Last week on this blog I asked a question. Are you willing to buy gas at a BP station? If you didn’t vote, now’s your chance. If you did, you can click to see the results.[polldaddy poll=3300204] For me to decide whether or not to buy BP branded gas means asking a question. Is BP evil? My answer in short is - Probably not. I think it is fair to say they are negligent, because they did not take precautions that could have avoided the massive spill which followed the explosion. Negligence is a major problem, and they are [mostly] responsible for the disaster, but negligence is not willful and it is not evil.

For me the main reason why I’m not boycotting BP is that it hurts the local gas station more than it hurts BP. I won’t go out of my way to purchase BP gas. I simply won’t avoid it. Why? Because by avoiding BP gas I do great damage to the person who owns or works at my local station and have almost no affect whatsoever on BP corporate.

I completely understand why people would feel the need to boycott BP. People are angry, and rightfully so. To go with the anger there is the fact that we are all helpless to do anything. Unless somebody figures out a way to sell or refine tar balls, many, many people in resort jobs and locations will face disastrous financial situations. Even though this is horrible, the fact is that there is nobody in America who actually knows how to fix the problem. If we are all helpless what do we do? Boycott.

There are probably more effective forms of protest. You can maybe design a funny t-shirt, and give the proceeds to help scrub the beaches. Better yet, maybe go to Grand Isle, support their economy and while you are there, clean up a pelican.

If you can think about the oil leak and not be angry at someone, maybe you should watch this possible projection of where the oil will go.

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ImaiKuGuw]

Best Web Junk (June 11)

BP & Me