Americans are feeling helpless and frustrated over the current Gulf oil spill disaster, and when we feel helpless, we get angry and look for someone to blame. We need to look deeper and learn important long-term lessons from this catastrophe.
Were mistakes made and shortcuts taken by BP and its partners? Yes. Are mistakes made and shortcuts taken throughout the oil industry, and all industry every day? You bet! Not through villainy, but through human nature, the profit motive, and human fallibility. Was lack of governmental oversight also an issue? Of course! The undue influence of big oil and big business in general has been a way of life for the American government for at least thirty years. But, if anything, that influence has decreased a little under the current administration, so President Obama is certainly not a villain in this crisis either.
The attack on President Obama by the extreme right, the long-term supporters of big oil and the collusion of government and big business, is opportunistic and misdirected. By nature, President Obama is a supporter of alternative energy and the environment. People hate feeling helpless and somehow want to believe that our government has some technology that can help stop the oil spill, but we don't — unless we want the military to drop a really big bomb down there and make the spill much worse.
Let's point the finger where it is deserved, at ourselves. We, the American people, encouraged our government to support deep ocean oil drilling, knowing the risks. We, the American people, valued our desire for cheap gasoline far above our respect for nature and for leaving our grandchildren a world that is still livable.
The question is not whether continued deep sea drilling will cause environmental disasters, but how many spills will happen and how catastrophic they will be. Nature is more powerful than humans, and always will be. Our forefathers knew that, and respected the power of nature. Our generation has come to believe that we have mastery over nature, but we never will. We will destroy humanity if we don't relearn respect for our environment.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Clavos
You say that the spill,
...spread ocean life-killing oil both on the surface and in the deep ocean from Texas to the Florida Keys...,
Do you have a citation for it having spread to the Keys? I am a South Florida resident and have not seen any reports yet of the oil having reached the Keys.
To say it has when it hasn't does a great disservice to the area, which is heavily dependent on income from tourism, the peak season for which begins this very weekend.
2 - zingzing
just look at iraqi tourism since blogcritics reported there was a war on.
3 - Mark
www.cubaconservation.org:
On Friday, 28 May, a NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft observed patches of oil as close as 100 miles from the Cuban coast with larger slicks roughly 250 miles away. The quantity and speed with which oil will continue to enter and be transported in the Loop Current and its threat to Cuba?s waters remain difficult to determine. The quantity and location of deeper subsurface oil remains virtually unknown.
4 - Doug Hunter
Can people process anything without political spin? Accidents happen, period. Humans are not perfect.
Did Chernobyl occur becuase there wasn't enough daddy government in the Soviet Republics? What about the Banqiao damn in China?
The fact is governments, businesses, and everyone else makes mistakes. What can't be allowed to happen is repeating the same ones, I don't think that's the case with the BP spill.
I suppose as Rahm says though, never let a good crisis go to waste!
5 - Doug Hunter
Just one more thing, the tired old cliche blaming the 'profit motive' for everything is shortsighted. The government has the same motive, it's simply called efficiency or a budget. There must be a balance struck between cost and safety and every project has a budget to meet, whether private or public. If you don't believe me consider the New Orleans levies under direct control of the government and their failure.
You big government types are just a broken record when it comes to these things. If government fails, the answer is more and bigger government. When business fails the answer is more and bigger government. If individuals suffer the answer is more and bigger government.
6 - zingzing
wait, a "big government type" wants "more and bigger government?" who the fuck knew? isn't it kind of implicit? that's like saying "you 'breathing types' are all 'breathe in, breathe out' all the damn time." try to get beyond the surface layer, and maybe you'll see that a person's thought process is nowhere near as simple as you make it out to be.
the bp oil spill was an accident that stopped waiting to happen. and if a fucking oil rig is going to fucking explode and send shitloads of fucking crude oil into the water, destroying livelihoods and environments and costing tax payers billions of dollars, you're fucking right the government needs to have some control over that shit.
it's all our fault that this shit was even allowed to happen in the first place. disgusting.
7 - roger nowosielski
zing, you've had an example of "government control" as exercised by the Minerals Services Agency or in case the the Virginia mines incident.
I don't mean to piss on your parade, but in a way, you're playing into Doug's hand here and only reinforce his rather one-dimensional view.
In this day and age, one ought to be just as skeptical about the government as one is about Big Business.
Try to think outside the box.
8 - zingzing
alright, let's have the unicorns overseeing offshore drilling. and the dragons can oversee the mines. businesses aren't going to police themselves. they'll do it the cheapest way, at the expense of personal and national safety. obviously, unicorns and dragons aren't going to really be providing oversight. so what do you suggest?
9 - zingzing
and i thought it was west virginia...
10 - roger nowosielski
right about that, zing, same difference though. As to your #8, don't you ever wonder about our government's complicity with Big Business, no matter which political party is in power?
11 - roger nowosielski
As to what I suggest? We've got to restructure our economic system down to size, new relations of productions, workers having more say, sitting on the board of directors, having more say.
But as long as Big Business has its say, government is not a solution unless it's willing to break their back. But they have neither the political will nor the inclination. In fact, they can't imagine a liberal democracy without capitalism playing the major part.
It's our national heritage, zing - economic freedom to the fullest, even the freedom to keep on fucking up.
12 - zingzing
"We've got to restructure our economic system down to size, new relations of productions, workers having more say, sitting on the board of directors, having more say."
that'll take some time, and just who do you suggest spearheads that restructuring? will it just come together naturally? (doubtful.) will the government force it? (that would be rather strange, given the circumstances.) will big business do itself in? (not likely.) besides, it stinks of socialism, which will never fly in this country. given that the government can't and won't do anything like that, and big business can't and won't do anything like that, it'll have to take place naturally. that could take generations.
and all the while, the oil continues to gurgle.
13 - roger nowosielski
zing, I feel we're coming to a peak. As a matter of fact, I hope the Republicans will get their wish and become a majority in both Houses, including the Oval Office come 2012.
And then, the screws will turn, the welfare state hopefully dismantles, unemployment benefits cut off - do you get my meaning?
For the time being, the underclass is kept relatively satisfied to keep their head above water. And it serves as a safety valve. But can you imagine the general unrest once the benefits and "entitlements" are cut.
We're sitting on powder keg, zing, about to explode. It will come to a peak sooner than you think.
14 - Silas Kain
Doug? Are you a paid lobbyist because you sure write like one?
Just one more thing, the tired old cliche blaming the 'profit motive' for everything is shortsighted. The government has the same motive, it's simply called efficiency or a budget.
Our government is a subsidiary of big business. They are at the mercy of the financial and military industrial complex. Sure, we "elect" the officials but those that we elect immediately go to orientation in lobbyist-sponsored seminars. These lobbyists have found the perfect mechanism to circumvent the American voters' will. That, my friend, is a simple truth which we fail to admit.
15 - Silas Kain
"He's not a scientist, he's a lawyer," thus spoke an Al Jazeera reporter when asked about President Obama's visit to the Gulf Friday. Gee, FINALLY! A reporter who points out that Barack Obama is not qualified to make a decision about the impact of the oil leak.
Since it's been pointed out that Mr. Obama is, in fact, an attorney -- maybe he should start acting like one.
16 - Arch Conservative
First of all the author makes it a point to mention that no real damage was during the 3 mile island incidient. That's greta but Obama is on record opposing nuclear power.
Second.............IT"S BP'S FAULT!
They were the ones who fucked up. Not me....not my next door neighbor filling up his SUv with gas...BP.... I realize the author may not have meant it's our fault in a strictly literal sense but I do mean it's BP's fault in a strictly literal sense. Theere oil rig, their oil, their operation...their fault. They make billions in profit..........use those bllions to fix the problem! NOW!
Whoa re you referring to by "the underclass" Roger?
"But can you imagine the general unrest once the benefits and "entitlements" are cut."
I hardly think people that actually work for a living will let this country be held hotage by a bunch of welfare deadbeats and illegals.
17 - roger nowosielski
Believe you me, Archie, you're included, though you don't realize that quite yet.
And don't forget. The people who actually work for a living are fewer and fewer. And the trend is not about to reverse unless a miracle happens. Do you believe in miracles, Archie?
Ultimately, it's going to be a numbers game.
18 - Silas Kain
I hardly think people that actually work for a living will let this country be held hostage by a bunch of welfare deadbeats and illegals.
There aren't that many welfare deadbeats as you think, Arch. Bill Clinton and his GOP Congress insured that. Same for illegals. Yes, it's a problem. But it remains a smokescreen and a lighter blip on state of the union radar. This is more about Mexicans than illegals. If our corporate imperialist corn industry hadn't sacked the Mexican agriculture economy, we would not be having this discussion.
19 - roger nowosielski
We ain't talking about "welfare deadbeats." Sure, there are some. But there is a growing army of the unemployed, people who would love to work and be productive, but, through no fault of their own, cannot.
And that is the main point. America no longer delivers. The American Dream is in shambles. Cut all means of support from this, ever growing number of people, and see if they're going to take it in stride.
20 - Arch Conservative
Point taken guys.
21 - roger nowosielski
I don't believe it, Archie. Have we reached a breakthrough?
22 - Zedd
Great article!
The larger issue is that we are preoccupied with matters that exacerbate the problem. Those who want to be engage are so starved for solutions that we latch on any public pronouncement (although shamefully watered down) of what we know to be amiss. What becomes problematic is that the public discourse is shallow, cluttered and quite frankly suffers from ADD (unintentionally or by design). People are latching on to anything that has a morsel of anything that rings true. As a result EVERYTHING is over simplified; everyone (including journalists) is comfy with issuing sound bites because no one will call them on it. The people are worn out because of excessive information and lack of substance. We end up with camps (liberal/conservative, big government/small government, etc.) No one is discussing solutions for this new world that we find ourselves in. We are technological, time means something different, education means something different, gender, nationality, age, hard work, everything has a different relevance yet we are arguing over concepts that don?t match our reality.
I will say however that human nature is the same. Greed is greed. Government greed, business greed, its human. You can bet on it.
23 - John Wilson
Lousy article. The premise is wrong. It is not "ourselves" who were wrong, unless by "ourselves" you mean those "yourselves" who supported the rightwing stripping of government regulations from oil drilling.
It's just another rightist attempt to blur their own responsibility by trying to blame things on everyone. Like "everyone thought Iraq had WMD!"
BP has committed 760 violations of regulations in the last year, and they secured waivers from the compliant rightist dominated MMS, a heritage of 30 years of fumbling idiotic rightwing rule in washington.
BP is a company of chiselers and liars, and they are STILL lying. They tried several spill solutions over the past 5 weeks, not because they thought they would work, but because they were cheap and had sufficient plausibility to fool the idiots in Washington, none of whom has an engineering degree. Their intention all along has been to abandon this mess and dump it on the American citizen and taxpayer and then run away under the $27million liability cap they resurrected from 150 yr. old law.
Stop believing republican pro-corporation propaganda and cant. Investigate the facts and think for yourself.
24 - Zedd
John,
I think he meant We The People.
Also the preoccupation with right vs. left is part of the problem. You are waisting time on useless lables when you should be forcing your officials to be solutions oreinted and not stuck on what will sound left enough to make you happy.
So YES, very yes, YOU are the problem.
25 - Clavos
We ALL are the problem with our insatiable thirst for oil.
But we don't stop flying airplanes when one crashes. Similarly, we shouldn't stop drilling -- wherever the oil is.