We really shouldn’t be blaming BP, Halliburton or the government

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KurtI
was whipping through Kurt Vonnegut's 'A Man Without a Country' when I was
stopped in my tracks by this passage: 'We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a
state of denial. And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our
leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what
we're hooked on.' That was written in 2005.

Man's
wanton destruction of planet Earth is nearing a crescendo in the Gulf of
Mexico. And, talk about an exclamation point. Wow.

We
shouldn't be blaming the Gulf disaster on BP, Halliburton, Obama, Cheney, W. or
anyone else. It's everyone's fault. We're the ones who chose to ignore the
1970s oil crisis. We're the ones who took so long to seek other, alternative
fuel sources.

As
a result, we're stuck with at least another 20 years of 'drill, baby, drill'
because the alternative energy infrastructure simply isn't robust enough to
handle the load.

Did
you read that another deep horizon type drilling was just approved in Alaska?
Since each of the major oil companies has the same exact crisis response plan
(probably authored by one of the holding company PR firms, btw), maybe we'll
have competing oil spills?

It
could be a World Cup of Crude. I can imagine the play-by-play: Chip, the
Alaskan oil spill has really picked up momentum in the past few hours. They're
up to 2 million gallons spilling into the Bering Sea as we speak. I have to believe
we'll begin seeing some seals and polar bears washing up on shore any minute
now.'

'That's
right, John. The Gulf folks must be worried. They've held the top spot for 72
days now and, sure, they've killed thousands of creatures, but this new Alaskan
spill has gotten everyone's attention. This may turn out to be a real horse
race. Or, should I say a real sea otter race?'

But
I digress.

Image and political pundits shouldn't be opining about who did what right or wrong.
That's tactical thinking. They should be talking big picture. They should be
pointing the finger at the entire human race. We should be taking the image hit
on this one.

Fish
and wildlife die. Shorelines are destroyed and the ecosystem teeters on the
brink of collapse. All because, as Vonnegut wrote, 'We're joined at the hip to
the most abused, addictive and destructive drugs of all time: fossil fuels.' 

6 thoughts on “We really shouldn’t be blaming BP, Halliburton or the government”

  2. Me too, Eric. Vonnegut’s book, which presents his world view on matters large and small is both prescient and provocative. It’s also a fun, easy read that I highly recommend. That said, right-wing Republicans won’t like it.

  3. “We are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anyone tell you different.” Love that part!

  4. Thanks, Beth. I totally agree, but am hard pressed to think of any one individual who could possibly stop the downward spiral. We need a Churchill or Roosevelt in an era of Spitzers and Palins.

  5. way to pull together the previous post with this one, beth. i am in full agreement and i would write more about it, but it is “couch potato time.”

  6. Couldn’t agree more Rep. As a country, we’ve been talking about ending our addiction to foreign oil since Ford. But as a society, we’re loathe to do anything that inconveniences our way of life, so our addiction will continue. There is an interesting parallel to your blog from earlier this week about the brainless content of our televisions and movie theaters. We’ve become a lazy, complacent society that is interested in neither thinking nor acting, and it’s going to become our downfall unless someone forces a change.