5 ms·

While we're on the topic, can we sentence BP to death? They destroyed the livelihoods of thousands, if not millions of innocent people, and thoroughly polluted

by Fej 10y ago

While we're on the topic, can we sentence BP to death? They destroyed the livelihoods of thousands, if not millions of innocent people, and thoroughly polluted huge swaths of the Gulf of Mexico coastline (and a bit of the Atlantic coast, as well). They caused the biggest single environmental disaster in United States history, and it was due to negligence. If this wasn't an accident, but rather a deliberate attack "in the name of Islam", we would have gone back into Iraq. It would have been 9/11 all over again, but with far more actual damage caused. But since they're a company, they get a slap on the wrist and keep on going. (I'm exaggerating, I know they paid a lot, but they're still more than alive and kicking. I just wish their stock tanked more after the Brexit vote.) If you want to make an example of a company with a clear-cut case, you can't really do better than this. They committed mass destruction of the Southern coastline. Seriously, if this was intentional it would be a war crime. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Modification_Convention https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Modification_C...

tajen 10y ago
> If it had been a deliberate attack Nonono, don't compare anything to terrorism please: We have a far to belligerous action on terrorism, while we don't do much against other causes of death. Smoking still causes an order or magnitude more deaths of innocents than terrorism (non-smokers) and the people still defend it's ok to smoke on the sidewalk (and defend it's ok to kill Muslims without trial as long as it's a military action). Responses to terrorism are disproportionate.
- xapata 10y ago
  That's why it's worth comparing things to terrorism, to reveal how weakly we respond to other threats.
  - moptar 10y ago
    That's kind of like Godwin's law. It's worth comparing things to the Nazis to reveal how little we despise other bad actions. But we have unreasonably strong negative feelings about both Nazis and terrorism, so it's not really helpful.
simonswords82 10y ago
I couldn't agree more. I tend not to be a conscientious shopper but will very happily go out of my way to avoid spending a single penny with BP. Utter scumbags - they should never have been let off the hook the way they were after that disaster. I fully expected the company to be on its knees at the very least but nope - they're trading happily ever after.
- forgetsusername 10y ago
  >Utter scumbags All of them? All 80,000 employees are scumbags are they? I happen to know a few, and at the very least they don't denigrate people they don't know on the internet.
  - tssva 10y ago
    The argument could certainly be made that if they continue to choose to work for an immoral company than they themselves are to some degree immoral.
    - edanm 10y ago
      The argument could also be made that a random person on the internet passing judgement on other people without knowing anything about them isn't a particularly right thing to do.
      - tssva 10y ago
        But I do know something about them. I know they continue to choose to work for BP.
  - simonswords82 10y ago
    I know people who work for BP too. Sorry you took my comment to heart but obviously I'm not beating up all of those 80,000 individuals. However, BP as a legal entity and a subset of its employees fucked up, causing untold damage to the world we live in. There are people who work for BP who I would hold accountable, and those people do not deserve to have my hard earned cash spent on their company.
moptar 10y ago
That's a sadly America-centric view of the world. Shell's spills in the Niger Delta are just as bad or worse and nobody cares because it's some weird foreign country that doesn't appear in their news: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_the_Niger_Delta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_the_Ni... The total volume of oil spilt was on the same order of magnitude - about half that at Deep Water Horizon. But the environmental and health problems are perhaps worse. It's close to shore and there's hardly any cleanup work, compensation or health protection.
- pmorici 10y ago
  It's not an American centric view just because he doesn't list every oil spill that has ever happened in the world.
  - moptar 10y ago
    I agree that not listing every oil spill isn't required to make a view American centric. That's not the issue though, it's a straw man. What's American centric is to focus on America even when similar things exist elsewhere.
    - pmorici 10y ago
      You misunderstand what Americentrism is. It is about the presumption of US morals and standards when judging other countries and cultures. Some would say that your use of the word "America" to describe the United States is itself Americentrism.
imjustsaying 10y ago
"We" have gone back and have been in Iraq

by Fej 10y ago

tajen 10y ago

> If it had been a deliberate attack Nonono, don't compare anything to terrorism please: We have a far to belligerous action on terrorism, while we don't do much against other causes of death. Smoking still causes an order or magnitude more deaths of innocents than terrorism (non-smokers) and the people still defend it's ok to smoke on the sidewalk (and defend it's ok to kill Muslims without trial as long as it's a military action). Responses to terrorism are disproportionate.

xapata 10y ago
That's why it's worth comparing things to terrorism, to reveal how weakly we respond to other threats.
- moptar 10y ago
  That's kind of like Godwin's law. It's worth comparing things to the Nazis to reveal how little we despise other bad actions. But we have unreasonably strong negative feelings about both Nazis and terrorism, so it's not really helpful.

simonswords82 10y ago

I couldn't agree more. I tend not to be a conscientious shopper but will very happily go out of my way to avoid spending a single penny with BP. Utter scumbags - they should never have been let off the hook the way they were after that disaster. I fully expected the company to be on its knees at the very least but nope - they're trading happily ever after.

forgetsusername 10y ago
>Utter scumbags All of them? All 80,000 employees are scumbags are they? I happen to know a few, and at the very least they don't denigrate people they don't know on the internet.
- tssva 10y ago
  The argument could certainly be made that if they continue to choose to work for an immoral company than they themselves are to some degree immoral.
  - edanm 10y ago
    The argument could also be made that a random person on the internet passing judgement on other people without knowing anything about them isn't a particularly right thing to do.
    - tssva 10y ago
      But I do know something about them. I know they continue to choose to work for BP.
- simonswords82 10y ago
  I know people who work for BP too. Sorry you took my comment to heart but obviously I'm not beating up all of those 80,000 individuals. However, BP as a legal entity and a subset of its employees fucked up, causing untold damage to the world we live in. There are people who work for BP who I would hold accountable, and those people do not deserve to have my hard earned cash spent on their company.

moptar 10y ago

That's a sadly America-centric view of the world. Shell's spills in the Niger Delta are just as bad or worse and nobody cares because it's some weird foreign country that doesn't appear in their news: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_the_Niger_Delta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_the_Ni... The total volume of oil spilt was on the same order of magnitude - about half that at Deep Water Horizon. But the environmental and health problems are perhaps worse. It's close to shore and there's hardly any cleanup work, compensation or health protection.

pmorici 10y ago
It's not an American centric view just because he doesn't list every oil spill that has ever happened in the world.
- moptar 10y ago
  I agree that not listing every oil spill isn't required to make a view American centric. That's not the issue though, it's a straw man. What's American centric is to focus on America even when similar things exist elsewhere.
  - pmorici 10y ago
    You misunderstand what Americentrism is. It is about the presumption of US morals and standards when judging other countries and cultures. Some would say that your use of the word "America" to describe the United States is itself Americentrism.

imjustsaying 10y ago

"We" have gone back and have been in Iraq