David Sassoon and the Koch brothers have not seen eye-to-eye of late. Sassoon, a writer for InsideClimate News published an article in 2012 about Koch Industries’ interests in Canadian Tar Oil. The piece focuses on the obscure operations of the corporation taking place in Alberta, Canada, by simply detailing certain aspects of it. The article is not really inflammatory – at least in my opinion, after having read it – but the brothers or someone representing their interests thought otherwise. The company embarked on a horrendous smear campaign aimed at debasing and discrediting Sassoon. The costly offensive bought ad time on Facebook and Google, and according to a Washington Post article, the ads included images of Sassoon’s face along with various captions calling him a liar - although I was unable to find any myself. To my knowledge Sassoon has not been sued for libel, so it stands to reason that while the Koch brothers or someone from their public relations department may have disliked what he had to say, they can not refute it.

I was slightly surprised to discover Sassoon is far from the only journalist the Koch industries have had a beef with. The industry has a website, KochFacts.com, which singles out countless authors including Sassoon who have written things the company disagrees with. It might be comical if they did not have so much money to disseminate personal attack ads. Seriously, publish anything about Koch Industries which can be construed as negative – even slightly – and they will go for the jugular. Heck, they might post pictures of me on Facebook and Google along with defaming captions for writing this. It just goes to show that sometimes money only buys new levels of childishness.

I wonder if the Koch brothers’ oil empire brings them happiness. Do they get up in the middle of the night, look over to the pillow next to them, where a topographical map of their holdings slumbers, and heave a deep sigh of contentment before falling asleep, dreaming of mounds of cash. Does influencing the minds of Americans through purchased politicians or costly ad campaigns bring them joy. I am not being facetious, I really do wonder about the Koch brothers’ emotional standing.

I would think being malicious and power hungry would not bring satisfaction, but then again I am basing that assumption on what I have seen in the movie theater and on television. I’ve hardly been in such a position myself.

Follow me on Twitter

...@evesunkevin