Another Stupid "Gas Boycott"

May 15, 2007 12:22

On a day when it was reported that gas may reach $4 in New York by Memorial Day, thousands of “protesters” on Facebook (and I guess MySpace) came up with the brilliant idea to not pump gas today to make a difference and to thus make an impact on the multi-billion dollar oil industry. To those who took part I congratulate you, you’re retarded. I’m not saying that I think we should all be driving hummers to the airports to get on our private jets and eat fresh cooked manatee, I am simply saying that to suggest that not pumping gas for one day is going to have any impact on the oil industry whatsoever is completely ludicrous, ignorant, and downright stupid.

Ignoring the fact that this ingenious plan was devised via Facebook, let’s examine this concept in detail and break it down. So we’re not going to pump gas today…but we’re still going to drive our cars. This in itself goes against the idea of a boycott, which is defined as the refusal to deal with an organization, a company, or a process, as a protest against it to force it to become more acceptable. People aren’t pumping gas…but they’re still using it. So essentially, we’re just going to consume fuel anyways thus leaving a greater amount to fill since we came to the brilliant idea of not pumping today. I wonder how many of these students live in apartments off campus and are going to drive their car to school today and then back, when they likely only live a few miles away and could easily ride their bikes or opt for public transportation. Then there are the people in this group who likely chose to fill up yesterday so to not do so today, or those who are going to fill up tomorrow or for that matter any time ever. Basically, since this fuel is being consumed then at some point people are going to need to fill up.

But let’s pretend for a second that this moronic idea actually worked, let’s say that every single person in these groups went about their normal lives and simply didn’t fill up. You’re looking at about $3.2 million that is taken from these oil companies then (assuming 82,000 don’t fill up at an average of $40/tank, despite that fact that some of the kids in these groups are “boycotting” it even though they admittedly don’t own a car, and some are boycotting simply because they don’t have a need to fill up today). Seeing as how a former Exxon CEO was given a $400 million pension last year and oil companies have been making record profits in the past year…

2006 Annual Profits for:
- Exxon Mobil- $39.5 billion
- Shell- $25.44 billion
- BP- $22.3 billion
- Conoco Phillips- $15.55 billion
(http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8N0VRD80&show_article=1)

…and on average, those four companies combined make on average about $281 million a DAY, $4.2 million isn’t too much of a “dent.” We could also go into semantics and discuss what it actually takes for the oil companies to “lose” money, given that we’re paying $3 for a gallon of gas. And while $3 does suck, it’s really nothing compared to what the rest of the world pays (Europe pays 2.3 x’s higher, France is at $5/gallon). Instead of hurting the oil company, you’re actually hurting the operator of the gas station who has the least to no say in the gas prices.

Then you have to factor in how many of these people wouldn’t have filled up today anyways. With this idea, I boycott the gas companies until my tank is about a quarter full, to which I then support them for about 3-4 minutes, depending on the speed of the gas (sometimes it comes out really slow and that’s annoying). So with the exception of those 3-4 minutes when I fill up, and the $30 I spend doing so, I really stick it to those bastards. Essentially this idea of not filling up today means nothing, at some point all these people are going to have to fill up and it’s possible then on those days that the oil companies could make more because all these idiots didn’t fill up their car today. Ironically, they will actually end up spending more since they didn’t fill up! These stupid ideas come up every year, and every year nothing happens. I can tell you that I will definitely be filling up today (since my tank is past a quarter) and will enjoy not waiting in line to do so!

Yes, the current oil situation sucks and so does getting raped at the gas station every other week. I think it sucks that prices are where they are and that they will likely be increasing. The biggest issue with the whole oil thing is the fact that we are so dependent on it and it comes from out enemies. We need to find new places to drill so that we aren’t so dependent on foreign oil. I like gas though. I will admit that I am fat and lazy and I don’t want to walk everywhere. I enjoy the luxury of being able to drive to places, as I would argue is the case with a majority of people seeing as how this country has an obesity problem. People like feel important and feel like they have something to fight against like the big bad oil companies and “global warming,” but you take away some of these fat people’s cars and then we’ll see how much they hate oil. No oil means higher commodities, since it’s more expensive for it to be transported by truck, it would have a tremendous impact on the postal service, as well as basic traveling. Have fun finding a way to mow your lawn without gas…and that’s just naming a few of many things that would happen, some major, some minor, but give how fat and lazy a majority of America is, I can’t imagine them being too happy when they see what a world without oil/gas actually means. However, there would be once good thing about no gas…NO NASCAR! If you want to boycott something, don’t buy your gas at Citgo. Look up Hugo Chavez if you aren’t familiar, read about how he called Bush “the devil” at the UN and how he wants to basically ruin America. Read about his ties with China, Iran, and Russia. Read about how he rules by decree, so will essentially rule until he dies. But even then, Hugo still gets money and it’s still pretty useless. You could also make more of a dent if you bought a cent of gas with your credit card because cost of processing the card will be more than what you paid. However, then you have to live with the fact that you were dumb enough to pay for a cent of gas with your credit card, so why bother? It’s a good thing that the reason Bush got us into Iraq was for oil though because…oh wait.
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