How many of us are going to “LIKE” this bit of information?
Today, Think Progress outed Mark Zuckerberg’s new political group as a shill for the fossil fuel industry. The Facebook mogul, along with the founders of Dropbox, LinkedIn and Microsoft (that would be Bill Gates) founded a new political group called FWD.US that has spent considerable resources on ads promoting the Keystone XL Pipeline and Arctic oil drilling. All in the name of “jobs,” of course.
While the world faces extreme weather events like super-hurricanes, wildfires, droughts and rising oceans from the burning of fossil fuels, FWD.US are advocating for increased oil infrastructure and drilling.Climate scientist James Hanson has called the Keystone Pipeline a “fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet.”
This also indicates how flawed our political process has become as FWD.US is bankrolling two subsidiary groups with opposing political views. One led by GOP operatives, Americans For A Conservative Direction, and the other led by Democratic hacks, the Council for American Job Growth.
Check out this ad giving props to GOP Senator Lindsey Graham for supporting Keystone XL:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Iih8K0U27k
Check out the ANWR and Alaskan natural gas pipeline ad:
Both work to promote the interests of social media billionaires like Zuckerberg who essentially buy both parties to do their bidding and increase his bottom line.
Karen Hanson, communications director for FWD.US, has responded by saying: “FWD.us is committed to showing support for elected officials who promote the policy changes needed to build the knowledge economy. Maintaining two separate entities, Americans for a Conservative Direction & the Council for American Job Growth, to support elected officials across the political spectrum – separately – means that we can more effectively communicate with targeted audiences of their constituents.”
When did building the “knowledge economy” become about supporting anti-knowledge interests in the oil sector?