Posted on 09/22/2011 1:29:13 PM PDT by Mount Athos
A non-profit group has managed to enrage an entire kingdom, put an army of lawyers to work, and make the front page of newspapers across Canada. All thanks to a television ad which states facts, and posits a choice between one product produced “ethically” and the other “unethically”.
The ethical product is Canadian oil sands crude, while the unethical stuff flows from the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. As the ad points out, Saudi doesn’t allow women to drive, leave their homes without a male guardian present, and values their court testimony at half that of a man. As a timely aside, Newsweek magazine recently surveyed the 165 “best and worst places to be a woman”: Canada placed third, while Saudi Arabia clocked in at a dismal 147th.
But in today’s era of cultural relativism, “ethics” have become a relative term as well. How else can one explain the silence of the left, particularly feminists, on this issue? When it comes to fashionable causes, oil-soaked birds take precedence over Saudi girls murdered for having a boyfriend, or women jailed for getting behind the wheel.
The concept of ethical oil poses a huge dilemma for the left, because it exposes a truth they would prefer to ignore. The reality is that the oil they love to hate makes modern civilization possible.
The ethical thing to do is not to eschew all fossil fuels, but to make choices between their sources, just as we have done with other products. To wit: Conflict diamonds are no longer cool. Running shoes made with child labour have become verboten. An international boycott of South African products helped bring the apartheid regime to its knees. All of these goods were boycotted based on human rights concerns – just like oil from Saudi Arabia should be.
(Excerpt) Read more at fullcomment.nationalpost.com ...
The concept of ethical oil poses a huge dilemma for the left, because it exposes a truth they would prefer to ignore. The reality is that the oil they love to hate makes modern civilization possible.
Great post...
ping to a great one...
Thanks for the ping, GOPJ.
It just goes to show that an argument made on a fundamental moral ground will have more weight than one set on a practical basis.
Fewer than 1,000 birds got oil-soaked over 2 years ago. Meanwhile, wind turbines fricassee tens of thousands of birds every year — in return for a lot less energy output. Do you hear protests about blended birds?
Moving on, in other news, billions of shrimp were massacred by bully fish.
147 out of 165? I would have thought they'd be in the 160+ rank
“It just goes to show that an argument made on a fundamental moral ground will have more weight than one set on a practical basis.”
Similarly, it doesn’t matter how logical your argument is if you can’t also appeal to the public’s emotions. The Left has exploited that for years.
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