CW actor/male model: Handling BP oil disaster more effectively than Pres. Obama

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

Ian Somerhalder, star of Lost and the hit CW series The Vampire Diaries, has vehemently called out the Hollywood eco-elite and the President for their shameful deafening silence regarding the Gulf Coast oil spill. The longer segment was shown tonight on E! News.

Somerhalder is a Louisiana native and has spent the last month or so (with a break for a press tour in Europe) in Louisiana, helping local human societies to clean off and house affected wildlife, including the endangered brown pelican, as well as seagulls, dolphins and turtles. For the last few days, he has been living out of his car (really!) on Grand Isle, because the hotels are overflowing with [non-famous] volunteers. Grand Isle is a small island on the tip of Louisiana whose economy is almost entirely based on tourism, fishing, and oil industries, aka they have no economy left.

Today, Somerhalder invited his friend from E! News, Kristin Dos Santos and her crew to visit him in the Gulf to raise awareness about the area, and he is talking to Larry King to attempt to organize a telethon to raise money for the victims of the spill from the area, which he says is linked directly to the destruction of the local ecosystem. He is reporting that oil has started to wash up on the shores of Alabama now as well, ack.

Over on Twitter, Somerhalder is now railing against Obama and suggesting the President may be a psychopath who is enjoying the attention he's getting from the disaster. He's also criticized his fellow Hollywood actors and musicians for being utterly paralytic in its response to the disaster.

Somerhalder previously endorsed Obama in 2008 on his blog.

Comments

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

I always knew there was a reason I liked Damon more than Stephan.....

Good for him,at least someone has sense enough to see the hypocrisy

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

lol your icon!!

I think he speaks for a lot of Americans in venting frustration and helplessness. Why isn't anyone high-profile lending their resources willingly? Where are the telethons, charity albums, etc? It's pathetic.

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

Well it's the same thing with the flooding in Nashville although we as Tennesseans put on our boots and do our own work. (We're like Texas only smaller. :P) Believe me, people are angered that there was barely any recognition from the media or the President about our natural disaster.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

Sooooooooo true.

[tigress35.livejournal.com]

While I don't think the government should be doin anything about the spill more than they are, I also never thought that Ian Somerhalder would be anything but a douche. Pleasantly surprised to see him living out of a car, if that is true.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

He's good at playing douches, but in real life, Ian is reportedly a really sweet, gentle guy by all accounts.

I think Obama's faux concern and oblivious silence have been totally inappropriate. This is a national and possibly international disaster. SOME kind of response needed to have happened... and I don't mean the bland soundbytes we got yesterday - on DAY 57!!

[tigress35.livejournal.com]

What can the government do? True conservatism doesn't look favorably on bailouts or welfare from the government but from the private sector in the form of charities and personal sacrifice per Ian's example. I agree with what you said above, the reaction to this on our own soil as compared to Haiti is puzzling, however, we need private solutions to this problem, not government intervention.

The problem is, really, that instead of celebrities and others with influence organizing a telethon a la Haiti, they're just crying that Obama doesn't seem to care enough. Instead, THEY'RE the ones not caring enough, because instead of most DOING something, they're only complaining that the government isn't doing enough.

The big problem is people expectig the government to have a magicial solution.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

I would definitely hedge on trying to define what "true conservatism" is - a rhetorical slippery slope. I would also not say that the government has NO responsibility, ethically or constitutionally, to get involved in this situation. Unless you (general you) are an anarchist, you believe that government is sometimes useful in some scenarios and I'm not sure anyone EXCEPT anarchists will be satisfied with a government that says "Destruction of the earth's oceans - perhaps indefinitely? Not my problem. Let charities sort it out. Good luck with that!"

The oil is already spreading itself around (http://www.businessinsider.com/oil-spotted-waves-alabama-2010-6) in the Gulf coast. This is rapidly going to turn into an international disaster, for which other nations can hold us accountable fiscally and otherwise, and at the very least, for that reason, the government should be involved at some level. The least invasive level possible, but we are past the point where it can just opt out of participating altogether. The problem is that liberals will try to say it's not a unique situation and that whatever the government's involvement is in this will be a precedent, or a template.

The bulk of Ian's argument is that currently there are no large-scale charitable efforts taking place that could displace the need for government intervention. And that is pathetic. YMMV!

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit baffled at the "What can the government do?" question -- what Obama can and should do is lift the Jones Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_of_1920), which Bush did post-Katrina to aid in the oil cleanup in the Gulf. Some of the most advanced skimmers aren't American boats, and aren't allowed in our waters.

Currently Florida Republicans are working on a petition to get the President to lift the act to allow these boats into the Gulf to assist in cleanup efforts. No one's said a thing about the Jones Act -- not a one, short of Fox News and local talk radio (oh, the local radio guys here have been frothing at the mouth, lemme tell ya). The general opinion in this neck of the woods is that he hasn't lifted the Jones Act for union-related reasons, which is both frightening and sickening.

Or, y'know, he's waiting for hurricane season to really kick in so he can have another disaster to take advantage of. (That's what we're all holding our breath over -- if a hurricane comes in over the Gulf? Oh we are all so very, very, completely screwed.)

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

we need private solutions to this problem, not government intervention

Unfortunately, in this case, we do actually need some government intervention to allow for private solutions.

The Jones Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_of_1920) is designed to protect US interests within US waters, but it's also what's keeping some of the world's most advanced skimming ships out of the Gulf right now. It was lifted after Hurricane Katrina, allowing foreign oil-skimming ships into US waters, but hasn't been lifted yet (which, speaking as a Florida resident, is infuriating a whole lot of people down here).

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

This!!!!!

I think the role of the government at this point could be helping to facilitate the working together of private investors, donors and think tanks on how to SOLVE this . The bulk of the work itself can be done by private entities (and probably will anyway) but the federal government can be a powerful facilitator and organizer.

Another way Obama could be doing something: BP is denying scientists and even the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - a federal agency - from scanning the underwater video footage to assess what the needs are and what the situation really looks like. I don't think it's anti-conservative to say that the government should be pushing for far greater transparency from BP right now. We don't even know the full scope of what needs to be done because they're not letting anyone look. I think that's unfathomable.

[danamulder.livejournal.com]

You go, Ian! I just followed him on Twitter because of this.

He is right to be calling everyone out who is not making an effort. Someone needs to organize something - I would send money but no one is giving me a place to send it. If there is somewhere, no one's publicized it.

I HATE that this happened. People died in the initial explosion (which everyone seems to keep forgetting), and what is happening as a result is horrific. I live about 90 miles from the Texas Gulf coast, and we keep holding our breath about whether or not it's going to start washing up over here. Something has got to stop this. It's affecting too much wildlife and the welfare of the people on the coast NOT to do something about it. But unfortunately, sometimes it takes something awful happening to take the blinders off, and this is effectively turning a lot of people off to Obama who were once all over him. Hopefully it's once disillusioned, always disillusioned. At this point, that's the only good that could come of this.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

He is a little eccentric and so are his tweets, just fair warning :)

I completely agree with the rest of your post, and huzzah! He and Larry King and Harry Connick, Jr. and a bunch of other people are having a telethon (http://larrykinglive.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/17/lkl-monday-2-hour-disaster-in-the-gulf-how-you-can-help-special/) this Monday - they did it! They're organizing real relief efforts. I hope it rakes in millions!

[karester.livejournal.com]

Finally someone famous who's realizing the hypocrisy.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

Seriously! I am so grateful for his candor. I think what he's doing and saying is taking real guts.

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

Great, now I have a reason to watch the show. Heh.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

HA HA HA <3 Honestly, I think you should check it out! It's a really fun, well-acted, well-written show! The first four or five episodes are a LITTLE clunky with the pacing, just because they're laying all the groundwork for this incredibly rich mythology spanning a nearly 200-year history, but after that it's full steam ahead to one of the best season finales I have ever seen on any network.

I'm totally serious when I say that I tuned in just for Ian, but I've been amazed at how legitimately GOOD the show is.

[archerstar.livejournal.com]

I wholeheartedly agree with this comment. The first few aren't great, but are still good, but the rest of the season is amazing AND THAT FINALE, OH MY GOD.

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

I don't like vampire fare too much, but I am looking for new fare. I'll keep your endorsement in mind, should I watch.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

Honestly, his endorsement for Obama was kind of weak (of the lukewarm "maybe we could use a change" variety). He's admitted to not being a terribly political person, but he's clearly not alone in experiencing buyer's remorse about the current administration.

There are plenty of black fishermen, farmers and oil rig workers - I believe at least one of the people who died in the explosion was African-American, for example - and I've never heard of oil rig laboring being "white man's commerce." That whole line of thinking is just too agenda-laden and ugly for me and I don't really want to engage in it at all, except to say that I doubt anyone at "ground zero" over there gives much of a damn what color anyone is. Everyone is in the same boat now, and as w0rdinista has pointed out, if hurricane season hits before they clean this mess up, we're ALL screwed.

Ian definitely cares about animals and the environment for real. He's not a jerk at all - no one who has ever met him has ever said he's anything but totally nice, and I have a friend who worked on TVD for a few episodes and she says he and Nina Dobrev are both incredibly genuine, sweet people. He's just a really good actor, I guess. :)

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

Why isn't Hollywood out there cleaning up the mess and raising money? It has to be about more than just not making Obama look back, doesn't it? Or is that the End of All Things? If Bush were in charge, you can bet every single Hollywood individual would be out there crying over birds and dolphins, but nooo... Hypocrites.

This is such a good question and I've been wondering the same thing. My theory is that I'm feeling like it's a combination of one or more of the following, for most, just based on comments I've seen around the Internet in various discussions:

1. Not wanting to draw attention to Obama's ineptitude/ apathy.

2. Feeling like it's BP's mess and BP should foot the bill - not their problem! This is especially powerful because it fits the liberal narrative that all corporations are evil and destructive and need to be made to pay for the human damage they cost. (I don't disagree with that in this one instance, but I don't feel like that's true across the board? IDK.)

3. It's just a bunch of WILDLIFE, it's not a human story on the scale of Katrina and Haiti and other natural disasters (nevermind that "only" 11 people actually died, plus tens of thousands of people subjected to desperate and sudden poverty and whole economies gutted overnight - let's not trouble ourselves with facts, it gives us wrinkles.)

4. It's affecting a bunch of red states! This is CLEARLY Bush's fault and the Republicans' for voting to protect big corporations, which are inherently evil!! Ignorant conservative religio-rednecks got what they deserve for voting for them LOLOL!!!! Pathetically, I have seen too many people spew this type of ignorant, appalling idiocy to count. You damn well can bet that if this had happened off the coast of NEW YORK, Hollywood would be all over itself with telethons by now. And if this mess hasn't been cleaned up by the time hurricanes roll in, THE ENTIRE EASTERN SEABOARD may be screwed. But again. Facts= wrinkles. Think of the complexion!

Sigh.

Ian is a good egg. Um, unless you try to date him, he's kind of a ho. But otherwise? Good egg.

[so-sporktastic.livejournal.com]

Um, unless you try to date him, he's kind of a ho. But otherwise? Good egg.


....?

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

He has a long, colorful history. Aside from having dated Nicky Hilton (seriously), he cheated on his last girlfriend with Ashley Greene from Twilight and supposedly left her for his current co-start, Nina Dobrev, 12 years his senior. He's said he's been around a lot. He was raised by legal guardians in the modeling industry alone in Europe... looking the way he does, I'm sure the line outside his front door looked like Christmas Eve at Toys R Us.

Nobody's perfect? :x

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

12 years his junior, that should say. Eep.