How is this oil spill not a big deal?

[MILK]

Originally Posted by Particle Man

People have become desensitized over time by seeing disasters and such half a world away that have never impacted them. To their point of view, this stuff just "goes away" so people have gotten into this mode of thinking. I'm not saying it's right (definitely not) but that's what I think has happened.

Because the media blows most everything out of proportion it makes it hard to judge what is really a disaster. Like I said in an earlier post - I was in Alaska after the Valdez and the locals said the spill was nowhere close to being as bad as potrayed...

Same goes for whenever we get 1/4" of snow here - you'd think the world was coming to an end..

[Particle Man]

Originally Posted by tommymac

It does go away because the news stops covering it. Parts of new orleans are still recovering from katrina, and haiti is still a disaster but all the stars got their face time did their benefit shows and moved on to the next cause toget them more face time.

Yep

[askmrjesus]

Originally Posted by MILK

Because the media blows most everything out of proportion it makes it hard to judge what is really a disaster.

You are so right. Just look at all the fuss they made over Katrina. Like a little water is really going to hurt anybody...

Originally Posted by MILK

Like I said in an earlier post - I was in Alaska after the Valdez and the locals said the spill was nowhere close to being as bad as potrayed...

I wonder if any of the locals you talked to, were one of the 11,000 Alaskans that helped clean up the 10.8 MILLION GALLONS of oil that covered 1,300 miles of coastline, killing an estimated 100,000 -250,000 seabirds, fish, orcas, seals and otters, along with billions of salmon eggs.

My guess is no.

JC

[Kaneman]

Originally Posted by askmrjesus

You are so right. Just look at all the fuss they made over Katrina. Like a little water is really going to hurt anybody...




I wonder if any of the locals you talked to, were one of the 11,000 Alaskans that helped clean up the 10.8 MILLION GALLONS of oil that covered 1,300 miles of coastline, killing an estimated 100,000 -250,000 seabirds, fish, orcas, seals and otters, along with billions of salmon eggs.

My guess is no.

JC

Dude, don't be a dick. You know damned good and well how common it is for a quarter of a million animals from a local population to suddenly die off.

Just the other day I was on my way to work on the bike and I had to carefully weave in and out of all the dead Longhorns, Horses and Rattlesnakes. Hell, I even had a dead Mockingbird fall right down from the sky. There must've been......well I guess about 250,000 dead animals in all.

Perfectly normal, and not a big deal.

[azoomm]

The first of the three leaks is "fixed." It was the little one from the actual line.

Josh, I lol'ed

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by askmrjesus

I wonder if any of the locals you talked to, were one of the 11,000 Alaskans that helped clean up the 10.8 MILLION GALLONS of oil that covered 1,300 miles of coastline, killing an estimated 100,000 -250,000 seabirds, fish, orcas, seals and otters, along with billions of salmon eggs.

My guess is no.

JC

I was wondering how many of them worked for an oil company? Hell, we still have a ban on oil being transported through Canada's western waters to this day.

[askmrjesus]

Originally Posted by Kaneman

Dude, don't be a dick. You know damned good and well how common it is for a quarter of a million animals from a local population to suddenly die off.

Just the other day I was on my way to work on the bike and I had to carefully weave in and out of all the dead Longhorns, Horses and Rattlesnakes. Hell, I even had a dead Mockingbird fall right down from the sky. There must've been......well I guess about 250,000 dead animals in all.

Perfectly normal, and not a big deal.

My bad.

I just have a hard time telling what's a disaster and what isn't. It's so confusing.

JC

[MILK]

You were all up there then right?

What do I know, while I was actually up there you saw it on the news.

[Papa_Complex]

Yup, and that 9/11 thing wasn't that bad either. I was in New York State around then and didn't see a thing

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Yup, and that 9/11 thing wasn't that bad either. I was in New York State around then and didn't see a thing

Yea, well my step brother was killed in that little "nothing" so maybe you should pick your jokes more carefully...

If you really want to get down to it, who exactly counted all of these animals? Was it 100,000 or 250,000? That's a pretty big spread isn't it? Heck, if we're just guessing, maybe it was 5,000... I think that it is "relative" in the sense that to an environmentalist type, two snow owls and a kangaroo mouse is a disaster. While to other people, 50,000 krill don't mean a thing... Also, I'm not sure why people that don't live in an area are more capable of determining what constitutes a "disaster" to the locals. Anytime any of you want to give up your bikes and cars, I'll be more than happy to take them off your hands. While you're at it, why don't you give up electricity, heat, running water, technology and go live in a nice cave somewhere.