Corporate, Religious Terrorism

[SHRED]

by John Buell

Why won’t our leaders call BP a terrorist, a label readily applied not only to Faisal Shazhad but also to radical Muslims? Even if BP is indicted, few will question its right to the best defense money can buy even as police limit Shazhad’s Miranda rights. Our knee-jerk silencing of all radical Muslims while giving BP endless benefits of the doubt limits our ability to assess critical problems.

BP’s crimes are more serious than Shazhad’s. Even if Shahzad’s plot had succeeded, far fewer Americans would die than will perish from the gulf eruption. Over a generation their petrochemical toxins in our environment will kill some of our youngest or most vulnerable citizens.

Since BP did not plan this catastrophe, shouldn’t it be exonerated? The company’s culture of short-term profits, however, led it knowingly to violate environmental regulations, cut corners on safety, and fire whistleblowers. Even now, BP hires unemployed shrimpers, denies them respirators, and imposes nondisclosure rules on them. As one shrimper puts it, workers are desperate and broke and “ain’t got no choice. So ain’t no different than a terrorist.” (Democracy Now, June 2.)

Despite spending only 4 percent of its profits on alternative energy, BP rebranded itself as an entrepreneurial friend of the environment. The major media skim over BP’s checkered past while dwelling on every well-capping maneuver. For days, President Barack Obama didn’t challenge BP’s self-serving efforts. If BP, however, were owned by Muslims — or even state owned — its every utterance would be scrutinized and ridiculed as propaganda.

Continued:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/08-8

Food for thought.

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