Environmental Damage Elicits Universal Sorrow

May 17, 2010 • Jean Hsu  
Filed under Opinion, Uncategorized

As many may know from various news reports and radio broadcasts, there was recently an oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico. This catastrophe, which continues to be widely discussed, has also spawned political strife. Other than debate about the best way to solve the problem and clean up the spill, the event also resulted in conflict directed at political figures.

Recently, an accusation was made against President Obama, stating that he might utilize the oil spill for his advantage. Because the President was initially against offshore oil-drilling and clearly stated this, many feel that he may use this incident to end offshore drilling entirely.

However, with this viewpoint, many may misinterpret the President’s words. The oil spill was undoubtedly dangerous and nobody could find such an obviously damaging disaster to be fortunate. If the President was against offshore drilling to begin with, one can hardly blame him for speaking against it.

Some may find it irreverent for the President to use such a tragedy for political gain. Nevertheless, it is the idea itself which is irreverent. The President has expressed his regret and sorrow for the spill just as any other citizen might.

Thus, because it can be agreed upon that environmental damage is considered to be undesirable under any circumstances, these arguments against the President are relatively meaningless. Even supposing that the President will use this particular oil spill as a means for eliminating offshore drilling, those that make the accusations are equally guilty of irreverence.

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