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Am I the only one who finds it slightly amusing? I mean yeah it’s a tragedy and all, but seriously what did they expect? These oil tycoons run all over the world putting holes in the ground, and then are surprised when Earth starts to leak; in such spectacular fashion as well. One day you have a rig, next day you have a flaming burning mess, and the day after, a hole in the Earth which is spilling crude into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate which suggests oil scarcity is a myth.

Or maybe it’s the oil company’s reaction. Usually so cold, impassive and measured, the corporate body is watching its lifeblood drain, and they are powerless to act. They look down and see in the sea, dollar signs, floating toward the Mississippi coastline, where it will be wasted upon the wildlife. But what is truly amazing is watching a company like BP, no stranger to massive scale of operations, saying almost literally, “This is huge, we are in the shit.”

Or maybe it’s the coincidence that the week of what may turn out to be one of the largest oil spills in history occurring in the Gulf, America’s largest wind farm is finally approved off Cape Cod. It is a somewhat fitting way to usher in a new era of green energy, one which has been caught in a legislative battle for over four years. I’m sure the smoke from the controlled burns of the slick is more than a fitting replacement for fireworks.

Or it could be the continued insistence by corporate interest that they are capable of regulating themselves. That despite the economy collapsing, several mine disasters, an oil rig sinking, and a huge fuck-off oil slick threatening one of America’s most fragile ecosystems, they still rile against stricter government oversight. Of course we should trust these companies to pursue the interests of the population, the environment and their workers over maximizing profit to its fullest. What evidence do we have to suggest otherwise?

I guess the irony is as thick as the slick itself, and will continue to spread with it. I feel sorry for those who have died, and I am saddened at the adverse environmental impact this will have. But I cannot help smile and think, if only we lived by the words of the great George W. Bush: “Fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can’t get fooled again.”

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