Will Pitt: Our Fault, Too

[babylonsister]

http://www.truth-out.org/our-fault-too60329

Our Fault, Too

Friday 11 June 2010

by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed


(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: Dadmandu, NASA)



There were hearings on Capitol Hill this week regarding the Gulf oil disaster, and virtually everyone involved - from witnesses to experts to government officials - had a grand old time throwing rocks at British Petroleum. The Obama administration and various government agencies have also been taking it in the teeth over their failure to quell the oil boiling up from the bottom of the sea. Beaches are closing, animals are dying, livelihoods are being destroyed, and unbelievable as it may seem, the worst is yet to come. New reports indicate the well may have been releasing oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez spill every eight to ten days since this whole thing started.

BP is taking the lion's share of the beatings, and justly so. They ran a shoddy operation out there on the Deepwater Horizon, and knew even ten years ago that such operations were incredibly risky. They lied and lied again about the scope of the disaster. They have been attempting to limit press access to the disaster zone to keep people from finding out what is actually going on. Their corporate officers have denied the existence of oil plumes beneath the surface, and have held pity-parties for themselves on television over how trying this whole situation is for them.

This mess is their fault, and the world knows it. Their stock value has cratered, and even the BP shareholders are beginning to revolt. They are going to be sued for God only knows how much money, and will be saddled with the cost of the clean-up, which may take years.

But here is something to remember: it's our fault, too. Yours and mine.

snip//

The Deepwater Horizon is the period at the end of a very long, bleak sentence that has been rolling along for a hundred years. We are killing ourselves with the way we live, with our complacency, and we can no longer ignore this wretched truth. The oil that is killing beaches and fisheries and animals of every kind is our lifeblood, the spigot on the sea floor is our femoral artery, and we are bleeding to death right there on television.

If it wasn't BP, it would have been something else. So long as we lay back and live this oily lifestyle, there will always be some company ready to provide it, and there will always be some way that lifestyle will be killing us. The water is fouled, the clouds stink of gasoline, the ground is seeded with poison, and now the sea is dying before our eyes, and all because this is the way we live, and we just can't seem to realize how mortally dangerous it all is.

This must change. Until it does, it's our fault, too.

[treestar]

1. Rec'd. We have to face this. If we are middle class or above, we're

the problem. Just pointing our fingers at the politicians or even the companies is a cop out. We buy the stuff, because we want our own individual cars and big houses in the suburbs. We need to change.

[tavalon]

7. You are completely right

[HuckleB]

2. Exactly. The cats know. (The last lines say it all.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt617zYAbng&feature=player_embedded

[tomp]

3. and there will always be a democratic or republican administration,....

...house and/or senate selling us out for profit when they should be protecting us.

what you may not realize is that this relatively luxurious, disposable lifestyle we in america (and elsewhere, of course) lead is the bone that we are thrown that allows fascism (govt/corp symbiosis) to prosper.

pray tell, will pitt, now that you've accused, how's it going to change?

[tavalon]

8. He isn't here anymore

You'll have to go over to Truthout to have that discussion.

That's the bitch, ain't it? The kind of change that we all have to undertake is almost unimaginable because we grew up with this glut as did our parents and some of our grandparents (mine lived in the depression but it was oily, too). Car culture must go. Suburbia must go. Communal living has to come back (multigenerational or chosen communal living, but communal living in some way). We have to end having our food shipped from God knows where. We have to go back to a pre-industrial time. No more plastic anything. Pretty damn daunting, isn't it. And we won't do it. I may do it, you may do it, but the vast numbers of the developed nations' people will not do it. And so we will die off but we will take so many other species with us, it's just an atrocity. It's not suicide, it's ecocide.

[treestar]

14. Protecting us? A right wing theme

Now, we are adults and we have to act for ourselves, not sit there and have daddy protect us. That's how Cheney and bush wanted us to be.

We are free - we chose this lifestyle (if we are middle class or above).

Just a cop out to blame our elected representatives.

[tomp]

15. i think your deflecting of blame from politicians is flat wrong.

i don't suppose you've noticed the valiant and protracted attempts of masses of people to do exactly what you suggest over decades. these struggles get nowhere because our government is thoroughly corrupt.

it is one hundred percent correct to blame politicians for the major problems of society. that doesn't mean we don't share some small portion of that blame for our lifestyle habits. i see ordinary people just trying to have some measure of joy and pleasure in their lives, however misguidedly from a holistic point of view. Generally, they are just accepting the bones that are thrown to them by the system to dissuade them from fighting for control of the system that feeds the wealthy 10,000 times what it feeds us.

problems arise from many people living together. this is why we have governments in the first place. it is a generally accepted role of government to protect and defend its people. individuals cannot solve this level of problem individually. but they can solve them collectively through legitimate elected government. it's been a long time since we've had that.

this is not about "daddy" govt. this is about how humans organize themselves collectively. the current version of this in the u.s is thoroughly corrupt and in the service of the extremely wealthy. concerned citizens are hamstrung by the process.

[Robbien]

4. No, not really. Those of us who push for solar, wind and tidal insteal of fossil fuels

bear little of the blame. If the $35 Bil in government support for bigoil was given to non-fossil fuels our country would not be addicted to dangerous unclean fuels.

[MineralMan]

5. So, you've eschewed using any fossil fuels or things that derive

from them? Truly? If so, then you are among a tiny, tiny group. Brava!

I've been pushing for all the things you mentioned since the late 1960s. And yet, I'm aware that I'm still driving a vehicle that is powered by gasoline. I am still using electricity and heating my home with natural gas. I want things to change, but live in the world in which I live.

If you use petroleum-based technology, you are part of the consumption that keeps it going. We all are.

[Robbien]

11. Of course not

The only reason we use fossil fuels is that that is the option we are given by TPTB.

We can limit our fossil use to as little as possible and use as much solar as we can individually afford.

Fossil is the standard in this country. A standard that is not decided by us but by the rich guys who rule our government.

[MineralMan]

12. I see. So, you're maintaining that it is impossible to not use

fossil fuels and things derived from them? I understand completely. But, you're saying that you would do that, if you could, so you're not responsible for continuing the reliance on fossil fuels, even though you use them daily.

Well...it is possible to live without them, and many people are actually doing so. It's surely not easy, but there are folks doing it. So, the first assumption is inaccurate. In reality, you have chosen to continue to use fossil fuels and enjoy the benefits of them. Me, too. The difference between us is that I know that I bear some of the responsibility for that.

As I said, I've been advocating alternative energy for over 40 years. I've even seen some progress in that direction. But, here I am, still using petroleum and petroleum-based products and services. So, I share in the responsibility for the consequences, despite my advocacy. So do you?

Now much solar are you using in your daily life? Have you invested in alternative energy companies? Is your computer powered by something other than electricity? Do you own or ride in private automobiles? Do you wear synthetic fabrics that were not woven on a hand loom? Do you eat food brought to your city in trucks or trains? How do you light your rooms when it is dark?

It's pretty complicated, huh? You may not logically blame others for the things you do. That's not fair.

[tavalon]

6. I miss him here

Thanks for posting this.

[donheld]

10. me too

[jotsy]

9. Because I'll support whatever it takes to shake the atrophy loose from the apathy.

I rec'd this. The power of Mr. Pitt's pen is undeniably compelling and sensible. Thanks to you and all DUers that keep his work front and center here.

I believe however, that oil and gas interests have squelched the very notion of even having other rows to hoe. A couple of peripheral cases in point might include Preston Tucker and the resistance he faced as a car marker not of Michigan's big three in Detroit. The War of Currents between Westinghouse AC and Edison's DC also illustrate what steps established market managers will take to see they don't have to cope with a competitive environment or see a line of products slip from the characterization of cutting edge. My point is we were put on a pretty exclusive diet, not because it was the only food source, but the only one the powers that be wanted us to perceive as edible.

[Better Today]

13. Of course we are all to blame, for everything that goes wrong, because

we are impotent in the face of politicians. We're also to blame for the wars, and the tolls they take on many different levels both of lives and of resources, we are to blame for the bank/stock market/job market collapse as well.


We tried to tell our pols that we didn't want war, but they ignored us, ten years ago, and yet.

We tried to tell our pols that banks were screwing us, but they got further deregulated and are allowed to virtually control bankruptcies of individuals, even after the collapse, their hold on our precious primary homes are protected, granted to them by our pols.

The politics/politicians are all scams, unfortunately that includes virtually all current ones as well.