Prepare for More Stupidity at the Gas Pump

Remember when Americans were filling trash bags with gasoline after the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack? Science is not our strength... and neither is energy security.

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Dear Fellow Expat:

A momentous event brings out the best and the worst in people.

Heroism and callowness, mindless greed, and boundless altruism. You see intelligence and stupidity.

I particularly noticed stupidity… at the local gas station.

A cyberattack took the Colonial Pipeline offline, and with it went most of the Southeast’s gas supply. Rumors and fears of shortages spread faster than any computer virus.

Frantic Americans – unaware of the gasoline’s nastier, more dangerous properties– hoarded noxious fuels in any vessel they could find.

YouTube features countless videos of Americans pumping gasoline into trash bags, Tupperware, and even office trash cans.

Coming to a station near you…

The panic drivers tossed the containers into their trunks… where they likely exploded down the road because gasoline eats at most plastics like a shark through yellowfin tuna.

It was a sign of panic… and stupidity… in conditions created by government agencies and politicians who fost…