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I only recently watched Avatar (don't be surprised, I'm pretty sure that I might have had something else to do when it was out, don't remember what though) and enjoyed it. Sure, I could criticize Sam Worthington for being a terrible actor, but this isn't a movie review. Rather, it's what I'm taking away from the movie itself.

The movie, as most people already know, features a Native American-like people called the Na'vi who, as is the lore with many Native American tribes, have a spiritual connection to their planet Pandora and the animals around them. Humans, having overrun and pillaged all the resources of Earth, travel to Pandora in order to mine the rare ore Unobtainium (an old sci-fi movie joke) and must force the Na'vi from their sacred home. The ore, as reported in the movie, is worth "$20 million per kilogram"-enough to make any oil company CEO wet himself in euphoria. The question is, would you sell your conscience to become rich?

An almost perfect example is the current British Petroleum oil disaster which has ravaged the Gulf of Mexico and thrown the balance of wildlife into disarray. Over the last two years, BP has collected over 200 safety violations that had not been addressed until the spill. There was a certain group mentality to this: since nothing had gone wrong yet, and everyone was making money with relatively no repercussions, no one would feel the need to point out the glaring safety issues which caused this spill. While there may have been some who would have sought to rectify BP's safety record, social influence from complacent co-workers would have stifled any complaints. Obviously, the CEOs would not want to hear any information that proved to be contrary to their success, and collective ignorance would continue.

Sorry for the psychology spiel, but it was necessary.

This leads into the implicit danger of drilling for oil, especially in an ecologically-sensitive area such as the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf features several rare marine species and coral reefs, all of which have been in immense danger since the spill. Is it essentially immoral to risk the natural balance of the ocean and nature itself in order to mine an expensive and essential resource?

And no, this is not Obama's "Katrina." There was no sort of forewarning like there was for Katrina; it would be much appreciated if people could actually remember history as it really was.

That's all for now,
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