Another weekend has come and gone in New Orleans. This one was just like all the other ones, but this time, there were around 100,000 people at the Fair Grounds to see a ton of bands. Check out the lineup here. 

Anyway, there were some really great bands and a lot of fun. Beers were $4 a pop so that kind of sucked. But it was nice to see all the fun folks running around listening to good music. 

OK. I won’t bore you with that sort of nonsense. What I will say is that it was interesting because I had a pass to the Shell hospitality tent. It was weird hanging out with oil company folks for obvious reasons. But, like with most things I guess, these weren’t the movers and shakers of the company so I don’t hold them necessarily devoid of, you know, a soul. But I had an interesting discussion with some people about politics. Nothing mind blowing, but it was interesting because I heard a lot of people bitching about Rev. Wright.

This was bizarre only because none of the people who complained had any intention of voting for Obama in the first place. However, they had true contempt for the Rev. This did not make much sense to me. I tried to explain to them that it is impossible for a privileged white person to understand what it was like to grow up during the throws of racism.

I very much doubt that anyone talking really had the socioeconomic understanding to really discuss the kinds of issues that have been brought up by the Rev. It was just interesting to listen to people bash the dude because he was talking about things they didn’t understand, which is really all this whole thing comes down to I guess. History would be different if the lion wrote it instead of the hunter. 

I tried to explain how the US killed indians with smallpox blankets, killed their food source to the point of near extinction, and enslaved a race for 200 years. When you consider those things, I don’t know if it’s too far a stretch to say we gave AIDS to the black population. I don’t think that really happened, but let’s assume for a moment that instead of AIDS being an epidemic in the ghetto it became an issue in the suburbs, I’d bet we’d be working harder for a cure. 

I suppose all I really learned in the Shell Oil tent was that people don’t want to learn about their own history if it’s tainted. And that $9 billion in quarterly profit makes for the ability to throw one hell of a party. The food was awesome. And there was a ton of free beer. Do I feel bad for drinking it? Hell no. I figured it was my best way of getting back at the oil company for once. And I loved every ounce of it.