A Capitalist and a Mirror

So I found myself in a 3 day string about the oil spill. It has been educational and telling once again where divisions seem to exist. I have found some wonderful facts about BP along the way as well. Like they have a protocol in place in how to herd and maintain media placement during environmental crisis. Nice. They have a plan for dealing with media on the books, but no working plan to stop leaks. I found out BP has been the recipient of 97% of the OSHA violations issued to the energy industry in the last 3 years. That a few years ago they bought up enough heating and cooking propane to corner the America market and then withheld supply to artificially raise the price by 50%. Their Alaskan pipeline has had numerous reported leaks due to corrosion. They pled guilty to criminal charges in the Texas City refinery explosion that killed fifteen. The platform explosion was at first a mishap, then something they were working minutes before to try to avoid, then the story changed to hours before, and now it would seem they knew of gas leaks into the well almost a week before and it was the direct action they took that caused the explosion and the spill. Great company!

The truth is I thought so. My wife and I both noticed better gas mileage when we used BP gas. Since I was happy with those results I almost bought in fully to their “green campaign” a few years ago with the Hello Kitty like children and green backgrounds, talking about cleaner burning fuels, but never going so far as to say “hey we are GREEN!” Ah, the power of suggestion such an evil and empty mistress you are.
In the thread an editorial link was thrown in that compared the many large corporations and the poor practices they engage in to the BP mess. I was shocked to see that develop into another finger pointing, political bashing, fault finder without a sober discussion going on. The accountability of bad business when it is big business falls to the consumer. Our government (regardless of party affiliation) is funded by these corporations. Our government has and will again use the resources supplied by taxpayers to help solve the quagmires created by these companies. We will bitch about it, we will get hung up in threads, and then we will stop at the nearest BP and fill up.

I am not advocating the revolution. I am just saying in the most sober terms. Do not buy the products of the companies that piss you off. Try a little influence in your circle of living. Find the local alternative, the little guy or gal in your neighborhood who charges more for whatever service so she/he can stay in business among the faceless out there. While it is a little harder with oil, maybe we just pretend gas is $5 a gallon and react accordingly. Walk when we can. Save up for the hybrid. Ride the bike.
Another thing that strikes me in all this is the surprise when the giants stumble and the shock when the truth comes out. I started thinking about the companies I have supported over the years. I decided to check them out through news filters around the world.

I started with Coca Cola. Something I have long loved and yes I am admitting that in public. A quick search brought up the SINALTRAINAL union in Colombia. Paramilitaries trained in the School of America facility in Georgia and hired by Coca Cola, have kidnapped, detained, tortured, and murder SINALTRAINAL Union organizers in their plants located in Colombia. Similar claims are arising out of Guatemala. In India Coke has deep drilled into the water table causing a water shortage, and the company dumps waste water into the Ganges and local water sources as well. I will check out more as I go, but for now no Coke no BP. Now I can bitch all I want.

So could you. Look we are in the mess we are in, because we see freedom as being able to get a hold of small pleasantries anytime we want. Too much of a good thing is too much. Avoid life's little pleasures and regain some freedom.