As a domineering superpower, you would expect a country as vast and essential to world politics to go about solving problems in a civilised manner. Ah, ideal world, what a nice dream. Unfortunately the USA seems to be acting its age according to the rest of its considerably older brothers and sisters and has very quickly discovered that being a toddler in the eyes of the rest of your family means that crying and screaming loudly and often results in obtaining their desired object in a flash.
America has adopted the finger pointing culture to go hand in hand with their other favourite pass time, law suits. If stereotypes are the most accurate depiction of American life, it seems there is so much suing followed by counter suing and counter counter suing I am surprised American hasn’t become a giant patchwork quilt depicting Debbie Sue’s unfortunate trip to the floor because of an malicious, spiteful, despicable seventy something year old cleaner who intentional moped floors with an overly moist mop. Bastard.
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster was a terrible tragedy for America. The loss of eleven American lives was upsetting for friends and family of the deceased and with millions of litres of oil being pumped up to the surface, the Gulf of Mexico coastline was going to suffer an environmental disaster the likes the states had never seen before.
Rig owners BP were blamed and that is where the blame technically does lie. But when initially reported, Americans went wrong was their decision to refer to BP as British Petroleum, as if to signify that this problem can be solely placed on a all residents of the United Kingdom.
Their press’ repetitive use of British Petroleum almost sounded as if each and every British individual was somehow responsible for the catastrophe. Of course, how could I have forgotten that every child born since 1993 has been issued with one share in BP and therefore one voice that could have stopped a rig in American waters, manned by American workers under American Health and Safety Laws, operating under an American based subsidiary of BP. My bad.
But where what this digression is working towards is the recent accusations by United States senators that BP suspected of freeing convicted Lockerbie bombing mastermind, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Such a ridiculous idea could only come from The Land of the Free. A place where a Texan redneck was allowed to play President for eight years and within his first three managed to send the world into a conflict that millions have believed to be unnecessary and illegal.
Why have two separate British related cock ups float around the world as separate entities, why not put them into the same specimen jar and see what kind of über conspiracy theory worms its way into existence, a particularly conniving US political advisor thought up in a glorious moment of malevolence.
Why can’t most Americans just accept the age of folk law of shit happens. Perhaps a bit insensitive, but it’s a fact of life. Nothing is perfect. If everything was perfect, something would go wrong in a fashion that would make nuclear fallout seem like the little cloudy poof that happens when you open a bag of flour. I get how having a physical object to point blame and hatred at helps with the process of moving on and coming to terms with events. But only in America can they link two barely similar cases together. I say barely as reports have been found that showed BP urged the British government to try giving more incentives to Libya so they could set up shop and do what they do best, farm oil.
However, jumping from simply trying to ask a government to help expand their business which will in turn fund the government is not BP’s primary objective. According to American conspiracy fiends, BP now is branching off into the empty market opportunity of liberating incarcerated terrorists for licences to dig oil alongside their latest venture in giving all aquatic related wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico free crude oil.
Personally, I like conspiracies. Theories on things matters like aliens and that the real Paul McCartney died years ago all the way through to the 9/11 conspiracies are interesting. Movies like Loose Change that go into depth trying to prove how 9/11 wasn’t as simple as it seemed on media coverage. Being able to provoke thoughts on what you thought you know and trying to discover if something far more nefarious is at large is the end product of a scarily possible conspiracy.
Yet trying to connect an oil giant to terrorist releases just grinds my gears. Such accusations come from the minds of people trying to not let an issue fade to obscurity after it has run it’s an initial course. Think of the classic Monty Python sketch of the dead parrot and Michael Palin trying to convince John Cleese the bird is still alive by making it move when he isn’t looking. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you American politics (sponsored by Monty Python School of Salesmanship).
I suppose I find it hard to accept criticism of a situation from a nation who has a craftily practiced skill at doing wrong onto others and run away hands over ears shouting LA LA LA LA LA but can so easily point the finger of judgement and blame with ruthless efficiency and certainty this is the worst thing anyone has ever done.
Americans clearly don’t recollect a certain chemical catastrophe, the worst the world has ever seen, in Bhopal, 1983. A subsidiary company of the US chemical company Union Carbide, experienced a fatal leak of methyl isocyanate and other chemicals which after containment had effected half a million people. The plant was soon closed down and vats of chemicals sealed off and left. Nearly thirty years later those vats are still there, leaking, seeping into the ground and spreading into the surrounding area bring illness, genetic deformities and diseases to an ever increasing number of innocent families.
In essence, a few messy seagulls are an event for national mourning and finger pointing. But destroying the lives of half a million poverty stricken people in a different country isn’t nearly as bad as a poorly pelican.
I don’t want to come across as anti American as I don’t think I could. Too many things and people I like are from the land of the free. To me, I just feel that America’s response to the Deepwater Horizon incident was over the top considering their track history with environment destroying participation, almost hypocritical.
No comments:
Post a Comment