The Good Side of the Oil Spill

One of the things that really bugs me about progressives, and what separates them from liberals, is that progressives really seem to want bad news.  Not that they want bad things to happen, per se, it's just that they've been warning us about how futile everything is until we finally get the major changes they've been telling us we need, and nothing does that better than bad news. 

It's the same thing we get from wingnuts, who clearly want terrorist attacks and skyrocketing crime rates, in order to justify their draconian policies towards dark-skinned people.  And that's exactly what I've gotten since the BP oil disaster, in which progressives seem a little too happy about reporting bad news. 

And hanging in the air of all their comments is a certain "I warned you and you didn't listen.  So maybe NOW you'll listen to me, though I seriously doubt you will" sort of vibe.  See, even in their "I told you so" moments, they're still remarkably pessimistic.  The whole loser thing is a real turn off for me.

The Comments

And this came out in comments on a post at WaMonthly, which highlighted an email from a CNN reporter who was "Looking for pitches: The Good Side of the Oil Spill - if there is any." 

The idea is a joke.  The "good" side of the oil spill.  Anyone looking for the "good side" of this oil spill is somebody with too much time on their hands.  And if you're dumb enough to actually attempt to answer that question, the joke's on you.

Here's a sample of some of the comments from people who refused to get the joke:

I'm kind of hoping this is a wake up call for the world about the power of big oil. I suppose that could be considered a good side, though history has taught me not to expect it.

the good side: 1) proof that the conservative ideology of self regulated industry is a fallacy. 2) proof of why we need 'big government' and regulators. 3) proof of why we need to reduce our dependence on oil.

Here's an upside to the BP story- The fed puts BP into recevership and cleans it up, then sells off assets to highest bidder- creates more green jobs with the $.

Could there be a better illustration of the consequences of the corrupt energy policy of the Bush-Cheney administration?

Unfortunately, in The United States of Corporate Amerika it takes major disasters to wake up the sheeple. If major portions of the east coast get BP oil delivered by sea, maybe that portion of the population will be awoken. Just a shame that it cannot be delivered to Kansas and Nebraska the same way.

Of course there's a good side: People will finally take warnings about the risks of deep-sea drilling seriously.

Yes, how "unfortunate" it is that we can't ruin Kansas and Nebraska the way I hope the east coast gets ruined.  After all, you can't save the environment unless you break a few eggs. 

I should mention that not all the comments were like these, and several were quite funny.  My favorite: We no longer have to add oil to fry our clams.

But there were really too many of these people who were doing exactly what they shouldn't have been doing: Seeing this crisis as an opportunity and secretly relishing in the disaster.  I just don't know how else to see it.  They really DO see an upside to this, because they've felt that their position was sidelined, and this disaster finally proves them right.

Of course, anyone can pray for environmental disaster.  The real progressives are now praying for hurricane.  That'll teach those polluting SOB's.