Seeking the Soul of America: Deepwater Horizon

                                                           

On April 20 an oil rig leased to British Petroleum exploded in the Gulf of Mexico forty-one miles off the coast of the state of Louisiana. Eleven people were killed.  Scientists and engineers in both the private and public sector, on both sides of the Atlantic, have been unable to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf, resulting in the largest spill in U.S. history.  All of this is very bad, especially the eleven people killed.

It is evident that B.P. had no plan in place to deal efficaciously with the contingency of an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, the name of the rig. That is bad as B.P. was drilling for oil precisely for its combustible qualities, for use in internal combustion engines. It looks like the problem is not going to be solved until another well, which will capture the oil tapped into by Deepwater Horizon, is completed by B.P. in August. That was certainly not anybody's Plan A as it relies on the arsonist's competence at fire-fighting.

This horrible situation has touched a few American nerves, some long exposed to inflammation, others raw from recent events.  Among the former is environmental politics. Americans love nature. We created Yellowstone National Park in 1872, the world's first environmentally protected land area.  Protected from us, for we have long recognized that our manifest destiny manifestly brought us into conflict with nature. We love nature except when it gets in the way of our internal combustion engines.

When our love of nature conflicts with our love of material prosperity we choose prosperity, but we feel guilty about it and that helps. Guilt makes the choice of material prosperity easier because we punish ourselves for it. Guilt is a useful tool for a people who consider themselves chosen for a manifest destiny. Guilt is as much as part of the American soul as is the pursuit of material prosperity, whose master it serves.

Americans are the most religious people on earth and guilt is at the center of Judaism and Christianity.  Those two religions have so shaped the American soul that they are spoken of as one: the Judeo-Christian heritage. In both—or in the one—man is a sinner and God a father who punishes, forgives and then offers redemption. The whole process requires acknowledgment of sin, literal confession in Catholicism, and acknowledgment of sin is one of the definitions of “guilt.” We know right from wrong, we know that we do wrong, we must acknowledge our wrong-doing and accept our punishment so that we can be forgiven and redeemed, that is live happily ever after, that is to go on doing what we were doing before, and the whole process starts all over again.