Comments | arabian: Reality, Come and Slap Me in the Face

arabian

Reality, Come and Slap Me in the Face

Jun 05, 2010 18:05

The BP spill isn't Obama's Katrina, it's actually Big Oil's Chernobyl
Behold our dark, magnificent horror

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, June 4, 2010There is, you have to admit, a sort of savage grace, a tragic and terrible beauty, to the BP oil spill ( Read more... )

real life

Comments 11

hiddeneloise June 5 2010, 22:27:26 UTC

On behalf of someone who has lived through Chernobyl (60 miles away to be exact), I would like to respectfully ask anyone comparing this to Chernobyl to shut the fuck up!

Yes, this is an environmental disaster implications of which will be echoing for decades to come. But it's not Chernobyl, it's just isn't. And anyone who says that has no idea the horror a nuclear disaster of this magnitude really is.

arabian June 5 2010, 22:38:26 UTC

I do see what you're saying, I think this guy is just trying to put into perspective for the general population (who didn't experience Chernobyl) to give an idea -- because a lot don't truly get IT unless it's presented as an extreme -- of just how bad this is.

hiddeneloise June 5 2010, 23:41:05 UTC

Oh, I get what they meant. I just don't agree with the sentiment. Here's the thing about enormous natural and unnatural disasters: the toll is tragic, far-reaching, and impossibly horrifying. And each is different. About the only thing that unites them that it will not -- I guarantee you, as sad as I am to do that -- will not wake anyone up to anything. 20 years past Chernobyl and the nuclear facilities in former Soviet Union (and in here, to a degree) are not much safer. And off-shore or near-shore drilling isn't going to stop, either. Some measures will be taken, for sure. But they will only hold until the next unpredictable disaster. And people will move on a month, a year after. Humanity doesn't learn all that much or well. And I do not say this as a cynical defeatist. I say it as a realist. And perhaps that's not necessarily the tragic stupidity of people, but a very human and understandable instinct of self-preservation. The number of things that surround us every day that can also kill us on a massive scale is frightening. Who ( ... )

arabian June 5 2010, 23:45:49 UTC

I hate so very, very, very much that you are absolutely right. It just ... sucks.

Thread 7

(The comment has been removed)

arabian June 5 2010, 22:38:45 UTC

That's a very, very good point.

misskoum June 5 2010, 23:01:10 UTC

I like to think of it this way (mostly because I'm disgustingly optimistic): something good is going to come out of the spill. Like you said: '...after all is said and done, it's gloomily nice to think our darkest disaster in a generation could somehow ultimately improve our attitudes, change our behavior, lighten our violent treatment of the planet.' I hope--HOPE--this opens a few eyes. Makes us greener in the long run. Makes us stop treating out planet like it's not a finite resource. Pray, indeed.

arabian June 5 2010, 23:13:59 UTC

Yes, please let there be a silver lining out of this awful disaster.

sweetiegrrl2346 June 6 2010, 00:58:35 UTC

I have been watching the news on the oil spill, day in and day out, praying optimistically that at least one good thing will come out of this tragedy - a wake-up call for all those out there who don't believe that humanity is capable of royally f-ing the world up ( ... )