[fauve]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

Unfortunately, I think you are correct in your assessments.
I just keep on pushing away on Face Book about whats going on here, a lot of people DO care.

Same...and there are definitely many who do. Strangely, VERY few locals though - they think I'm nuts. There's very little talk of it on the Ft Lauderdale C-D board either - just a discussion about the boycott - and there are quite a few who are against it.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by fauve

Same...and there are definitely many who do. Strangely, VERY few locals though - they think I'm nuts. There's very little talk of it on the Ft Lauderdale C-D board either - just a discussion about the boycott - and there are quite a few who are against it.

I find that very strange. Anywhere I go here in Ocala, if I run into someone I know, its the first topic of conversation.
Wonder whats up with the head in the sand attitude on the Ft Lauderdale forum?

[fauve]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

I find that very strange. Anywhere I go here in Ocala, if I run into someone I know, its the first topic of conversation.
Wonder whats up with the head in the sand attitude on the Ft Lauderdale forum?

No idea...I bet it changes as soon as the first tar balls start washing up on the beach though. And if not, that really would be odd. Could be we went through so much with the real estate crash and we're only just recovering that people are just numb and maybe want to ignore reality as long as possible.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by fauve

No idea...I bet it changes as soon as the first tar balls start washing up on the beach though. And if not, that really would be odd. Could be we went through so much with the real estate crash and we're only just recovering that people are just numb and maybe want to ignore reality as long as possible.

Think you're right on both counts.

[Obrero]

I worry more about the dispersant chemicals (Corexit) than I do the oil. Doesn't matter if you see oil on your beach. That nasty, banned in Europe crap is polluting our Gulf and killing off sealife. Sure BP want to use it because it's "unseen" and makes a better image for them. It stops huge amounts of oil washing up on our shores but at what cost?

What about the oil they are burning? And the toxic fumes? How can anyone in that area not think they are affected? Because the beaches are white? Cleanup workers are already getting sick. If you can smell the oil you are breathing in potentially life threatening chemicals.

Why are journalists being kept away from clean up ops? Things that make you go hmmmmm.

[Donna-501]

Originally Posted by Obrero

I worry more about the dispersant chemicals (Corexit) than I do the oil. Doesn't matter if you see oil on your beach. That nasty, banned in Europe crap is polluting our Gulf and killing off sealife. Sure BP want to use it because it's "unseen" and makes a better image for them. It stops huge amounts of oil washing up on our shores but at what cost?

What about the oil they are burning? And the toxic fumes? How can anyone in that area not think they are affected? Because the beaches are white? Cleanup workers are already getting sick. If you can smell the oil you are breathing in potentially life threatening chemicals.

Why are journalists being kept away from clean up ops? Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Exactly!

[stars99]

Originally Posted by fauve

I am in South Florida and NOAA announced that we have an 80% chance of tar balls on our beaches by mid-August. But the people here seem disconnected as well. I believe there is a lot of denial and the implications so huge, that people just aren't accepting it as inevitable yet. It's still mostly someone else's problem to most people here.

I think part of the problem is that so-called experts were predicting it would be on the east coast beaches in 24 hours--back in May! That never happened, so no one believes them now.

[fauve]

Originally Posted by stars99

I think part of the problem is that so-called experts were predicting it would be on the east coast beaches in 24 hours--back in May! That never happened, so no one believes them now.

Agreed - that probably is playing into it as well.

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by mango23

You may not wish to believe this about yourself but have you cried today for the people in Haiti? If you haven't you are just normal not an ogre. We don't choose to bury empathy, it just wares down and we move on. If it didn't we would need to be committed or would always be suicidal because life would overwhelm us. Other people do care they just can't wallow in it.

Some people have cried over the people in Haiti but that's besides the point.

Unless a tragedy hits you directly, chances are you might feel empathy for a second or a few minutes but you won't do much about it. If that were the case we wouldn't live the American life with our green lawns, big homes, cars and wonderful material possessions. We would all live in a room, eating rice and beans and sending all our money to all those children in Africa. Millions of children are abused physically, mentally and sexually as we type and we are not losing sleep about it. In other words, Mango23 is right. Life is too overwhelming as it is and maybe we shouldn't be pointing fingers when we are far from perfect ourselves.

[beachmouse]

There really is a 'don't worry until the Big Bad is 72 hours out' and it really does serve people well down here or they'd be freaking out over every tropical wave trying to organize somewhere out by the Cape Verde Islands.

And to this point, the reality of the oil slick's impact on land has come nowhere close to the hype. The original prognosis for my neck of the swamp was that the beach was supposed to be utterly saturated by some point in early-mid June, and instead the worst of it has been tarballs about one day in three and more swimmable days than not as the national media continues to hype the spill as more than it's turned out to be at this point. (I'm not saying there hasn't been damage, but that we keep being told it's going to be worse than it has been)