BP's Damage Control - And Americans' Cognitive Dissonance - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Sullivan:

Alas, what won’t change is the oil addiction that has forced the US to drill deeper and deeper in more and more treacherous waters, where techniques carry more risks precisely because the terrain is brand new. If you want to assign real, structural blame, it belongs in the end to the American people, who simply refuse to wean themselves off carbon and want to continue having the cheapest petrol in the West.

I'm an extreme environmental pessimist. Over the weekend I saw no shortage of traffic on the roads. Lawnmowers, ATVs, 4 Wheel Drive off-roading. It's pure egoistic inertia. In old school psych, the ego is the mental regulator. It works to justify the present reality and keeps you doing whatever you're doing. People will not stop or change or give a damn until everything is gone, destroyed, or both. Like it or not, we were always 'drill, baby, drill.'