Commenting on the oil spill, Rush Limbaugh said ““The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It’s natural. It’s as natural as the ocean water is.”
Rush is actually right.
First, oil will eventually break down through natural processes. However, this will take a rather long time and the oil will do considerable damage in the meantime. Given Rush’s logic, we should say the same thing about things like dirty dishes and garbage in our houses. After all, natural processes will eventually take care of the food on the dishes and the garbage in the house. So, why bother with those things? Also, natural processes will eventually take care of any illness (this might involve death, of course), so why mess around with medicine?
Second, oil is natural and is as natural as the water. After all, we do not make the oil that we drill for-we simply find it after it has been produced by natural processes. Of course, being natural does not mean that something is not dangerous. Cyanide, rattlesnake venom, red tide, earthquakes, volcanoes, and gamma rays are all natural. Yet they are rather dangerous. The fact that something is natural does not mean that we should not be concerned about it showing up on our beaches.
You know, Rush, it doesn’t make you a tree hugger if you accept that an oil spill is bad. Even the folks in the oil companies are willing to admit this.
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