We gotta have a scapegoat. It’s the American way. When something goes horribly wrong in our great nation, we like to narrow it down to one person or one entity, heap all the blame on them, and string them up for all to see. Ah, there. Now don’t we all feel better?
Of course I’m referring to that sinister, evil, spawn of Satan, Mr. Tony Hayward; the CEO of British Petroleum (BP), the most evil and heartless company on the face the earth; the entity solely responsible for the millions of gallons of crude oil that’s spilling into the Gulf. Yes, if it weren’t for BP, all would be right in the world. Mr. Hayward and his company have ruined beaches and waterways, destroyed scores of natural habitats and put entire species of animal at risk. Yep, it’s all BP’s fault and any apologies or acts of contrition from them or Mr. Hayward are obviously lies and utter nonsense.
Fear not dear citizens! Our noble and honest members of Congress are on the case and they are unleashing the scorn of a nation on that evil demon, Mr. Hayward; and all in front of rolling cameras that can broadcast the spectacle to all the world. Yeah buddy, BP’s going down for this one! Hey, and while we’re at it, let’s boycott all the BP gas stations. Don’t buy their gas – you’ll only be supporting the evil!!! Never mind that those BP gas stations are owned locally by, perhaps, a friend or neighbor of yours and you’re destroying their income and livelihood. Nah, that’s irrelevant! Someone’s got to pay for this! BP has got to pay for this!!
I’m sorry, but my heart really goes out to Mr. Hayward. Yeah, he may be a rich, greedy, fat cat who has profited tremendously as CEO of BP, but now he’s the poor schmuck who is the face of evil for millions of Americans and no matter what the guy says or does, he’ll probably go down in history as one of the top villains of our time. Bet that detail was never even remotely mentioned in his job description when he signed on. He may as well have just personally dropped a bomb on that oil rig because all of the dozens of people that will ultimately be proven responsible in part for this catastrophe will probably remain nameless while Mr. Hayward becomes a household name synonymous with pure evil.
If everyone would just pause for a moment, calm down, and really think this whole mess through, we’d realize we are all to blame for the debacle in the Gulf. Greed and Arrogance are the true evil behind this and other problems facing our country. We’re a gas-guzzling, electricity-hogging, resource-wasting, environment-polluting society. Anything goes as long as we’re fat and happy in our big SUVs driving through our big cities lit up like Christmas trees, throwing trash out the window, and leaving pollution in our wake. It’s the American way.
BP, ExxonMobile, ConocoPhilips, and Chevron all exist and thrive because we demand oil – and LOTS of it. It’s easy to sit and blame BP for everything, but every single one of us takes a big fat dump on the environment every day by insisting on driving performance and luxury automobiles, not recycling, and simply wasting everything imaginable in every imaginable way. We’re an arrogant society unwilling to cut back or modify our behaviors, foolish enough to believe that we’re entitled to everything and still wanting more in the process. We don’t think about the consequences until some catastrophe happens; the price of gas skyrockets, the economy tanks, or a major oil spill happens. And then, instead of each of us stepping up and trying to fix the situation, we immediately seek out our scapegoat and blame it all on them. Meanwhile, we keep doing what we’re doing and enact some insanely stupid measure like boycotting a business to vent our frustrations.
Nothing to me is more laughable than watching members of Congress get all holier-than-thou in front of the cameras and give the selected scapegoats of the month a good scolding on behalf of the nation. Remember when they hauled in the executives from the Ford and GM? How about the CEO of
Almost as laughable, but a little more irritating to me is seeing folks posting their “Boycott BP” messages on Facebook. Yeah! We’ll show ‘em! That’ll solve everything! I do believe our privileged way of life has seriously impacted our common sense. It’s really sad. The same people bitching about BP are the ones who refuse to recycle or half-ass the task because they’re too lazy to take the time to learn about how to effectively recycle. They’re the same people driving around in humongous SUVs or pick-up trucks that will never, ever, be utilized for their intended purpose -hauling huge loads or going off-road. Hell, most of the pickup trucks I see these days fall into the luxury auto class. It’s crazy. Why do we drive around in these monstrosities?! Because we can, that’s why! We always have to have the fastest, fanciest, biggest, newest, and most expensive of everything. It’s all about image, baby! Never mind the fact that we’re just fueling the vicious cycle of waste and abuse on our environment. Not our problem. After all, we got a scapegoat now!
Everyone all the way up to the President wants to stamp their feet and complain about how the automakers dropped the ball on developing alternative fuel sources and cleaner, more efficient vehicles. Well, yeah, they did but mostly because we all demanded that they do that. They’re all in business to sell as many cars as possible at as high of a price as possible. They spend a fair amount of money on research and marketing and, based on all their findings, they build and market the vehicles that are most likely to sell and most likely to turn a profit. They don’t have much room in their budget for noble for-the-good-of-all-mankind projects, they gotta sell, sell, sell!! And so when oil prices go through the roof and the economy tanks, who ends up being the bad guys? Yeah, the evil automakers who refuse to give us more fuel efficient cars… you know, the same cars that in more prosperous times, we laughed at the thought of buying.
Back to recycling. How much more easy can it be made for you idiots?! Nowadays, you have this big yellow recycling bin that you can throw –unsorted- plastic, paper, Styrofoam, metal, and glass in. Yeah, unsorted! You don’t have to do a damn thing except throw anything recyclable in the friggin’ yellow container. Years ago, you had to sort and separate paper and glass and aluminum into their own containers and figure out where to take them or, if there was a pick-up service in your neighborhood, figure out which days to put which items curbside. Now, it’s simple!! Just throw everything that’s recyclable in the yellow container and put it out by the curb once a week. Why do I see so many people having such a hard time with this?! Since my family started recycling in earnest in our house, I’ve found that probably 70% of what we throw away ends up as recyclable. Another 10% is food scraps that can be used as compost material or flushed down the sink disposal. On trash day now we have 2 to 3 times as much recyclable trash as we do regular trash. But yet I look up and down my block and I see the exact opposite. This can only mean that folks are either too lazy to recycle or they’re just not knowledgeable enough to be more effective with their recycling.
My office is another prime example. In every room they have both a regular trash can and a blue recycling trash can. So all a person has to do is throw the right kind of trash in the right kind of can, both of which are right there for them! And yet I can walk around and see plastic wrappings, soda cans, plastic water bottles, and discarded paper towels all thrown in the regular trash. Why?! Is it so difficult to grasp the concept of recycling? I also see lots of professed recyclers throwing away a plastic container or can in the regular garbage because it’s dirty. Maybe there’s a plastic takeout container with half a salad left in it or a yogurt cup that has yogurt smears. Nope, can’t throw them in recycling, they’re dirty. God forbid we actually have to take a moment and dump the remaining food in the regular trash or rinse something out in the sink. Nah. Too much trouble. Hey, guess what plastic is made out of…. OIL. Now you’re making BP work twice as hard so you can have your nifty little throw away plastic container that you simply refuse to put in the recycle bin. You tell me who the bad guy is.
I’m not denying that all of these big oil companies, automakers, and multi-billion-dollar corporations are mostly all run or influenced by greedy, rich fat cats whose primary mission is to make more and more and more money at any cost. I’m just saying it’s like that because we all ignorantly support that methodology in our daily lives and it’s time that we really own up to who and what we really are. It ain’t a pretty reflection staring us back in the mirror, but recognizing it, owning up to it, and then changing, is the first and only step in the right direction for our nation.
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