Exxon's Climate Denial for 40 Years - A Hanging Offense?

Yes, "the banality of evil" - The idea that it isn't gods or demons we should fear, or hold to account, but human beings.

I guess, it's especially important to point out that "evil people" doing "evil things" can be just as normal as can be, people like you and I just "making a living," standard operating procedure. 

You love your spouse, your kids, your dog, you have a job, you get a paycheck every other week. You do your work and you are loyal to your company. You are just doing your job. What could be evil about that?

Paul Krugman pointed me to this article in Scientific American - Exxon Knew about Climate Change Almost 40 Years Ago. Of course, armed with that knowledge, they muddied the waters over the years, putting out a coordinated disinformation campaign, to deny and confuse the issue. 

You wonder how people could live with themselves, knowing that they were lying. Knowing that their company was actively harming the ecosystem, harming the ability of our species to continue life on the planet. Actively wreaking havoc on our environment. And lying about it.

Exxon over the years has spent $30 million dollars to promote climate change denial! Talk about "blood money." Talk about evil. What kind of punishment do those folks deserve? How do they account? Shouldn't every one of those employees, scientists, executives, secretaries, etc. get on their knees and beg us all for forgiveness?

Shouldn't our species hold them accountable? Do we make them give back the money they earned? Are there jail sentences long enough for those folks? Do we still "tar and feather" people? Climate denial - is it a "hanging offense?" How do we hang a company?

I suppose this is all so evil, so banal, that nothing, but nothing, will be done. There will be no accounting for this crime. And all of us should be judged as fools. Total fools in the face of such a common, every day evil!