Alberta is ‘oil country’… Tesla would like to see less reliance on oil… thus we have a true albertan sharing his opinion of Tesla. (imho) I hope he’s caught.
I appreciate the thoughtful response. It’s definitely not personal - or at least if it is, it’s equally about me as it is about you.
I see this rationale often used to rationalize playing a role which is in conflict with one’s ethics - in myself as well as others. It’s the reasoning used by the people who invented the atomic bomb, or who guarded concentration camps. Even though their conscience told them what was happening was wrong, they reasoned that if they didn’t do the job, someone else would, and that person probably wouldn’t have any conscience at all!
It’s also the rationale of the teacher who works in a toxic school system that’s bad for the kids, because she believes her presence can make a difference for some of the students she teaches. So it’s not wrong in all cases, but it’s definitely dangerous to assume that being “a good person in a bad role” leads to a positive outcome.
In thinking about this, I consider both agency and outcome. For example, how often do you have the agency to decide between options which have significant influence on the impact that the oil industry has on the world? What differences in outcome can you identify that would not have happened had someone else been in your position? How do those outcomes compare in scale to the ongoing impact your work has of facilitating “the world’s most destructive oil operation”?
I don’t want to give you too hard of a time here, but I feel like I should point out that while I’m sure you do support those policies with your vote and your heart, financially speaking you support the exact opposite. As you pointed out, you’re paid a lot of money, which implies that you’re making a lot of money for the industry, a shocking amount of which is channeled directly into manufacturing the views and lobbying for the policies we’re both complaining about above.
It’s interesting, because critics of the “reduce demand” strategy would use the same line of reasoning above: if I don’t buy the oil/gas, someone else will. So if I want it, what’s the difference if I buy it vs. someone else? Reducing demand just means someone else gets the oil/gas I would have, but for a cheaper price.
Market economics makes sure that there’s always someone to buy your commodity and there’s always someone to do your job - it’s just a question of price. This doesn’t mean our labor or purchases have no ethical weight, but it makes it a lot harder to see why exactly they matter. Meanwhile it’s super easy to see why the things in front of us like our family and our bank account matter. It’s a pickle.
This might be true, but I’m not sure. When trying to evaluate this kind of question for myself, I consider not just the impact of my own actions, but the size of the pool of other potential actors who could take my place. If I’m buying something which billions of other people would pay a similar price for, then my purchase (or not) has a correspondingly small impact. In your case, while there are other workers who would take your place should you change industries, the pool of skilled IT workers is actually relatively small (compared to other pools like voters or energy consuming families), and their value quite high (which you can also tell from your wages). This suggests that your decision of where to work is probably much, much more influential than the other things you do to influence social and political priorities.
Of course it’s still all a drop in the bucket, which is the maddening part of such grand problems. No one thing will change everything. I don’t expect you’ll probably make any big changes as the result of this conversation, but it is good and useful to reflect on the power we each have. Often it’s the unique power which you - or I - might have due to our particular positions in life that’s the most overlooked, since it isn’t shared by so many other people. But it can also be the most powerful. Ultimately I hope our grandchildren are proud of the choices we made.
Yeah its getting that way here in Australia. The stereotypical asshole car owner used to drive a locally made Ford or GM, but now those companies have pulled out of local manufacture, the assholes are moving across to these midrange VW offerings.
Oh, so y’all are the Texans of Canada.
Answering questions mostly,
Rarely. If ever. But that is infinitely more than me not being there. (and yes, maybe someone else would be better suited than me to achieve those specific goals. who knows)
I don’t know. I do know some of the peers I’ve had that are no longer with us. Some are great human beings some might not be human (and I mean that in a way that means they are bad people.) I can’t say what others would do.
I can tell you that the organization I’m with consciously does not do work in the oil sands. So moot point maybe? (not all Alberta oil and gas is oil-sands, not all Alberta O&G companies have their majority operations in the province.)
Probably true. I don’t know how much the organization I work with contributes to lobbying. I’m sure it’s not nothing. I will say that the industry is aware (openly or not) that it is not perpetual. That change must and will happen. I admit there is resistance to that too. (I didn’t think of myself as an apologist, maybe I am. I’m “inside” so I see things from a different angle. Biased I’m sure.)
Yes and no. I can say that the price of oil has direct and real impact on how much activity O&G corporations conduct. Personally during the most recent downturn I “lost” 50-75% of my peers to downsizing. The org cut back its operations. The org I work for survived, many others folded. The easiest, least friction way to put an end to the industry is to engineer prices down. Demand & supply => price. That’s my recommendation anyway. Kill the demand, keeps the true market capitalists happy.
Not really. Due to the recent downturn, and previously mentioned attrition, there is ample ability for the org to fill the position. I don’t know if you intend that my leaving would harm the company enough to affect anything material or not.
Overall, its admittedly selfish to benefit as much as I do. Do I feel conflicted? Yes of course. Is it equivalent to building a (the) bomb? no. The endeavour is not intended to kill. The endeavour is energy and resources. I don’t know anyone who feels that the petrochemical substance has any intrinsic value. The value comes from the uses. Find something better (oh please, please, please!) and we’ll be better off. Could the world be better? yes. Are there dead bodies down the hall? no. Is there harm from the product? yes. Hyperbole doesn’t help any discussion here.
I’ve opened myself up to unknown criticism by 1) volunteering that I work in O&G 2) value the environmental cause. I’ve tried to do service to the community here that I’m happy to be in and respect. I’m trying not to take it personally. I recognize you might have more options than I do and maybe not. Not my business. The world is the way it is. It’s not good right now. There is no perfect, realistic options. The perfect options aren’t real. I’m sorry about that. I wish they were.
I hope that my choice to open up, acknowledge the conflict and answer what I can has helped. For now I’m done though. Be well!
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Meh, I’d wager some are that, but some are rolling-coal deplorables, and some are mostly just fratboy asshats ignorant that they’re on candid camera. It’s not lost on me that a lot of these manbabies (notice it’s mostly males of a certain age) dress like Gavin McInnes’s “Proud Boy” stepchildren.
Thanks RyeN, I admire your honesty and appreciate it.
This was not a “mistake”. It was “indulging an impulse”.
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Or Dodge pickup drivers
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The fact that the perpetrators in all three instances turned themselves in is a pleasant surprise. Faith in humanity every-so-slightly restored.
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Karma-plus would have had him getting T-boned at 0:54
Karma was sleeping. Get off your conceptually debatable ass, Karma!
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Too many words for that sort. Perhaps more likely “Tree-huggers!!”
I’m envious of (and – at worse – happy for) anyone whose faith in humanity is restored… to whatever degree. Unfortunately, someone turning themselves in because they got caught on seen-world-wide video only makes me more cynical. Oh, well. Perhaps my ~mid-day smoothie will put me in a better mood.
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I suspect that it’s more of a “‘character’ is who you are when nobody is watching; ‘sorry’ is what you are when you were mistaken about whether someone was watching” thing.
Turning yourself in despite the fact that they’ve got nothing on you is what you do because you feel that what you did was wrong.
Turning yourself in after learning that there’s a good-enough-for-someone-to-recognize-you video that’s going to get a solid local news rotation and a lot of youtube play; with consequences that can bite you at any time until the relatively long statue of limitations expires is just a pragmatic cost minimization response.
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Maybe, but without plates it would be difficult for the cops to catch someone wearing sunglasses and a hat, and that’s assuming the cops can be bothered to investigate. One of the things that frustrated me about the video was that the camera never got a look at his trucks plates.
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It’s not the cops cracking the case I’d be worried about; but the fact that a lot of people in the area(and beyond) are going to see the video, quite possibly including some who know you but aren’t your truck nuts bros(or are at least better bros with the tesla driver); combined with the fact that the driver of the keyed car almost certainly had to put in a police report in order to get insurance to pay out.
This means having a not-implausible means of identification hanging over your head, a file that is almost certainly being ignored by the police but is equally certainly trivial to reactivate if someone hands them a gift-wrapped case and they feel so inclined; and an insurance company that would be completely value rational in doing anything not more costly than what they can expect to recover from you to find you and recover from you(potentially more if they think it’s a deterrent).
Certainly not oh-god-my-life-is-over-plastic-surgery-and-clandestine-escape-to-somewhere-without-extradition-treaties stuff; but knowing that it’s hardly off the table for someone connected to the case socially to recognize me(and even if it doesn’t every go to the cops, getting called in for a chat with your boss because some small town rival and/or internet sleuth with unlimited time helpfully sent the video along would be unpleasant, especially if you don’t have a plausible, ideally true, story of contrition and making-right to tell); or for an insurance company claims investigator to dump my face and the make, model and color of my vehicle into some giant database(car insurance companies definitely wouldn’t have a shockingly comprehensive knowledge of who drives what car, would they? Um, yeah…) and maybe getting nothing; maybe getting a hit because I’ve not scrubbed myself off all social media forever; with both of those outcomes likely turning into civil trouble, with room for criminal if the cops aren’t in a good mood.
I’m certainly not a nerves-of-ice type; but under those circumstances I’d definitely give some serious thought to doing the thing that looks maximally sympathetic, gives me the best odds of getting off with just a repayment of approximately the damage caused and some apologizing; and means no more waiting and wondering.
Finished my blueberry, banana, peanut butter, almond milk, non-fat Greek yoghurt, wheat germ, honey, green tea powder smoothie a few minutes ago. I still despise the keying dude… but I definitely feel better! Must be the banana. 
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As an addendum, if you see a truck equipped with that ultimate ill-mannered idiot child accessory, bumper nuts, find out who the driver is and then never, never, never allow him ANY place in your life, even as the guy who cleans out your septic tank. People who think those things are funny are always proud of being ignorant, stupid, backwards mouth breathers.
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What about a Prius with truck nuts? 
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Yup. Forget the cops identifying you, it’s more likely to be your boss who wants “a word” when you get in on Monday morning, because he’s seen you in that cap and glasses enough times he knows it’s you.
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