David Suzuki compares oil sands industry to slavery

mentalfloss

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David Suzuki compares oil sands industry to slavery

Environmental activist David Suzuki is comparing Canada’s oil sands industry to slavery just as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the country’s premiers discuss a national climate change plan ahead of the upcoming Paris climate conference.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said Monday, ahead of the first ministers meeting, that Canada needs to consider the economy when talking about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “Whatever it is we agree to going into Paris, whatever we agree to as a country, we need to make sure we understand what impact that’s going to have on jobs. What additional impact will that have on the energy sector, which is already suffering massive layoffs in our country?” Wall said.

Suzuki dismissed Wall’s comments as the same arguments used by those who benefited from owning slaves. “It sounds very much to me like southern states argued in the 19th century, that to eliminate slavery would destroy their economy,” Suzuki said in an interview Monday on SiriusXM’s Everything is Political with Evan Solomon.

Suzuki says 19th-century slave owners prioritized the economy over the goal of ending slavery like Wall is putting the economy and jobs ahead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “Who would say today that the economy should have come before slavery?” Suzuki said.

When Solomon pointed out that the oil sands industry might take offence to comparisons with those who perpetuated slavery, Suzuki didn’t back down. “It is the same thing,” Suzuki said. “They’re destroying the very atmosphere that we depend on.”


But when Solomon raised the point that people who work in the oil fields might take issue with being compared to those who worked in the slave trade, Suzuki doubled down on his position.

Suzuki said slavery and climate change are not economic issues, but moral issues. “I’m with the Pope, and as you know, I’m an atheist, but I’m willing to kiss the Pope on his feet, on his hands or anywhere else he wants me to kiss him,” Suzuki told Solomon about the Pope’s position on climate change.

Pope Francis wrote the encyclical “On Care for our Common Home” in May this year. He brought a strong message of the moral imperative to act on climate change to the White House and U.S. President Barack Obama on his recent visit there.

In an emailed statement to Everything is Political following the show, Suzuki clarified that he was not saying anyone working in fossil fuels was like someone who was a slave owner.

“All I was saying was that southern states argued that abolishing slavery would destroy their economy and that is like the fossil-fuel industry arguing against action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will destroy the economy. In other words, they are putting the economy above the matter of slavery and climate change and I think that is immoral,” Suzuki said. “People caught in working for the fossil-fuel industry will have to make a transition, they are not the target of my ire.”

Suzuki said he is supportive of Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s new climate action plan.

...more..

David Suzuki compares oil sands industry to slavery
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Ben Carson compares abortion to slavery.

So what's your point? That politicians making stupid-a*s comparisons is common to both sides of the border?
 

Dixie Cup

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Suzuki is a numb-nut! He's an arrogant little man who expects everyone to worship him but he's accountable to no one. What a sad little nugger he is!


JMHO
 

Cannuck

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Suzuki claims to be an atheist but I notice his website is called the "Sacred" Balance. He's only fooling silly people.
 

mentalfloss

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Suzuki is a numb-nut! He's an arrogant little man who expects everyone to worship him but he's accountable to no one. What a sad little nugger he is!


JMHO

Nugger
A person who smokes crack like no tomorrow. They are called nuggers because of always jonesing you for a nug. The word nug comes from the way a little chunk of crack looks

Urban Dictionary: Nugger
 

mentalfloss

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Suzuki claims to be an atheist but I notice his website is called the "Sacred" Balance. He's only fooling silly people.

I get that sacred is a spiritual buzz word but it doesn't mean he's not an atheist.
 

mentalfloss

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Tecumsehsbones

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Okay, I heel.


pol·i·ti·cian
ˌpäləˈtiSHən/
noun
a person who is professionally involved in politics, especially as a holder of or a candidate for an elected office.
synonyms:


You could say he is professionally involved even if he doesn't hold office.
Thank you.

Now, can we move on to the notion that abortion ain't slavery? Oil sands ain't slavery. Your job ain't slavery (unless you're a slave).

Slavery is slavery.

Comparisons to slavery and comparisons to the Shoah are the hallmarks of the North American tubthumper who's run out of ideas.
 

mentalfloss

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I think the title of the article misrepresents the message he was trying to convey.

He never said that the oil industry is slavery.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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I think the title of the article misrepresents the message he was trying to convey.

He never said that the oil industry is slavery.
Yeah, he linked it as much as he could, but he never outright said "the oil industry is slavery."

Here's a question. Do you true believers think your lame-a*s disclaimers fool anybody but your own base?
 

Cannuck

Time Out
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I think the title of the article misrepresents the message he was trying to convey.

He never said that the oil industry is slavery.

What he said and what he was trying to convey aren't the same thing but let's not be coy. He intended to draw a direct line connecting slavery to the oil industry because that's how he gets people wound up and maximizes profits.
 
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