August 1, 2006
In literature, we teach our kids that when a writer talks about a sad event happening on a rainy day,
that's called "the pathetic conceit." That is, the "dark and stormy night" of which the literary Snoopy
was so fond, was a "conceit" or nod towards the "pathos" which would develop during it.
In politics, a pathetic conceit is more likely to be a political idea whose nonsense knows no bounds.
Such is the NIMBY attitude of South Carolinians toward oil exploration off the coast.
Quoi?
NIMBY means, "Not In My Back Yard," or as they say in Round-O, "He ain' goe' be dey, izi?"
How much dumber could we be? We curse the Oil Companies, we curse the Arabs, we curse just about
anybody who keeps us from having our cheap gas in copius quantities. But when it comes time for us
Carolinians to step up to the plate and allow drilling off OUR shores, welllll.... You've never heard such
puhweet crooning from the coastal locals!
Normally, I would agree. Why screw up a perfectly beautiful coastline with tiny, tiny images of three or four
almost invisible towers out at sea?
Were we not at war, were not the instrument of battle the very substance our everyday lives depend on,
were not our families and fortunes interlocked into the fabric of transportation, I would say, "Screw the
oil companies, get a horse!"
But we cannot. And not just because we are impoverishing our selves. Every day we pay some Middle Eastern
dictator they price he or she .. well, there is no "she" in the Middle East.. asks for, we are lining the pockets
of our enemies.
This is not fantasy or boojum. This is a battle that we can lose. That is, if we keep restricting the flow of
available oil.
And if you don't want to give your dollars to other people, get some of your pals together and drill for it
yourselves! You could make a fortune, help your fellow Carolinians, and be a patriot at the same time. Trust me,
if I had the coins to do it, I'd sink the millions I had right this second!
Not to do so would be tragic, in O, so many ways. A true NIMBY. Both pathetic and conceited in its effect.
- Dick Anderson
