The New York Daily News describes it as "one of the hottest viral videos on the Internet today..." This is a difficult claim to swallow, at the time of this posting there were a mere 3,426 YouTube views. Nevertheless, it does have a catchy tune that likely does much to cover for its lack of intellectual honesty. Much like the documentary "Gasland" the many of the claims articulated in the video are false.
The video gets its own posting on PBS with rave reviews. Of course, the creators "emphasize(s) that the video is not meant to be a substitute for ProPublica's years of in-depth investigations. "While we hope that you enjoy the song....what we really want you to do is read about hydraulic fractured drilling, so you can truly understand 'what the frack is going on.' That at least we can agree on. Everyone should do their own research, draw their own conclusions and put the claims of opponents and proponents to the intellectual test.
The Gas Shale Shock is a great place to start...
Update:
Special thanks to The Lonely Conservative herself, who alerts me to the fact that Pro Publica has very progressive roots. That is in spite of the information that can be taken from their website, which highlights their association to the Wall Street Journal, this investigative group was initially given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation. These are liberal progressive billionaires needing to dispense of their hard earned gains by financing their political interests. Pro Publica also received a two year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. Not surprisingly, I suppose, this leads you directly to www.soros.org. If you find this a little hard to believe, google it, or just click the link above. The Open Society Foundation by the way, is a network of over 30 International Foundations, mostly funded by Soros, who has contributed more than $8 billion in this effort.
Wonderful video. Open society foundations creates a great success in this video. i loved the way of this video.
ReplyDeleteCurious what is actually factually inaccurate in this video?
ReplyDeleteYou do realize the video in question was produced by graduate students at NYU's School of Journalism, right?
ReplyDeleteSerious question, not snark. What part of their claims isn't true? The water on fire? The extent of the problem?
ReplyDeleteI watched the video and my first thought was, "so, what's the other side say?"
Which doesn't mean both sides are equally valid. I'm rooting for domestic energy production, but if there are problems, I'd like to know that, too.
Have we really reached a point where legitimate questions and concerns about public safety and protecting our water supply have to be framed in terms of right vs. left? It's time to wake up. To my friends on the right - if government didn't exist - we would have to invent it. Government is just us you guys. Dealing with the impact and long term consequences of new technologies like fracking is why we invented this flawed, imperfect (human?) construct called government. It's not your enemy. People with vested financial interests decry attempts to investigate and regulate unfamiliar new technologies which may cause potentially devastating long-term damage - it's their job. Regulations and bans cost them money. This is why we created a countervailing force whose purpose is to protect the greater good. It's called government. Is it perfect? No. Can it work better and more efficiently? Yes. Is it the enemy? No. It's just us. We can spend some money and time (and yes - delay instant profits to companies eager to exploit our shared heritage) now to ensure that new technologies benefit us while not doing lasting damage to the very heart and soul of human life - our water supply, or we can all pay exponentially more if these technologies prove to be dangerous and flawed. Imagine the human and financial cost if vast swaths of Pennsylvania's (or any other state's) water supply are contaminated. Is this not worth a little time and consideration? Is this not worth delaying immediate profit to those who seek to exploit what is supposed to be owned by us all? Government was not created by an evil mastermind (Soros? The Kochs?) to enslave us. It was created by us, me and you - to deal with complex questions that the great majority of us don't have the time or expertise to understand or deal with. We can fix government if we feel that it has broken or been corrupted - but God help us if we start believe that it is not necessary. Nobody on the left or right wants to stop capitalism, (despite what those emails from your right wing uncle tell you) or the ability of any one of us with a dream, or just a good idea from capitalizing on it. Democrats love making money and love being rich just as much as Republicans. No, really - it's true. I'm a Democrat and I love having lots of extra money - and no I'm not an exception. It is possible to make money, to capitalize on the fruits of our mind and labor without potentially endangering our friends, neighbors and communities. That's why we created a government, to make sure that everything is okay before we risk our life's blood. And while they do their job, I can concentrate on making that extra money I like so much so that I can buy something I may not need but gives me great happiness. (The pursuit of and all that...). I like knowing that the air I breathe and the water that comes out of my tap won't kill me, that the meat and eggs I buy won't poison me, that the car I drive won't explode on impact. None of these are a given, we created a system that makes sure that these basic safeties are something that we know longer need worry about (for the most part). Call me crazy - but I don't mind paying for that. And I don't mind if energy companies have to wait a bit for their extra money while the people I've hired and paid to protect me make sure that they're not going to destroy my community and way of life. Crazy, I know.
ReplyDeleteYou're assuming people who work for the government don't have vested interests, Kevin. Including, very much, financial ones.
ReplyDeleteCorporate monies are measured in billions. Government monies are measured in trillions.
We've poured how much money down the dry hole of wind farms?