Robert Murray: Sociopath

Robert “Bob” Murray is the chairman of the nation’s 12th-largest coal company, Murray Energy Corporation. In the wake of a cave-in that has trapped six of his miners, Murray took this opportunity in the national spotlight to stress the importance of coal as a low cost energy source, to espouse his claim that the collapse was caused by a seismic event, to rail against global warming legislation, and tell watchers what a great country America is. I wonder if Bob Murray was the type of industrialist that Ayn Rand admired.

The most blatant lie is the claim that the cave-in was caused by 3.9 magnitude earthquake. Government scientists, the people with qualified opinions on such matters stated that that ground shaking was not caused by a quake, but rather the cave-in itself.

As for other strange topics, I believe America is a great country also, just that when six men are trapped national platitudes are not necessarily a relevant topic of conversation. However, little of what Bob Murray said was directly relevant to problem at hand.

To further complicate matters the Mexican consulate said three of the six missing are Mexican citizens. Not that it matters much as far as rescue efforts are concerned, but for a man the trumpets his patriotism and the importance his company plays in the national economy, to employ foreign workers over his own countrymen I think displays the character of his patriotism.

Generally, when you are given the forum in the wake of such a disaster, the human thing to do is attempt to console the families, express your hope that the men will be saved, thank the rescue workers for their efforts and hope for their safety as well, tell everyone that you will conduct an investigation into the cause and commit your company to preventing disasters like this from happening again.

Although, committing his company to preventing these types of disasters might have been a tall order to ask given its history.

Government mine inspectors have issued 325 citations against the Utah mine since January 2004, according to federal Mine Safety and Health Administration online records. Of those, 116 were what the government considered “significant and substantial,” meaning they are likely to cause injury.

In short, let’s call this man what he is. A man that doesn’t care about his workers. A man that doesn’t care about the environment. A man that doesn’t care for the well-being of his countrymen. A man that really doesn’t care for the truth. All he seems to care about is his ability to continue to profit. He is a sociopath. He has cost people their limbs, and might have just cost people their lives. Will this country hold him accountable?