Naomi Klein is outraged that proponents of Canadian Tar Sands oil, which finances social programs and provides employment to indigenous peoples in one of the freest countries in the world, describe the product as "ethical oil."
You know she's outraged because she proudly announced it at a rally comprised of middle aged, middle-class white socialists in Washington D.C. last week where she advocated against Canada's economic interests while demonstrating her tenuous comprehension of economics and environmental science. Klein also likes to use the word "ravages" a lot when describing the effects of Canada's Tar Sands oil. She repeats it so frequently, it makes one wonder what sort of fixations she has.
Ms Klein, who appears at so many protests as to give the impression of a camp follower of such things, doesn't seem to understand the use of "ethical oil" refers not to its debatable environmental impact, but to the social and political outcomes of purchasing oil from a democracy that uses revenues to fund social programs. That is as opposed to purchasing it from tyrannical monarchies or dictatorships, which use revenues to finance terrorism or further enrich oligarchs.
Klein never really addresses that ethical component in her supposed "debunking" of the term "ethical oil." In fact, she doesn't really address much of anything, except express her fury, sputtering out marginally coherent nonsense that rivals the Alec Baldwin marionette's speech at the end of Team America.
According to the author of The Shock Doctrine, Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't represent what Canadians want. That's amusing coming from someone who has never held any elected office in her life suggesting that is it she who represents what Canadians really want.
Actually, that sort of puts things into perspective. It's no wonder Klein has so much trouble differentiating "ethical" oil from the other kind. Her instincts seem to indicate she has a lot in common with the unelected dictators and tyrants that produce foreign oil who, without virtue of being chosen by a democratic process, also claim to represent the 'true interests of the people.'
EYE ON A CRAZY PLANET
Ethics to Naomi Klein is whatever is ideologically convenient for her. A woman needs a male guardian's permission in Saudi Arabia and can't even drive. Massive pollution in Nigeria that dwarfs whatever pollution our oil sands can produce. Or suppressing human rights in Iran and Venezula. All ignored because it makes her look like a first-class hypocrite.
ReplyDeleteOops, too late. She's already one.