Just got taken to task by a co worker.

[mac56]

He heard a bunch of us bitching about >$3 a gallon gas.

Said, "You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Look at what happened to all those people down in New Orleans. And you dare to complain about the price of gas?!"

A few people stormed away. I tried to explain to this guy that, yes of course our hearts go out to the people in NO, and they've endured a tragedy that most of us can't even imagine. But that still doesn't excuse price gouging by Big Oil and the BFEE. He didn't listen - - just continued on in this vein.

Incidentally, this guy is a lifelong Minnesotan. No connection whatever to anyone in NO.

Is there a good answer to this kind of reasoning?

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Oil companies are exploiting the tragedy

what's wrong with bitching about that?

[rfranklin]

2. Accepting the criminal behavior of the oil companies does nothing...

for the people in New Orleans. In fact, Bush just said he would do nothing to curb the price gouging and profit taking of the oil companies. He asked them to send a voluntary donation.

[HereSince1628]

3. The gasoline will go to the money.

That is the friggin "invisible hand." We are screwed in the short term. If a region freezes gasoline, the suppliers will send it elsewhere. Corporations are loyal to profits, not their countries.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Your concerns are everybody's concern:

George Bush just warned against price gouging. So you have the prez on your side; and you have on your side anyone who depends on the tourist industry since no one is going to do any traveling at these costs.

It's not your fault that you can emotionally multi-task.

[mac56]

5. "It's not your fault that you can emotionally multi-task."

Brilliant! Thank you.

Though it's disconcerting to have Dim Son on my side, even around this.

[Deja Q]

6. We need to keep in mind ALL things.

Yes, people have lost property.

Others have died.

Those in power are now determined to make the rest of us lose property. And our minds.

LET THEM WHINE about gas. We all must do. What is happening is wrong.

Keeping gas affordable AND rationed is the best way right now, though I',m not sure as to how to best enforce rationing (15 gallons per car; anyone who needs more can go to the next station perhaps.)

[BiggJawn]

7. A Minnesotan? My gawd, Keillor was RIGHT!

Something tells me your co-worker grew up in a household where "Clean that plate, young man! Don't you know there's starving children in Korea who'd just LOVE to have that Lutefisk?" was a common mealtime mantra...


I think it's a Lutheran Thing, I vaguely remember hearing words like that when I was much younger...

[mac56]

8. I think you nailed it.

The guilt experienced by other groups doesn't hold a candle to Midwestern Scandanavian Lutheran guilt.