Playing the Blame Game (An Ode to BP)

So, this BP oil spill that happened, what, a month ago now, that's old news, right? Oh well, I'm just now getting around to it. Actually, I wasn't planning on getting to it at all, because what should've happened is that BP would have the oil spill, they wouldn't fuck around, they'd stop the leak right away, clean the mess up as much as possible, they'd get a fine or whatever from the EPA, and that would be the end of it. No, strike that. What should've happened is, it shouldn't have happened at all, because BP shouldn't be in this business at all if they don't have the ability to prevent this sort of thing, or at a very minimum, to clean it up if it does happen. Okay, but it did happen. So, that's assloads of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico (or assloads of money, from BP's perspective), and they should be getting that shit cleaned up immediately, if for no other reason than they're losing a ton of money (from their point of view), or that they shouldn't be causing a ton of damage to people and the planet in that area (from the point of view of human beings). Yet, inexplicably, BP is, in fact, fucking around, since they didn't have a contingency plan for this sort of accident. And even more inexplicably, all of the anger over this incident seems to be directed at President Obama rather than at BP. This is the point at which I felt compelled to say something, not because I'm a big defender of Obama (I'm not particularly a defender of any politician), but because the media in this country is so collectively stupid that it probably couldn't locate its enormous ass with both hands, a map, a compass, and a whole goddamn team of sherpas.

Look, bottom line is, this is not Obama's fault. This is also not Obama's Katrina (that was a natural disaster where nobody is at fault, this is an unnatural disaster where somebody is at fault). The worst you can say about Obama here is that he didn't make sure that BP had a contingency plan in place for this sort of situation, but neither did any other President, or anybody else for that matter, so it's no more his fault than it is mine or yours. If we're going to blame somebody arbitrarily, why don't we blame someone who is undeniably a terrible human being? If we're going to just pick someone to scapegoat, someone who was in no way involved in this, I'd have to vote for Fred Durst. Holy shit, Fred Durst isn't doing anything about the BP oil spill?! Well, he won't be getting my vote this November! Nevermind that, for whatever reason, our media has decided that it's Obama's fault, so they're going after him instead of going after BP. Does anybody have an explanation for this? A rational explanation, I mean. Does Obama have any direct say over what BP does? Not really, unless he wants to tell BP that they will no longer be allowed to conduct business in the United States until they clean the shit up, apologize, throw garbage bags full of money at anyone adversely affected by the whole mess, and take honest-to-goodness legitimate steps to not let it happen again, and make sure there is a plan if it does happen again, a plan that will work (side note: he should do this, but he won't, because they helped him get elected. Like I said, I'm not defending that.)

More importantly, though, is that Obama or anyone else shouldn't have to worry about regulating BP. BP should fucking well regulate themselves! They should have a conscience, and if not, they should at least care about their public perception enough to not let this happen so that they don't lose a ton of business. Then again, I did drive past a BP just today, and there were a half-dozen people filling up their gas tanks there...is that it? Do people really not care that much, and BP was smart enough to realize that? I know that all oil companies are fucking the environment somewhere in the process, but right now, BP is pretty openly not giving a shit about it, and we're sort of okay with that, as long as we get to blame a black guy! Hell, he probably went down there and started pouring that oil into the gulf himself, right after he raped my mom and killed my dad and sold drugs to my little brother!

People, if you're going to blame anybody for anything, please, think about who you're blaming and what you're blaming them for, and ask yourself if there is actually a correlation between the two. If you're going to get pissed at someone for dumping oil in the Gulf of Mexico, get pissed at the people who did it, not whoever the media tells you is to blame.