Sunday, January 08, 2012

Hey! Pundits!...

...Stop Trying To 'Make Sense' Of The Ethical Oil Argument.


Why?

Because, as Ian Reid makes clear, it is nothing but a brazen PR offensive:
(alternative link, here)

....The group, Ethical Oil, was set up by refugees from the Tory war room, Sun News and Prime Minister Harper’s office. It’s ad campaign claims that opponents are serving the energy interests of foreign powers and companies with ethically challenged records.

But here’s a question.

If Ethical Oil’s concern is about supporting oil companies linked to hideous and unethical practices like the oppression of women, terrorism and human rights abuses why are they supporting a pipeline being developed in partnership with some of the most unethical companies in the world?

Sinopec (Enbridge's Chinese partner) is identified by human rights groups as one of the four worst companies operating in the Sudan. Sinopec’s partnerships with the government provides fiscal support for the Sudanese government’s genocidal military operations. The government depends upon oil revenues from Sinopec – which owns three key Sudanese oil companies – to support its military purchases and campaigns against the South.

Sinopec plays a similar role in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), partnering with one of the most oppressive regimes in the world to develop both offshore and land based oil and gas reserves. Revenues from these operations help pay for the government’s extraordinarily repressive internal security operations.....

****

Look

In my opinion, any responsible pundit who aims to inform the public on this matter must do one thing every single time they discuss it.

Which is to call 'Ethical Oil' what it actually is.

Which, of course, is a demonstrable falsehood made with malice aforethought.

Or, put another way that all Canadians can understand, it is deliberate lie.

And unless we, the public (with the help of responsible pundits), begin to deride outright lies like this, and shame the liars that make them mercilessly, we may soon find that we will be unable to generate an informed, reasoned opinion about anything.

Which is pretty much precisely the predicament our good friends and neighbours to the south find themselves in already.

OK?

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4 comments:

West End Bob said...

You tell 'em, RossK . . . .

Anonymous said...

I never believe anything a politicians says, especially not Harper. To me he is a fascist dictator, and not to be trusted.

The meeting of the nations in Durban. There are strong indications, to take climate change, very, very seriously. Harper bullying country's to accept the dirty tar, did not go over well there at all. Harper also pulled Canada out of the Kyoto Accord, that didn't go over too well either. Harper is so bull headed and stubborn, other country's are beginning to shun him. Harper has hissy fits, when he doesn't get his own way.

There is no such thing as ethical oil, it's all bad. The dirty tar oil, is the dirtiest energy on the planet. Harper even went so far as, giving Europe false statement's, about the toxicity of the dirty oil.

The evidence of global warming, is all around us.

Norm Farrell said...

I notice that Ian Reid's The Real Story is not functioning early Sunday afternoon. I wonder what the story is on this.

I did grab the piece from Google cache and published it again here:

Disappeared Item from The Real Story

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RossK said...

Bob and Anon--

This is going to be a big story for the next few news-cycles, primed by the forward attach wurlitzering of the shills.

Which is why they (the shills I mean) cannot be ignored and/or laughed off. Instead, they must be called out and discredited before this kind of codswallop becomes conventional wisdom that can be commented on in 'serious' tones on Evan Solomon's show, etc.

_____
Thanks Norm-

I've added your alternative link to the original post.

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