Monday, June 07, 2010

BP

So, I think everyone is getting a little sick of the whole BP pipeline fiasco by now.

If I'm completely honest, the thing I'm most sick of is the hypocrisy.

You see, America loves a bogeyman. We like it when a rich, powerful corporation gets caught with its pants down. We like someone or something we can point and cluck our tongues at.

The part I don't like is that the vast majority of the people currently calling BP 'evil' and blaming them for destroying the planet are exactly the same people who went ballistic when gas prices went above $2.50 a couple of years ago.

That's the part I don't like. We all own cars, we all like to drive and when there's a gas shortage we all go batshit crazy… but it's perfectly okay for us to burn gasoline in our cars, because it's the people selling us the gasoline who are at fault.

Anyone else feel this is like an alcoholic blaming the liquor store that sells him the booze? Or the fat guy who blames McDonalds for his waistline?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling BP innocent or saying that the leaking pipeline isn't their fault…I'm just pointing out that this ecological disaster is the result of a breakdown in the infrastructure that we demanded.

BP didn't just build a pipeline to pump oil around just for the hell of it. They built it because their customers demanded oil.

1 comment:

Kraneia said...

No doubt!

You know, for the longest time I didn't drive. Mostly because I couldn't afford a car at the time. It helped that for much of my life I didn't need a car--there was the city busses or I could bike or walk. So I never bothered with a driver's licence.

Then, I got divorced and moved to B.F.E., where you can't GET anywhere UNLESS you drive. So I had to learn to drive. Personally, I would love to get a car that doesn't use gasoline. I think a lot of American's would--unfortunately, you can blame the car companies for this one--they're getting paid by the oil companies to NOT develop any (or make them so expensive no one will buy it). Hell, you can convert your car to run on used cooking oil if you want to. But there's no money in that.

I think people are screaming about the oil companies now, not just because they're spilling oil all over the place, but I also note the gas prices haven't gone up. Because they know this would be the last straw, and people are finally starting to realize there ARE other ways of getting around. Hopefully more and more people will get in tune with this. I would, if I could.

Someone told me today one of the execs at BP has been quoted as saying "you can always buy shrimp somewhere else...." Yup. You can buy gas somewhere else, too. ;)

My twopence
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