The British Petroleum Oil Disaster Is Just Not Sexy Anymore

By William K. Wolfrum

After more than two months as the top story in the land, the British Petroleum Oil Disaster’s days are numbered. The ungodly oil geyser, mind you isn’t the issue. No, that will be going for years, I’d assume. I mean the media’s interest. Sure, this story had legs, but they are starting to show wear. Plus there’s a whole new season of political action just starting.

Elena Kagan is being grilled by Congress, surviving slings, arrows and ridiculous rumors. Obama’s attacking the immigration problem because politics demands it. Lady Gaga is always doing something; and researchers in Peru just found the fossils of a Sea monster. Plus both “True Blood” and “Twilight: Eclipse” are out. So, there just isn’t space any longer for the oil spill. After all, we get it – oil is spurting out of the ocean floor. Day after day after day. Stuff’s getting really messed up.

This is sort of how things work in the corporate media today. They need stories that are big, and have the shelf life of a Gulf of Mexico shrimp. They need “He said …,” or “She said …,” or “He shot …” sort of stories. These long drawn out affairs just become a drain on everyone and everything involved, including the pocket book.

Basically, these stories start like this: “HAITI EARTHQUAKE: THOUSANDS FEARED DEAD” in about 96-point font. Today, you have stories like “Slavery in Haiti,” tucked away neatly online at The Huffington Post. Life is still awful in Haiti, but the corporate media decided enough was enough. If you remember correctly, they did the same thing with the Afghanistan War for about five years, as well. With “surges” and such going on in Iraq, Afghanistan just didn’t have the Q-factor necessary to get past Paris Hilton in the media those days. How many stories could you do on the “vast fields of poppies.”

So if you’ve woken up depressed every day after facing more and more news about millions of gallons of oil destroying the Gulf Of Mexico and God knows what else, don’t worry, the end is almost near. Because with British Petroleum in charge of our national media in the Gulf of Mexico, there’s really nothing much to report from there, anyway. Just read off their latest press release and you’re done. And as an added plus, U.S. politicians have tired of using it as a political football.

The British Petroleum oil disaster is a national issue of vital importance that could lead to consequences far beyond our worst estimates for both the environment and the economy. But it’s just not sexy anymore. Maybe, eventually, a hurricane will hit it or they’ll decide to nuke it. But until then, the BP Oil Spill is just getting less and less newsworthy to our corporate media.

By: William K. Wolfrum

I'm a journalist, columnist, humorist, satirist, Dogist and Husbandist