The Futility of the BP Boycott

Townhall.com ^ | June 14, 2010 | Jillian Bandes

[Ayn And Milton]

An eminently sensible piece of text. The oil drama is a tragedy, but one not willed by any sensible person, nor in-, nor outside of BP. So a boycott, by sheer logic, will mean only further harm, particularly to those who can’t defend themselves that well.

That the current POTUS seems to have a slightly twisted view on events is an entirely different story, discussed elsewhere on these forums.

[rellimpank]

-—personally, I had been avoiding BP since the silly “Beyond Petroleum” hogwash-—now, I’d probably buy there (if there were any in my area) because they need the money—

[Pollster1]

Irony, anyone?

[FrankR]

BP is maybe responsible for the spill, but the liberal environmentalists and obama are responsible for the difficulty in the clean up. They are the ones who forced oil companies into deep water, where maintanence is difficult and is at the core of the problem here.

BP is the only entity that has tried to find a solution, while the Purple Lipped Peacock played golf and went to Chicago for a Blago fix.

I'll not boycott BP, in fact, I'm going to start going there more often.

[Travis T. OJustice]

Irony, anyone?

No.

[Travis T. OJustice]

Not only that, but the 0bamaadministration is actively stopping efforts to control the leak. 17 nations have offered assistance, all refused by the 0bama team. They refuse to grant permits to make sand berm barriers to provide another level of protection. Hundreds of miles of oil boom sit in warehouses untouched awaiting the OK from the 0bama administration to deploy, but the OK isn’t coming.

[cripplecreek]

There’s a BP fuel terminal near me. The gas comes in by way of an underground pipeline and trucks from a bunch of different companies buy the gas for distribution to gas stations around the area.

In other words, boycotting BP stations only harms cashiers but people are buying the same gas when they “stick it to the man” by filling up across the street.

[Vinnie]

Assuming the boycotters actually hurt BP.

They want to drive them broke and then pay restitution? Logical?

[Dayman]

I have used BP gas stations preferentially for a number of years and will continue to do so. I expect all parties to follow the law with regard to this spill, which they have.

Much to BP’s credit they are willing to voluntarilly pay for expenses beyond their legal liability cap, even though they don’t have to. That is a responsible company who I wish to support. Accidents are going to happen, but I have yet to see any indications that BP isn’t going to make things right in the long run.

[Travis T. OJustice]

Bravo! A voice of sanity in this whole thing.

[norraad]

"Keep lookin'"

[rellimpank]

—yep—it’s like that thing that wandered around the Internet for years about “everybody boycott Exxon for a day”—

[cripplecreek]

This is just natural gas but it still shows the futility of boycotting BP. Once BP sells their product into the system, its no longer distinguishable from the product of any other company.

[yawningotter]

The only reason I “boycott” BP is because the only BP station in town is too far out of my way.

[cripplecreek]

Here’s a map of Michigan gasoline pipelines. The first thing you’ll notice is how few there are. There used to be more pipelines and more refineries but liberalism is trying to drive them to extinction.

You’ll also notice the concentration of terminals and pipelines at Detroit. The people most likely to obey Obama are the ones with the most to lose.

http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/mpsc/gas/download/mipetmap.pdf

[Dayman]

“Keep lookin’”

Please elaborate. There may well be information I haven’t read yet, but what I have read is that BP has stated repeatedly that they will voluntarilly pay all legitimate claims without regard to their liability cap.

[sickoflibs]

I been filling up at BP now, no lines!

[norraad]

Yes, there really is only one oil company hiding behind various moniker's and stock options and swindles.

It's giant bookkeeping game.

[norraad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aRiC_mwFj8