But that's not the whole story.
Everyday the news has more and more stories about how the spill is affecting the wildlife, the coastlines, the water, etc. Which, don't get me wrong, is a terrible thing.
But it's what's NOT being covered that's even more terrible.
Eleven people died on that rig when it exploded and sank. Eleven. I had to search for ten minutes before I found that number. Every Google search I did for "gulf of mexico oil spill died" (or variations thereof) turned up with dead turtles and fish.
What the liberal activists (including Obama) are doing with this spill is reprehensible. Eleven people are dead, and all the news is reporting on is dead turtles?! Instead of a memorial to hard-working Americans, instead of an interview or two with the dead's relatives, we get an White House memo that talks about keeping "a boot on the throat of BP."
Is that really what's important? People are dead because of an terrible accident. Instead of portraying it (accurately) as a horrible tragedy, the media is portraying it as BP willfully killing the environment because they were bored.
Politicizing tragedies is a terrible, reprehensible and disrespectful thing to do.
EDIT: After some comments were posted, I realized I wasn't clear. Here's my response, which can also be found in the comments section.
Here's what I meant by the post, and I realize I wasn't clear. That's my fault.
What's wrong with this story NOW is the over-politicization of an accident and a tragedy. I don't have cable news, so I missed the coverage early on of the men who died. That is my fault, and I was not aware of said coverage.
But what's happening now is not good. It's an politicized tragedy, and those NEVER work out.
Again, I apologize for not seeing the early coverage and jumping to that conclusion. But my stance that politicization of accidents and tragedies is reprehensible still stands.
If you would have been paying attention, you would have heard about the eleven poor souls when the accident happened. It was on the news. The mainstream media news. So why are you seeing coverage about the threat to wildlife now? Because that is what is happening now.
ReplyDelete>> An oil rig exploded in early May
ReplyDeleteApparently, you're the world's first illiterate "journalist." The rig exploded and sank on April 20th. 11 people went missing on April 20th. The memorials for the (presumed) dead were at the end of April and in the first week of May.
Everyone's concerned at this point about the 50,000-70,000 barrels (2,750,000-3,850,000 gallons) per day gushing out of the floor of the Gulf of Mexico harming sea life because: the gulf of Mexico, and in particular, the spawning grounds directly onshore from the rig site supply 40-60% of all seafood consumed in the United States.
What exactly do you think will happen when 40-60% of the U.S. seafood industry disappears in a cloud of oily smoke? Unemployment will skyrocket, seafood prices will spike (and never come back down to previous levels) and bluefin tuna, gulf oysters and stone crab will likely disappear, never to return. And that's if it stays in the Gulf. Guess what happens if the sludge makes its way around the Florida keys and into the Gulf Stream? Bye-bye East Coast fisheries.
And those sea turtles and toothed whales that you're not so concerned about? They're apex predators. They eat things that you'd probably prefer have their populations kept in check... like jellyfish and and large squids and octopuses.
Oh, and one of the reasons that the riser failed, the $100 million rig (registered in the Marianas Islands) sank and 11 men lost their lives? BP didn't want to spend $500,000 on a properly-sized blowout preventer on a well that they're claiming is worth more than $500,000,000 to insurance adjusters. BP, by the way, wants the Federal Government to limit its total liability, including death benefits, cleanup costs and lost wages as a result of the spill to no more than $27,000,000.
Here's what I meant by the post, and I realize I wasn't clear. That's my fault.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with this story NOW is the over-politicization of an accident and a tragedy. I don't have cable news, so I missed the coverage early on of the men who died. That is my fault, and I was not aware of said coverage.
But what's happening now is not good. It's an politicized tragedy, and those NEVER work out.
Again, I apologize for not seeing the early coverage and jumping to that conclusion. But my stance that politicization of accidents and tragedies is reprehensible still stands.
I agree with the fact that the event is a tragedy. I also know that for the first/second initial week, it was covered as tragedy and a search mission for those 11 workers. (I don't have cable either, man, but that story was everywhere. I'm just going to assume you were too busy supporting your wife in her crazy studies.)
ReplyDeleteNow, however, we're not seeing a politicized tragedy (which would be reprehensible). A politicized tragedy is an airliner going down due to poor airline/FAA guidelines, 100 people dying, and then members of government/political pundits fighting about who we should blame and who was right because they argued for more/less government/private regulations.
This, while being a tragedy, is now more accurately an environmental disaster, which is why both the right and left were at the congressional hearings and both sides are upset. Is there a political aspect to the event? Of course. This is only natural because people hold different views of the environment and man's impact on it. It's only to be expected that the side who is against things like off-shore drilling will feel validated in their views.