The Power of Big Oil - 220

 “The Power of Big Oil” is an excellent Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary created by “Frontline”.

One reason to watch documentaries on the abuses of Big Corporations is to fully understand a problem and obtain a historical perspective. Without understanding problems which occur, AND REOCCUR, we will continually move from tragedy to tragedy repeating the same mistakes.

One of our greatest patriots, the Progressive and AntiTrust Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt, reigned in the giant corporate monopolies. The worst corporate bad actor in his day was the behemoth, “Standard Oil”. Under Roosevelt’s leadership, Standard Oil was broken up into 34 smaller companies.

In 1999, two offspring of the Standard Oil breakup, Exxon and Mobil, were allowed to merge and create another monster company. This merger was the product of a society which had failed to learn from history. When we ignore history and fail to learn the lessons gleaned from great minds with purpose like President Roosevelt, we do so at great peril.

Larger and larger corporations mean corporations become more and more powerful. This is power over us. History’s most profound lesson about power was made by Lord Acton, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  When watching the Power of Big Oil, keep in mind Lord Acton’s quote.

Back in 2014 the documentary, “Merchants of Doubt” was released. (You can find it on Amazon Prime). Recently, “Black Gold” was released via Paramount. “The Power of Big Oil” was the release documenting the dissemination of lies by Big Oil. All these documentaries, magazine articles, and books are repetitive. Unfortunately, repetition is essential. Responsible scientists and journalists have learned the hard way from the deniers. The denier motto is, “If you lie long and hard enough, any lie repeated, will eventually be believed.” In fact, with the rise of social media, truths must be reported, repeated, and defended even more stridently.  

Watching a documentary is a great way to observe liars in action. You get to witness honest scientists and responsible journalists defeated. Would you have been able to tell the difference?  I am not so sure I could have if I had not spent time studying the science. Big corporations funded over 90 separate “think tanks” with millions of oil dollars. These so-called think tanks dispersed reams of anti-science propaganda.  It should not be surprising we have been conned so long and so thoroughly. *

One of the most painful parts of the documentaries is to watch and listen to the testimonies of the honest scientists who tried to warn us. You can see and feel the pain they carry.  They suffered vicious attacks, not only upon their work, but upon their character. Often, they and their families were threatened with physical harm.

These early climate scientists stood tall and today are heroes. Their work has been proven accurate and their character found without blemish. Despite their vindication they are not without torment. The pain of corporate sponsored abuse has been replaced by another agony. They know mankind has lost 30 years in the fight to save the planet. They no longer fear for their careers nor their reputation. Today they fear for their grandchildren.

*Recommended reading to avoid the Con by Maria Konnikova, “The Confidence Game, Why we Fall for It…every time.”   “The Confidence Game asks not only why we believe con artists, but also examines the very act of believing and how our sense of truth can be manipulated by those around us.” Quote from Maria Konnikova’s via her website.”