“Surely if all that was happening to people along the Gulf coast over two years in the United States, then CNN, ABC and other major news stations would report it,” the agent told me about my Vampire of Macondo book summary.
I’d contacted her about what she described as a Hollywood-style video book trailer.
“Well, mainstream news has reported a bit of it,” I replied. “Merle Savage, one of the sole surviving workers at the Exxon Valdez disaster, was on CNN talking about it. Ms. Savage, very ill, hung on, advocating for Gulf survivors. She died last year.”
My heart raced. I wanted to show to Ms. Hollywood Trailer the interview of children like Jessica Hagan, 13, explaining that even children in her community were bleeding and women were having serious reproductive health problems. I wanted her to hear Jessica say that the elderly were “dropping like flies.”
I wanted to show to her Panama City oil clean up worker Jennifer Rexford saying on camera through tears that she was afraid to hold her babies anymore, fearing they’d catch the antibiotic-resistant disease she contracted soon after participating in a beach cleanup, as thousands of other workers had become deathly ill.
I wanted her to hear and see Ms. Rexford assert, “This is genocide. This is chemical genocide.”
I wanted her to hear south Louisiana’s Kindra Arnesen tell my son, director of The Big Fix, “I honestly think we’ve all been poisoned,” after showing her antibiotic resistant, giant, deep oozing boil, a condition all too familiar to Gulf coast residents since the BP “spill” in the Gulf.
“This is the United States,” I heard the agent on the other end of phone exclaim. “I could understand that happening in another country, but not here. You’re talking about something from the 1970s or 80s. This is 2012, Ms. Dupré.
She then said, “My company would have to see evidence of what you’re saying.”
“Oh,” I replied, “Well of course. I have over a thousand references documenting all this in the book. I can send all of those to you.”
After the agent’s next comment of disbelief, followed by another question, I politely thanked her, figuring it best to take my business elsewhere.
“Whoa! What a book!” publicist Dorothy Thompson promptly replied after reading my application for her company to represent me. “I knew there was more to that Gulf disaster than we’ve been told!”
Thompson, director of Pump Up Your Book, showed the innovative and compassionate response I needed to coordinate my virtual book tour.
Soon after sending to Thompson one of my interviews and a video demonstrating censored voices from the shattered Gulf, she exclaimed, “Those poor people.”
I knew I’d found the agent with the interest in human rights needed to publicize my book and coordinate my virtual tour.
About the Author:
New Orleans native Deborah Dupré reports censored human rights news stories. With Science and Ed. Specialist Grad Degrees from U.S. and Australian universities, Dupré’s been a human and Earth rights advocate over 30 years in those countries and Vanuatu. Her unique humanitarian-based research and development work, including in some of the world’s least developed and most remote areas, led her to write articles appearing in dozens of popular print and Internet media internationally.
Her latest book is the nonfiction, Vampire of Macondo.
Visit her column at Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/user-gdeborahdupre
About the Book:
The untold story of psychopathic genocide of Americans by the petrochemical military industrial complex, of how BP’s Deepwater Horizon catastrophe has sickened and killed thousands of people on the Gulf of Mexico Coast and government covered it up. Hear heart-rending cries of the victims. Read thoroughly documented evidence of crimes by Big Oil, the military, the seafood and tourism industries, health care providers, and corrupt government leaders.
See the facts backed by over 1000 references. Meet the Vampire of Macondo.
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I was not paid cash for this post. I did receive a paperback copy of the book for review. All opinions expressed are my own honest opinions. For more information please check my Disclosure Statement. Our giveaways are in no way sponsored or promoted by Facebook.
135 comments :
it was very sad, and confusing
I hate it! Don't understand why there was no help for the longest time.
2dogs5catscrew@att.net
Tragic!! So many animals suffered : (
It is very say that it happened. I feel for all the wildlife killed :(
eg kaufman
It was a terrible occurrence and one that, in this time we live in with awareness and with current safety measures, should not have happened.
Horrible. Hope something is done about it.
i think it was very sad
i think it's so sad....i hope this will help us learn about it and act quicker
annae07 at aol dot com
It was not a good thing,hurt a lot of people and animals
nothing good came of it.. a very sad event.
Very, very sad.
it was terrible, and uncalled for. So much damage done to animals and lan.d
It was very sad and I think a lot of things were covered up
A very sad disaster to the environment.
I think it's a terrible disaster.
I hope things will get better.
very sad
A horrible disaster to our world thankyou, ken pohl19@comcast.net
I think it's very sad and hope the effects can be remediated.
It's dreadful
It's sickening
It was a terrible tragedy for the people and the enviroment
It was so devastating! It has ruined the gulf for generations!
Not good for the animals.
truly sad and things need to be watched so this doesn't happen again
I live in Alabama and although I don't live on the Gulf Coast it affected the entire state and I think it was something that could have been averted if those involved had payed better attention.
it was very sad, and confusing.
debra.pauley63@gmail.com
I am deeply saddened by the oil spill and concerned for our wildlife!
dagoprincessss(at)hotmail(dot)com
i feel really bad for all the poor animals that died from it crystletellerday@yahoo.com
I was highly upset. I felt as though the clean up could have been handled differently and the government should have stepped up. The poor wildlife, well that one gets me to thinking again which ticks me off all over once again. An last but not lest the oil company should have received more that just a tap on the hand. End of rant.
ptfrugal
It's terribly sad and I'm very concerned for the wldlife.
I think it is tragic for the animals and people in the area.
I was ver upset about the spill, not only did it affect the ocean, people's lives the animals in the ocean but I am so tired of these big companies everywhere getting away with murder and our money and we just keep letting them do it
It was awful and sad
I think it was such a tragic incident that could have been avoided. My brother lives in Gulf Port MS, and he worked on cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico, he said it was such a sad sad sight to see.
Very sad!!!
Horrible effects right away and in the long term!
I feel that it could have been prevented.
What's saddest about the Gulf Oil Spill is that it was preventable- and also that people aren't speaking out about it. Disappointing :(
I feel like something could have been done to avoid the catastrophe!
It's sad that it's forgotten.
shannoncarman at yahoo dot com
I wish that this spill had been prevented. It was a sad loss of human and marine life.
Horrible... I think that is the only thing to say.
It was horrible and like someone else said it was preventable.
It was bad but I didn't really keep up with it much
annabella @ centurytel dot net
It was a horrible disaster! Uncalled for and will cause ramifications for decades to come
It is horrible all around.
morales_y at yahoo dot com
It was terrible. I couldn't understand why the oil company didn't do something quicker
We knew in the 1970's about other powers sources but did not push for change. I know of young people who are using other sources of power , they are not waiting for the big companys to change. We all can help by using less and save the planet. Wind, sun, corn oil or water as a fuel and the list goes on. Electric trains,ect...
It was a horrible situation that I feel could have been avoided
I think it is horrible. I wish we could find a way to prevent such tragedies. I am afraid that future generations will look at us and wonder why we didn't try harder to preserve our planet.
It was preventable and seems like nothing has been done to prevent another one .
devastating with serious long term effects
It's sad and wasteful. I wish we were a society less dependent on oil.
I was really upset when the oil spill happened. Conservation and environmentalism are two things I hold dear to my heart and to see such destruction was really upsetting.
dhsauers(at)gmail.com
A tragic incident - irreversible to our environment.
Thank you.
barbara dot montyj at gmail dot com
SO tragic and heart-wrenching.
As an animal lover I thought it was incredibly sad and shouldn't have happened!
It was terrible that it couldn't get under control for so long and a tragedy for Gulf coast fish and animals.
wendym at cableone dot net
It is a terrible price to pay for the energy we can't seem to live without
What a tragedy for the environment!
it is sad
agnesye@hotmail.com
It was a reprehensible accident that shouldn't have happened. Especially after the Exxon-Valdez happened in the '80s. BP should have had better security measures put into place. I'm disappointed and saddened by the fact that millions of fauna and wildlife are now tragically without their natural habitat because the oil will mess with the entire system and it won't be easily fixed.
It was very unfortunate and so sad
It is unfortunate for the sea life
blackbearpie@aol.com
So sad! I am an animal lover and all those poor sea animals that had to suffer :(
Jessica Eaton Ledford
cherriesjessilee at gmail dot com
The Gulf Oil Spill was the second in the one-two punch to the Gulf Coast area in the wake of Katrina. Just awful.
It was tragic and so many problems from its devastation.
It was tragic and so many problems from its devastation.
It was a gadgetry that probably could have been prevented. Devastating.
it was terrible!
rounder9834 @yahoo.com
It was tragic. I'm not sure we even know the full story. I mean, the real one.
Michelle Tucker
I think its just awful and could have been prevented and handled better.
Amanda Sakovitz on rafflecopter
I hate the self-righteous commercials about how much restoration and they're leaving the coast even better than it was before
unfortunate event
I lived very close to the gulf coast and was saddened to see this disaster, which continues to cause terrible damage to nature and peoples' livelihoods.
Sad. I love the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
It was a disaster that should never have happened.
It was devastating! The really sad thing is that the effects ( some unknown) of this disaster will be here for years to come.
i think it was very sad. to think that the big companies don't have the correct safety measures in place. a lot of wildlife and the eco system could have been saved.
I think it was a tragic event that the world will not soon forget. I think that there is no way of knowing all of the possible devastating consequences to the local environment that this spill may have both now and in the future. I would certainly be interested in hearing more from someone with more knowledge than me on the subject.
So tragic, I hope lessons have been learned to prevent a recurrence!
I think it was another man-made disaster, that has left permanent pollution in the environment, and will have lasting, damaging effects to wildlife.
It makes me sick and I hate how the oil companies get off so easily
They need to keep paying reparations!
I think it is very sad and I also do not like how it was pretty much a slap on the hand. There was so much damage that came from it and money shouldn't be the only punishment.
Exxon still has not paid for the mess they made decades ago...because they don't have enough money...NO
I am amazed that the coverage of the oil spill has slowed to a crawl. I think that routine maintenance and checking for as well as updating our products and infrastructures. I am sad that the families of those affected and those that lost their lives in the initial explosion.
The seems to be more forgiving than we thought
It was all a Hollywood hoax, just like the man on the moon landing.
Such a tragedy for all the poor animals affected. It was heartbreaking.
just tragic!
eai(at)stanfordalumni(dot)org
It was sad, but seems all is well now. Except gas prices!
mendyd15 at yahoo dot com
awful :(
It's kind of hard for em to say what my opinion is because I haven't seen it firsthand and don't personally know the effects, but it took way too long for them to get the oil leak to stop.
Very sad and upset because it did not have to happen.
It was a tragedy of enormous proportions. The oil spill caused widespread ecological damage, devastating the natural resources, the economies and the communities that rely on it.
It's horrible! With the way things are these days, it shouldn't have happened. I hope there are preventative measures taking place so it don't happen again.
It was horribly sad and shouldn't have happened.
I'm upset that it's been so quickly forgotten!
I think it is a tragedy for all the animals lives taken and the folks that lost work due to it!
What a tragedy for the environment, hopefully it won't happen again. I do feel the oil company responsible for the spill has cleanup and compinsated those who were affected.
s2s2 at comcast dot net
It was a tragedy that could have been prevented
It was a horrible tragedy that affected the lives of hundreds of people!
nothing
I would like to read about the story. It's a tragedy that should not happen again.
definitely tragic...and I think the effects will last a long, long time unfortunately.
Very sad, so many injuried and lost animals.
clenna at aol dot com
What a tragedy...those poor animals.
I think it is horrible. It has really made such a negative impact on Gulf tourism, seafood exporting and health and environmental impacts are just becoming known. I don't think we will know the full extent of the damage for a very long time- if ever.
It was a horrible tragedy and I really hope the cleanup continues.
needless and disturbing...sad beyond words
It was sad because that could be prevented.
I think that it was a terrible tragedy that could have been avoided.
So horrible and the BP commercials out now really make me sick. "Sticking with the gulf" - what propaganda.
It's ana absolute disgrace and a horrible tragedy -- not just the deaths of the workers, either. I think its effects on the environment, marine life, and the Gulf economy won't be realized for quite some time.
With today's technology, there is no reason why things like this should be happening!
It was beyond awful.
UInfortunately, there is almost always more to the story when big business, a disaster, and/or the government is involved. While I am not surprised to hear that there are ongoing horror stories coming out of the BP oil spill, I am deeply saddened by that. The anguish and suffering of American people should not be occurring, and it should not be swept under the rung. thanks to the author for having the courage of your convictions, and telling their story.
It will have negative effects for a long time. We have to persuade businesses and individuals to be careful with our environment.
Oops! Just noticed "US only." Sorry. You'll have to take my entry out. BTW I like that you made it so easy to enter the $25 paypal contest. Thanks!
It's horrible. They could have done something to prevent it. So sad.
I was confused about a lot of different things involving it, like how it happened and whose fault it was.
It was a tragedy, definitely...I didn't have a clue that all this was happening to the people who did cleanup...and I live in Mississippi!
I thought it was a terrible thing. I always wonder if these types of things could be avoided but I don't know that much about it. I really applaud all the people that helped with the cleanup effort.
It was horrible and uncalled for. They could have done something to prevent it
Horrible
sad..I hope all of it can be cleaned up soon!thanks, simms3710@yahoo.com
it was a tragedy and wishin they would have gotten more help...why is it we always send help immediately to other countries when they have a tragedy?????
shouldnt WE come first????
It was horrible and it could have been prevented
i also thought it was sad.
It saddens me. I believe it was an accident. What bothers me more is how some companies illegally dump waste. vidomich(at)yahoo(dot)com
It was so stupid and preventable. Now they're going on TV talking about all the stuff they've done to help the region, shoulda thought of that before!
Sad,Depressing & Preventable.
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