PC Warning: parts of this post may seem insensitive. I mean no disrespect; I'm just trying to put some things in perspective.
Yesterday, Mom sent me a link to this article: Relatives Fear the Dead Oil Rig Workers Are Forgotten. 11 rig workers were killed in the wellhead blowout on the Deep Water Horizon.
I can see how, after enormous media-saturated events like 9/11, the Sago Mine Disaster in 2006, and the countless recitations of the number of dead and injured soldiers being sent home from the Middle East, the families would expect to receive a little bit more attention due to the death of their relatives.
However, there are two things I am left to wonder about:
First, at a time like this, do you really want media attention? Wouldn't you want to spend this time with your family, unmolested by outsiders sticking a camera in your face?
And second, 29 miners were killed at the Upper Big Branch Mining Disaster in West Virginia, which occurred only 15 days prior to the rig explosion. What about their families? Don't you think they feel forgotten? At least people are still talking about the oil spill. I've heard nothing about the miners and their families lately; the only mention I've heard of Massey Energy (the mine owner) lately is in the same sentence with BP and TransOcean, by way of a reference to poor workplace safety standards.
Yay! Oscar made it onto the blog! I watched again and started tearing up a second time; this is getting ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the STLToday link is awful :( I hope they recover quickly and completely.
Honey, I gotta say, even the 11 from the BP accident probably woudn't've made the news if their families weren't testifying in Washington that day.
ReplyDeleteMom
Well, they ARE back in the news, but not the 29 by name. Only to say that some investigators tried to go in (to determine the cause of the blast) but the canary died and they had to come back out with just a few bottled samples of the air. Now they are saying there may be a fire still burning inside. So glad our scientists know so much and are in such a hurry to solve problems and find solutions.
ReplyDeleteWord on the street in England is that most of the pension funds were tied to the highest yielding stocks, so BP was a good one to have in your portfolio. Ooops!