“Fracking” is one of those words that will set any given Progressive off like a roman candle. Kind of like “marriage” “Bible” or “America”. It will produce a mouth foaming, wild-eyed reaction reminiscent of the beast-man that attacked Michael York in the cave scene of the 1977 version of The Island of Dr. Moreau. I am not going to go into detail about fracking, except to say that despite the breathless propaganda, there has never been a serious incident from it, and that it helps keep many people employed and provides energy.
Oh, and if it was truly the boogeyman the Left claims it to be, the energy industry would have abandoned it long ago, since the loss of product needed to create the alleged catastrophes would make it unprofitable. (If you want the facts I’ve discovered about fracking, email me and I’ll be happy to send them to you.)
But even the Progressives should be wiping the egg off their face on this one. It is no secret that Hollywood loves a good cause, and will go to any length to show how environmentally sensitive it is, and how in-sync with Mother Earth its writers, producers, directors and in particular its actors are.
The latest edition of rich people taking a brave stand on the silver screen on an issue they refuse to learn anything about is The Promised Land due to hit the theaters this December. Its premise: the evil energy industry is ruining the lives of small-town Americans. Its star: Matt Damon.
Its ad shows Mr. Damon looking behind him in a defiant, yet warm kind of way, as if he is mustering his courage to bravely take on the evil oil and gas barons who are raping the land and leaving thousands of people homeless/broke/hungry/without an Obamaphone in their wake. (Many of the people I know in the industry ran or used to run small businesses related to energy; but don’t let that get in the way of your self-righteous, eco-conscious hissy-fit. By all means, rage on.) The subtitle on the banner is “What’s your price?” A question the filmmakers, Mr. Damon and the rest of the tea cup poodles in Hollywood might want to contemplate.
One group who would know what their price is, at least in terms of making the picture would be Image Media Abu Dhabi. Yes, that Abu Dhabi. The one in the United Arab Emirates. The one that is a member of OPEC. In point of fact, Image Media Abu Dhabi is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media, a company that is wholly owned by the UAE. And it provided backing for the film.
It makes sense that an OPEC nation would have a stake in demonizing American energy production. Fracking has increased the supply of oil and natural gas in the U.S. The UAE is number seven on the globe for natural gas reserves. The U.S. has an abundant supply, so much so that other countries such as Japan might be able to purchase it at a better price from us than what the UAE would offer. That means fewer Mercedes, Jaguars, and luxury trips for our friends in OPEC, and more money and more energy for people here. And should the U.S. begin to produce more oil, that would make America more interesting to people who produce products that need oil, such as plastics; and the UAE has spent a veritable mountain of cash trying to develop its industries that depend on petroleum.
I know you guys on the Left are at this moment lusting for my jugular and want to send me “back to The House of Pain” But after you do that, you may want to ask yourselves, and for the matter the producers of The Promised Land why they financed their movie with money from a country that gets its money from the same practices that you spend so much time patting yourselves on the back for attacking here.
It sounds like a job for Jason Bourne. But something tells me he is due on the set to look simultaneously defiant and compassionate. And to make a pile of money the likes of which none of us will ever see while doing it.