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An environmental and worker disaster
It's coming up on 10 o'clock in the evening aboard a massive oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon, 130 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. It's Tuesday, April 20. The rig sways gently in the calm waters. Then, suddenly ... "Boom!"
A huge explosion rocks the rig, releasing tons of oil that soon will spread over an area of at least 2,500 square miles. Of course it's an environmental disaster, probably the worst oil spill ever. That's what draws mainstream media attention. But what of the workers aboard the rig, who suffered terrible trauma, serious injury and death?
Too often, the media all but ignore workers' suffering in such disasters. They sometimes seem more concerned with the degradation of the environment than with the suffering of fellow humans. They focus almost solely on the environmental damage, and its cost to those who employ the workers.
Too often, the workers are treated as mere numbers. Eleven dead, 17 injured, said the media accounts of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. But just what does that mean? Precisely how were the workers made to suffer? Might they suffer in the future because of their injuries? What can be done to make future work safer? The media rarely ask such questions. Working people, be they on land or sea, don't much concern the corporate media.