h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Lake Peigneur Disaster - A73988914
Author: Pinniped - U183682

This is an interim contribution, until I find a more powerful way to mark my indignation over America's reaction to Deepwater Horizon.

It's posted on the day that BP reported the findings of their investigation, and I'd like to dedicate it to Transocean for their despicable reaction. The oil industry is the rectal orifice of Corporate America, and Transocean slid glistening and stinking out of it today.

Another good subject which needs to be told.

lil x

The narrative is very good, detailed and very visual. The entire final paragraph, how-ever ... I expect there will be others that find it un-necessary for an edited entry.

It's deliberate of course.

I just felt it was valid to remind people that America can be a bit of a global liability sometimes.

I suppose they are seen that way. As is my country, and more than a handful of others. It's just not a point that I think will remain with the rest of the entry

I have to say that the last paragraph is an opinion only and would perhaps be best left out. Let history judge.

Websailor

Quite astonishing. I knew nothing of this; thanks for writing it up Pin

GB

Hi pin, another well written piece, well done.
Obviously, as others have said, the final para is opinion but as always you make your point well. It'll still have to go in the final edit though.

BMT Scout

I didn't know either You succeeded in giving a very visual account description of the disaster, it was a pleasure to read.

>>Texaco gave assurances that they knew what they were doing<<
Is this a reference to Sledge Hammer?

Hi Pin,

I've found a link which includes a further link to secure video footage of the disaster:

http://www.savelakepeigneur.org/site16.php


lil x

Thanks all. Ending now rewritten; still critical but less hysterical.

What do you think now? I don't want this neutered by Eds. I want it to finish well with a strong message, and one that we're in collective agreement about.

Hi Pin,

That reads so much better

Perhaps you could add a link to Deepwater Horizon, just so that future readers will understand the points you are making

lil xx

Pin, that is much better but as you say still strongly worded. This was a dreadful event about which I knew nothing. Strange how some disasters stay in the global mind for decades and others slip through the net. I think this one did, so thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Websailor

Hi Pin, I'd be inclined to modify the last para still. I think it's somewhat unjust to tar all of America with the same brush. There are good, bad and indifferent commerce/business/industries in America the same as we have in the UK.


I'd phrase it something like:-
In its recent history some American industries, especially in the field of oil and gas exploration, have exhibited some traits that both Americans and the rest of the world deplores....

The point would still be made without the 'blanket' critique of America as a whole.

BMT Scout

Thanks for the comments all

To BMT specifically: what I've said about America I believe to be true of the nation, its culture and its values. I hold this opinion based on the personal experience of living and working for a significant length of time in different parts of the US. I know that Britain has a fairer and juster society than America, that the British people are kinder and broader in outlook, and that the British moral standpoint is founded in humility instead of corrupted delusions of long-since defiled idealism.

I said exactly what I meant to say, and won't therefore be making the change you suggest.

Hm, Pin, that is another somewhat sweeping statement about Britain and the British. I am inclined to agree with BMT that it is rather a blanket statement (in both cases) , and still an opinion, which is frowned on in Edited Guide entries.

I have nothing else to say on the matter. It will be up to the Eds anyway.



Websailor

I'm not talking about individuals. I'm talking about national characteristics. Generalisation certainly, but based on personal observation, long-considered and expressed with precise care.

Johnson made that famous quote about patriosm being the last refuge of a scoundrel. I'd go further. My life experience is that the most parochial societies are the most dangerous. None of the people I call friends wears his or her nationality prominently. Neither do any of the people I call useful.

If Johnson was around today, he'd surely add a corollary: political correctness is the last refuge of the mediocre.

Anyhow, this is lightweight stuff. The full-on blast is here: A42378267

I too have had a lot of interaction and time with people in the US, and do not walk away with the same impressions that you have, Pin. So still, that last paragraph is much more of a personal opinion than a world consensus. I agree with WebSailor that, in the end, the Eds or sub-editor will find a means to soften it somehow.

Actually that's not going to happen.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to state, as the original author, that nobody may reproduce this Entry with an altered final paragraph without my prior consent.

What I've written is my opinion. I think I've already offered enough evidence to show that it's a responsibly-held opinion with underpinning justification. If your view is that opinion shouldn't be in the Edited Guide, then we must agree to differ.

In case you're minded to go further and say that opinion is somehow explicitly against the rules of the Edited Guide, then I would like to refer you to this:
A4053412
The only thing that's changed sinced that was written is that a few more of the coffin-nails of apathy and pedantry have been driven into h2g2.

Have a nice day, as they say over there without really meaning it.

Pin

I'm certainly not going down the route of tired arguements about, fact, opinion, editors rights or the writing guidelines. Ultimately the Eds have the final say, if anyone putting stuff forward for pr and the EG don't want to accept that then frankly why bother?
This is a good piece of writing marred only by the need to change a few words in the last paragraph. It would be a crying shame to lose it for the sake of minor changes that don't affect the overall point of the article.


BMT