Written by George C. Glasser   

Recently, I posted a quite a few of articles about the BP/Deepwater Horizon disaster on Facebook and wrote a few articles myself. I expected a bit of flack from BP’s crises management team at the London based public relations firm Brunswick Group and from pro oil individuals. And of course, I’ve taken some hits, most of them proclaiming BP innocent victims or incompetent American contractors.

However, the one that really got to me was from an American lady which stated, “Equate this to an airplane crash. Statistically they must be about the same percentage of happening say over the last 30 years. Yet we continue to put planes in the air. We have put more focus on this than probably the last 10 years combined in saving rainforests.....”

With the shots at my credibility and position on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it was all straightforward, objective responses. But when it came to the above statement, well, that raised the hairs on my back along with my blood pressure. But I figured she didn’t really have the intelligence to think it up by herself. I figured it was probably something Rush Limbaugh or someone at Fox News thought up as a good defense of offshore drilling to circulate among the rabid, oil guzzling neo-cons so they could regurgitate on cue.

Although I presently live in the UK, I was born and raised on the Gulf Coast of Florida. To me the Gulf of Mexico is not just a gas station. Even though I’ve been away for a long time, I can still smell the distinct aroma of the Gulf of Mexico and feel the balmy breezes. Its water still runs in my veins and is an integral part of my very being.

I fished the waters, wandered the mangrove swamps, and explored the bayous. I remember Saturday fish fries, and the spectacular sight of snowy egrets nesting in the mangroves on Tampa Bay. The Gulf of Mexico gave me a wonderful life along with all the others who live there and earn their living from its bountiful waters. The Gulf Of Mexico is a friend, living entity to me and many others.

I took great offense at that cavalier statement equating the Deepwater Horizon disaster to a plane crash. No airplane crash has ever put thousands of people out of work, took their livelihoods away from them - possibly forever, and massively destroyed the ecology.

In fact, this oil spill is directly affecting my family and friends in Florida and Louisiana. Some of my very close friends are out of work because of it and on the verge of losing everything they have - the oil company won't consider their claims to be legitimate, so they are just out on the street.

However, the woman who wrote that flippant statement represents many Americans who just don’t care because it isn’t happening in their back yard or directly affecting them, their families, or livelihoods. And apparently, judging by a recent poll, the majority of Americans only regard the Gulf of Mexico as their gasoline station and couldn’t care less about the people and ecology of the area.

When 9/11 happened, all of America was on the bandwagon to even the score, but when an oil company causes the incident, which in reality eclipses 9/11 in economic and ecological damage, the vote is split, and a lot of Americans are trying to get BP and their cronies off the hook so they can have an unlimited supply of cheap gasoline.

It does bother me when I see an ecological disaster of any kind, but what annoys me even more is the self-serving attitude of many people who think having a tank full of cheap fuel is well worth the price because it doesn’t directly affect them.