassionate people can unite and cast out the Filthies as the cancer that they are.

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The Filthies. The Filthies. The Filthies. The Filthies. The Filthies.

Use it when you need it. Spit it in their Filthy faces if you have to.

Never back down and never apologize: our future and the future of our planet’s ecosystem are at stake.