Unless they literally rolled into the station just as they ran out of gas, I cannot for the life of me understand why there are people fueling up at the British Petroleum Gas Station in my neck of the woods at the corner of Rte 114 and Sylvan St in Peabody, Massachusetts (or at any BP for that matter). Truly, the gesture boggles my mind. Could someone please explain to me why every American is not participating in the boycott of all BP products yet? What more needs to be heard and seen before everyone completely buys in to the true and resounding message being sent to this foreign oil giant by so many other fellow countrymen and women?
I do not dare to desire that everyone share my opinion of intense disdain for BP. In fact, quite the contrary is true. I hope to generate the type of discussion that literally brings two diametrically opposed camps closer to common ground.
My take?
BP profits from EVERY SINGLE DROP of gas delivered from each of their service station pumps regardless of the franchisee status of the individual stations. Plenty of pain is inflicted upon corporate BP with a boycott of their goods and services. While it is unfortunate that many of the 'little guys' who operate or work in these stations will hurt as well by suffering financially, losing their jobs or even going out of business, they are casualties of the larger and necessary war on big foreign oil companies. We all feel horribly that they are caught in the crossfire of this FUBAR situation caused solely by BP neglect, incompetence and greed. However, we should feel as bad, even worse, for all of those in the Gulf States who have lost their ability to earn an income for years to come due to the absolute gross negligence, obvious apathy and incredible insensitivity of BP's top executives. BP's response (or lack thereof) to the severity of 'the spill' is simply unfathomable and the fact that they ignored the safety warnings of their own employees, unconscionable. Lest we forget the 11 lives lost at the very beginning of this very avoidable unnatural disaster...
As with wars fought with weapons, there is always the unfortunate and heart-breaking loss of innocent civilian lives. Similarly, such is the case with the profits and job losses of innocent BP employees. Coming off as sounding cold here is not the intent, however, the pompous BP Corporation must suffer great loss of face and riches regardless of the innocent collateral damage incurred by its 'civilian' employees, owners and investors secondary to the fallout.
So, I have made my decision and I emphatically choose to BOYCOTT BP. I may be right to do so or I may be wrong, or perhaps even somewhere in the middle, but God Bless America for permitting me the freedom to make the call on my own without any fear of persecution. Unlike those whose passports bear the stamps of one of the many other oil-producing nations, there is no need for any of us to keep our constitutionally provided-for opinions to ourselves. These nations where un-democratic governments rule and violate the basic human rights of their own people daily have economies being propped up by our over-dependence on their geo-politically important natural resource. But that's a discussion for another time...
