I’ll admit to being in a post-college, well into the night stupor while we were talking, but still. Not overlooking the fact that he was and totally still is a fucking sweetheart, I couldn’t help but notice he felt like his deep thoughts weren’t sinking in. We were at a mutual friend’s house watching the Daily Show and if I had known then what I know now, I would have tried a little harder to let him see I wasn’t a total idiot. These days, Christopher Hayes is a regular political pundit on various news programs, subs for Rachel Maddow when she needs it (she even nick named him Lambchops on Twitter!) and writes for various publications. I still don’t know how he fits all the info into his brain, but at least now I can aborb his wisdom without feeling like I need to respond with equal insight.
I’ve been SUPER depressed over the oil spill. I have NO idea how to help given my distance from the situation and my lack of personal funds to donate. I do wish, at the very least, to stay on top of information, and am doubly determined after actually having a real life conversation with someone the other week wherein I asked her about the poor fucking pelicans and she said “Oh yeah, I heard something bad happened down south–what was it?” and she was NOT kidding.
Christopher Hayes wrote this piece for The Nation, call to action for all of us to reflect on the injustice that is going to inevitably result when BP’s stock rises again and the public consciousness moves on to newer, bigger (rounder, firmer) issues.
A punitive society is not the best kind of society: there’s a real virtue in forgiveness, in second chances. But for years we’ve been applying Rand Paul’s “accidents happen” principle to those at the top while heaping blame, scorn and draconian punishment on those at the bottom. Punitive damages are capped for corporations, while punitive policies proliferate for citizens. This tears the social contract apart, and the only way to repair it is to apply the same principles of accountability up and down the social hierarchy. We should start with BP.
