Last week, in an advocacy performance piece gone wrong, anti-oil activists from the Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG) gathered at the California State Capitol to protest the use of plastic bags, which are made from a petroleum byproduct. Their weapon of choice? A gigantic plastic inflatable plastic turtle—because nothing says “we hate oil” more than using an oil-based prop inflated by a gasoline powered generator.
This is one of the same groups that is actively campaigning to eliminate gas-powered vehicles and ban natural gas stove tops. PIRG leadership decided that the best way to make their point was by firing up a gas-powered generator to keep their oversized plastic mascot alive. As with most activist groups, they are so focused on their subjective moral outrage and sense of misplaced “justice” that they cannot see their own folly.
As PIRG railed against plastic bags, the glaring contradictions were hard to miss. As they stood in protest, they were conveniently surrounded by all sorts of petroleum-based products: the sunglasses on their faces, the sneakers on their feet, and the podium from which they preached, to name just a few—all brought to you by the oil industry.
It’s one thing to draft a press release telling legislators how to vote; it’s quite another thing to hold a press conference using the materials they want to see banned by legislation this year. The California media establishment is mostly lazy and uninterested in holding lawmakers and outside groups accountable for their rank hypocrisy.
And how many of the protestors drove their gas-powered cars to the capitol or to transport the generator, podium, turtle, and other materials?
This protest was a perfect example of “performative activism” that has become all too common. It’s easy to rail against the evils of the modern world while enjoying the benefits of that same modern world, which would not even exist without fossil fuels.
In the meantime, CIPA’s independent oil producers will continue contributing an essential product to all Californians, even the ones who are so confused they don’t realize they cannot advocate without petroleum byproducts.