Many of you who follow me on Twitter have noticed that I append the "hashtag" #11dead to tweets relating to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. There are two reasons why I started its use.
(explanation after the jump)
UPDATE: I don't write diaries to try to make the rec list, but I do appreciate you boosting #11dead to that level of awareness. Being a New Orleanian means knowing a lot of people who work "offshore" or "on da rigs."
First, as much as I understand that the hearts of many environmentalists and animal rights activists are basically in the right place, it's unconscionable to me to forget that eleven men died on Deepwater Horizon, no matter how many oil-soaked birds are found on the Gulf Coast. I've even heard animal activists talk about how they have no sympathy for those men-simply because they worked in the oil industry was enough for their lives to have no value. They were part of the problem, after all.
Bullshit. The men and women of Southern Louisiana have a symbiotic relationship with the land, the marsh, the swamp, the water, and yes, the minerals under the ground. They are not just exploiting the wealth, they live and work where it originates. Such a basic dismissal of their lives is not acceptable.
The second reason for the hashtag is the obvious: When you have human filth like Rep Joe Barton of Texas (R-BP) apologizing to the executives of BP rather than expressing concern for the families of the men who died, it's clear that there is a significant portion of our political leadership who have gone off the rails.
Happy Father's Day to all the dads. While you're appreciating your family, take a moment and think about the eleven families who aren't feeling so celebratory today.
#11dead