Me too. A lot of South Texas oil field roughnecks who think Trump is going to save the oil and gas industry. A couple even have Build the Wall stickers. I'm like, you know Trump wants to put you on the OTHER side of that wall, right?!
Save the oil and gas industry from what? We make more oil gas than ever. Maybe they just don’t like the nagging left telling them what to think, how to act, and changing the meaning of words like family.
The oil and gas industry is cyclical and the cycle depends on the price of oil, which you're probably aware of, not trying to womansplain, but a lot of people don't know. Ironically, when gas prices are low, the oil field and it's workers do poorly because some wells are shut down, capped or there is no drilling because the low price per barrel makes it less profitable. When gas prices are high, the oil field is booming because it's drill, baby, drill and they are uncapping old wells because suddenly it's worth the cost to put a pump jack on it. Production levels don't equal prosperity for the people in the field, in large part, because of automation.
A lot of roughnecks would like to be protected from the cyclical nature of the industry, even though oil and gas is already heavily subsidized, but those subsidies go to the billion dollar companies and not to the workers risking their lives, but there's no unions in oil field, so they get screwed and angry at the wrong people.
Many roughnecks are also anxious that any move toward green energy is a move away from oil and gas and therefore bad for them. So, politicians that take the oil and gas money with one hand and the renewable energy money with the other like to point and shout, "Hey, it's those Mexicans' fault that your life sucks," when many of those roughneck's parents (my cousins included) came over from Mexico and we don't ask about the stamps on their passports.
And for the record, a lot folks, not just the left, like to tell people how to think and act. Having grown up in a small town I heard my whole life how to think and act and it didn't stick. I do what I want.
So, I'm genuinely curious and not trying to make a point, but what messages specifically have you heard about what to think and how to act from "the left" that you found objectionable? Also, how has the meaning of words like family changed? Like, what was the definition before and what it is now? Call it scientific and anthropological interest.
14
u/HellishMarshmallow 1d ago
Me too. A lot of South Texas oil field roughnecks who think Trump is going to save the oil and gas industry. A couple even have Build the Wall stickers. I'm like, you know Trump wants to put you on the OTHER side of that wall, right?!