Hear my words that I might teach you...
I haven't written anything about the BP oil spill yet, which feels odd for me. Stranger still, when the "accident" (for lack of a better all-encompassing term) first happened I didn't read, watch, or listen to any reports about it. I think I wanted to be in denial because the truth was so God-damned depressing.
Well, we're over a month in and a few hours ago BP launched their 3rd attempt at stemming the persistent flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. I think in those first few days, when I was refusing to know about it, I didn't believe it would take this long to fix. I didn't believe it would be as big of a cluster-fuck as its turned out to be. And as the minutes and the hours tick by, and the oil gushes out by the thousand gallons, I become increasingly more depressed.
Have you seen the live streaming video of the leak? How could you miss it - even the Weather Channel slaps it up on the screen every few minutes. Some people talk of being transfixed by its hypnotizing, unchanging horror. I feel like I'm watching a murder in action and there's nothing I can do to stop it; it makes me nauseous after only a few seconds. I'm conflicted as to whether these images are helping public awareness, or just dulling our senses. Maybe both.
I want BP to burn for this. I want there to be a public lynching of every BP employee who ever even _thought_ the words "cutting corners" and "cost reduction". BP as a global corporation should cease to exist after they pay damages for what they have wrought - if for no other reason than to serve as an example to other companies. Put its severed logo on a spike with a sign "YE BE WARNED!".
None of this will happen, of course, because we all bow at the altar of the Almighty Dollar. Digital numbers whizzing across a stock market ticker screen are infinitely more important than a giant bathtub of salty water, some marshes, and coral. We have epically failed at being good stewards of the Earth and no one is even going to be held accountable for it.
I can only pray that this "Top Kill" procedure works. Otherwise I'll be telling my children what our southern coasts were like before they became a giant oil slick...
Well, we're over a month in and a few hours ago BP launched their 3rd attempt at stemming the persistent flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. I think in those first few days, when I was refusing to know about it, I didn't believe it would take this long to fix. I didn't believe it would be as big of a cluster-fuck as its turned out to be. And as the minutes and the hours tick by, and the oil gushes out by the thousand gallons, I become increasingly more depressed.
Have you seen the live streaming video of the leak? How could you miss it - even the Weather Channel slaps it up on the screen every few minutes. Some people talk of being transfixed by its hypnotizing, unchanging horror. I feel like I'm watching a murder in action and there's nothing I can do to stop it; it makes me nauseous after only a few seconds. I'm conflicted as to whether these images are helping public awareness, or just dulling our senses. Maybe both.
I want BP to burn for this. I want there to be a public lynching of every BP employee who ever even _thought_ the words "cutting corners" and "cost reduction". BP as a global corporation should cease to exist after they pay damages for what they have wrought - if for no other reason than to serve as an example to other companies. Put its severed logo on a spike with a sign "YE BE WARNED!".
None of this will happen, of course, because we all bow at the altar of the Almighty Dollar. Digital numbers whizzing across a stock market ticker screen are infinitely more important than a giant bathtub of salty water, some marshes, and coral. We have epically failed at being good stewards of the Earth and no one is even going to be held accountable for it.
I can only pray that this "Top Kill" procedure works. Otherwise I'll be telling my children what our southern coasts were like before they became a giant oil slick...