Gasoline prices are on the rise across North America, but the trend is offset by the fact that talk is cheaper than ever.
One does not have to scroll too far down a social media feed to see someone complaining about the price of gasoline. Often, it is a person who has earlier decried the oil and gas industry for its supposedly evil ways. Hmm.
It seems to me that someone who wants our society to rapidly move away from consumption of oil and gas should be giggling with delight when fossil fuels jump in price. That would make consumption of such products less attractive.
But, no. There is a disconnect in logic to which the supremely virtuous cling. Most of those who have made lambasting the oilpatch one of their favourite hobbies are not interested in making personal sacrifices to further the cause. They are simply posturing with empty words.
You know the type. You might even be the type. If you are the type, from my experience, you are more likely to stop reading this article than make the effort to look in the mirror and recognize that you are a hypocrite. That is OK – hypocrites are not my primary audience, neither for my truth-focused media platform on which this article is published, nor for the challenge I am about to present.
I am declaring a war on hypocrisy, and I am looking for recruits to help me wage battle.
The stakes are high. Virtue signalling is far more prevalent than COVID-19 ever was, and the more hypocrisy becomes part of the prevailing dialogue, the more we see it filtering into the words – and, much worse, policies – of our politicians.
This piece from Reuters (REUTERS EVENTS: Reducing oil use to meet climate targets is tougher than cutting supply) helps explain the scenario under which governments are finally starting to admit that energy transition will not be abrupt, it will not be easy, and it will not be cheap.
We need meaningful discussion on the topic and a reduction in the popular pastime of signalling virtue by criticizing the oil and gas industry without understanding the issues.
Many of us see our friends and associates making ill-informed, hypocritical comments, but few of us call them out.
You don’t see animal rights proponent Ricky Gervais wearing a polar bear fur coat, and you should not see oil and gas opponents using smartphones, driving automobiles, taking airplane flights, or watching TV. You might say that Ricky has other wardrobe options but that a smartphone is an essential part of life … which only underscores how critical fossil fuels are to our current standard of living.
My experience in pointing out hypocrisy over the last year has gone much better than expected. Yes, I have had a few folks block me, but more often I see the person I have challenged become more responsible and less narrow minded in their posts and online comments.
Give it a try. Next time you see a self-proclaimed environmentalist calling for an end to fossil fuels, gently ask what sacrifices they are making to help make it happen. You might hear crickets, but sometimes you will see movement toward more responsible dialogue regarding the critical matter of energy transition.
To help increase awareness of the war on hypocrisy, I will be using #woh and #stfu, which, of course, stands for Stop The Frivolous Use … of empty, virtue-signalling words.
#woh
#stfu
