Oil, Necessity, Hypocrisy and Us.

[Cyrano]

The past week or so, I've had to face my own hypocrisy. I was on a (necessary) trip and I burned up more gas in a week than I usually use in two months. (Other forms of travel were not an option for reasons I won't go into here.) Every time I filled up my tank, I felt like a hypocrite. But there I was, pumping gas like a Republican, or a wealthy Democrat.

Underlying BushCo lies about Iraq, Iran and the rest of the Middle East is one undeniable constant. Oil and the profits that flow from it. And no matter how much we hate the idea, we're stuck with it until we have a realistic alternative.

There is no doubt that BushCo and friends have raked in untold billions from this black gold. And there's also little doubt that, over decades, they and people like them have prevented, blocked, bought up, or did whatever else was necessary to block viable alternatives to their cash cow.

One day while I was filling up my tank, I remembered the movie "Three Days Of The Condor." It starred Robert Redford as a researcher for the CIA. His job was to read books for new ideas and strategies that could in any way be used by the agency. He accidentally came across something strange, sent a memo to some higher up at Langley, and the next thing that happens is all the other researchers he's working with are murdered. It turns out he stumbled across a plot, which was actually a "game plan," for the U.S. to take over the world's oil supplies.

At the end, he's still on the run and a higher up in the CIA tells him (I'm paraphrasing here), "You think people don't care about our methods? Tell me that when they're freezing in winter, or when their cars won't start. You think they're going to care how we get the oil?" Put another way, idealism ends when people are cold or stuck. Over the past week or more, my ideology was meaningless.

Let me take that a step further. I don't know for sure, but my guess is that most people, regardless of ideology, would do whatever is necessary for gasoline if comfort, or even convenience, became an issue. Who knows? We might even want BushCo to invade Iran to ensure our needs.

[Parisle]

1. I Hear Ya, Cyrano

---- I remember that movie very well, and I've thought many times about the passage you highlighted. Americans' peculiar brand of shortsightedness spares them from not only a healthy, long view of civic and personal responsibility, but from the dark side of their likely response to the looming catastrophe they'd prefer not to face. Oh,... the planet is going to go to war over oil, have no fear. It REALLY sucks that Bush now has succeeded in getting three-quarters of the planet aligned against us. It will the the USA going it alone against the rest of the world. Was that some sort of neocon fantasy, I wonder?

---- There are renewable resources and non-renewable resources. And even some renewable resources are unable to keep up with demand and usage,... lumber, for example. It would not surprise me one bit if horse-drawn carriages were once again in widespread use fifty years from now. But then,...I've no doubt that, somewhere in the bowels of the neocon infestation in the nation's capital, the premise has already been advanced that a "thinning" of the Earth's population by,... oh, say 3 or 4 billion,... is a necessary step for the reasonable corporate ambitions underlying their "Strangelovian" plan.

[Cyrano]

2. Hi Parisle. Welcome to DU. And I agree with your thoughts

on their "Strangelovian" plan. These people will do anything to hold onto their power, wealth and control. As far as the rest of humanity? I believe their attitude really is, "Screw 'em. I've got mine."

I don't know what it's going to take before everyone on this planet recognizes that we are dealing with ruthless, unconscionable beings who don't behave by the norms of civilized people. To them,we are nothing more than cannon fodder and we must fight them as fiercely as necessary for our own survival.

[LondonReign2]

3. How are you a hypocrite?

If it was a necessary trip, and travel by car was the only method, how does that make you a hypocrite?

[Cyrano]

4. The hypocrisy wasn't referring to the necessary trip. I was referring

to the rest of the post regarding the idea that people would do whatever it takes (grabbing up oil from Iran,Iraq, or wherever) to keep our current lifestyles.

I'm not saying this is a fact. But my guess is that many of us (perhaps myself included??) would go along with whatever it takes. And if so, the word hypocrisy comes into play.

On edit: My feelings of hypocrisy came about while I was filling up because I wondered if I would feel the "need" to do so under less urgent conditions. That's when I recalled the film mentioned and the circumstances it portrays.

[DeSwiss]

5. LondonReign2 I agree...

...Cyrano, you're not a hypocrite. If there WERE viable energy alternatives and you chose not to avail yourself of them, then you'd be a hypocrite. We'd all be hypocrites. Until then....

That should be one of the foremost activities of the Dems if and when they regain political power. Research and MEANINGFUL tax credits for alternative fuels and sources of energy is our best hope to unhinge the current powers that be. It would also substantially remove the need to impose ourselves into the ME. IMO

[Cyrano]

6. Sorry DeSwiss. I added the edit to my post while you were posting.

But I agree with your posting. Thank you for the kind thoughts.

[DeSwiss]

11. You welcome Cyrano... n/t

[The2ndWheel]

7. Unhinge the current powers that be

for alternative energy barons.

[Cyrano]

8. Hi, NoMorMyths. I'm sorry, but I don't understand your meaning. Could

you please be more specific?

[DeSwiss]

10. Yeah NoMore....

...those guys that own and control the WIND will have to be watched.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Our country is currently set up so that driving is often the only

alternative, but it does seem hypocritical for people to claim to be concerned about global warning and then proclaim that they just HAVE TO drive a lot even though there are alternatives, just because the alternatives might be a little less convenient.

Or they say that they just HAVE TO live out in the exurbs and drive an hour each way to work (and then have the nerve to complain about traffic) because they can't afford a house otherwise, only they really mean that they can't afford a big house otherwise or they want to be far out enough in the country so that their children can go to an all-white school. (I realize that this is not the case in some over-priced areas, but it seems to be true in the Twin Cities)