Customer Reviews:
 A wakeup call to Canadians September 24, 2008
Steven Teasdale (Markham, ON)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
William Marsden is an author and investigative journalist who bravely took on the Hell's Angels biker gang in a series of books and columns. Now he's after a bigger, richer, and far more deceptive foe... the Canadian oil industry. Marsden goes to the physical and metaphorical heart of Canada's oil country to provide an incisive examination of an environmental catastrophe effected by a manipulative oil industry in denial and aided an impotent and incompetent system of governments.
Marsden begins by supplying a great deal of informative historical background of the oil sands project, including a bizarre scheme in the 1950s to extract oil via controlled nuclear explosions. He also provides an inside view of the immense scale oil sands excavations by visiting the projects and talking with the workers. This sets the stage for the critique to come.
The two primary targets polemically identified by Marsden (the "stupid" ones of the title) are the oil industry and governments within the province of Alberta.
Marsden describes a heavily subsidized industry that flouts the rule of law, uses propaganda and intimidation to achieve its ends, is deliberately deceitful, and remains astonishingly ignorant of the long term effects (environmental, social, and financial) of its activities. He illustrates how time and time again the massive public relations machine of the oil industry obscures facts and keeps citizens in the dark (for example, by stating that the toxic petrochemical-related products suddenly infusing wells and land are naturally occurring).
The second side of the problem rests with an impotent and largely incompetent provincial government. This is not a government that serves its citizens; rather, it is a veritable plutocracy under the sway of corporations and addicted to royalties delivered by the ever-increasing prices of crude oil. The politics of ignorance appear to be the central creed of the Alberta government, and there is little or no desire by elected officials to listen to citizens or take their concerns seriously. As such, Marsden takes it upon himself to visit concerned citizens and report their stories, and they are not pretty. He reports of a government bought and paid for by the oil industry and who remain astonishingly oblivious about the effects of the industry on the citizens of Alberta.
Marsden concludes that the results the industry and government action/inaction have resulted in boreal forest depletion of a massive scale, a significant and possibly catastrophic depletion of the water table, and destruction of wildlife and rural agriculture. If continued unchecked, the Alberta of the future will be a bleak monument to uncontrolled avarice, and yes, stupidity.
 A polemic, but hard to deny July 29, 2008
Peter Lemieux
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've heard it said several times that this book is a polemic. It is: the tone is certainly strident. But it's very difficult to argue with the facts that are presented in it. Between what we are doing in northern Alberta to the Aboriginal communities along the Athabasca River, and the disregard our government seems to have for its citizens who have been affected by oilsands or coalbed methane development, it's enough to drive you to distraction. Reading this book, you begin to understand, even if you can't condone, those who take the law into their own hands. The government of Albertan appears totally unwilling, or unable, to put the brakes on this runaway train of an industry. The entire system appears stacked completely in favor of industry. If even half of what is presented in this book is factual (and I'm quite sure that much more than that is), it would still be a stinging indictment of "business as usual" in the oil province.
All this from one who lives here.
Oil is not just a fuel, but a business June 27, 2008
Trevor Gendre (Wpg, MB)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
After reading this book, I find that the author really changes your perception from what is said in the media, and what the actual and very detailed truth is of the oil business.
A lot of the material and facts presented in this book are things that the media will never go into depth with because it is very complex, and is beyond basic understanding. When you read this book you will see that there are reasons the price of gas is so high and all though you may not accept gas prices, you will have an understanding of how they got there, and what is expected to happen in the future, and from the way that this author presented the material, he gives you the idea that this gas battle has just started and that many of the major problems (demand & supply) are just starting to surface.
I will stop there because I don't want to spoil it, but I do recommend that you read it. Although it may be hard for some people to read because it is not an easy read, as it has many senoir University level words in there
Still stupid. March 5, 2008
A. Brown (Edmonton, Alberta)
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
This should be mandatory reading for all high-school, college and University students. Every Canadian should be reading this one. As an Albertan and someone who works in the oil industry - this one is an eye-opener for myself and I've seen things those not working in Syncrude, Suncor and in Edmonton wouldn't believe.
Please Canada: Save us from our selves. We've elected more losers to make foreign companies rich, while starving our own people and the rest of Canada. Help, we're Stupid to the Last Drop and there is no 'seeming' about, we really don't care!
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