On the British media outrage over BP blame-sharing

[rebness]

There's been a lot of controversy in the British press lately over the alleged anti-British rhetoric from the Obama administration in the wake of the BP oil spill.

I'm torn on this one. I'm really disappointed and, well, a little angry that he made a point of emphasising 'British Petroleum' when the company has not used that moniker in over ten years and when 39% of the company is American-owned, compared to... 40% British. The majority of its employees are also American. I don't understand why the average American can grasp this and the powers that be can't. It seems like a sly attempt to offload the blame on a nation and its hapless people, rather than the greedy multinational company it truly is. No wonder David Cameron reacted sharply to these rants, though to be fair, Obama stopped referring to it in this manner after they 'discussed' things.

I also feel like slapping Helen Mirren for her stupid comments on an American talk show this week where she declared she was ashamed to be British and that she was glad we didn't beat America in the World Cup after our terrible oil spill.

Our? I assure you, Mirren, I don't make a penny from BP. Clown. 

At the same time, the hurt feelings of the British have to play second fiddle to the coastline being destroyed and the poor wildlife being decimated by this spill whilst we dither other diplomatic incidents, and rightly so. It feels like there is too much emphasis upon politics and stupid statements than, you know, working out a solution or protecting the livelihoods of the ordinary people affected by the oil spill.

So I just want to applaud New Orleans for its tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign of late: "This isn't the first time New Orleans has survived the British."

I think it's amazing that amidst all this tragedy and finger-pointing and anger, New Orleans proves its gutsy spirit once again:

"You can't just say we're open, come," the bureau's president, Steve Perry, told the organisation as he launched the campaign, according to blogofneworleans.com. "You have to acknowledge it. It's sorta like the poster with the family in front of the shark tank at the aquarium after Katrina, saying we're pleased to report that this is the only part of New Orleans that's still under water."

Thankfully, the small print on the adverts states that 'right now everyone is welcome, especially our friends from England'.

Thank you, New Orleans.

IIn a similar vein, Charlie Brooker explains our sense of national culpability and the general goodwill of the American people much better than our politicians or fricken' Helen Mirren can:

But now, as a company with the word "British" in its name pisses apocalyptic quantities of oil into the ocean, and CEO Tony Hayward pops up on the news to make tactless statements in a British accent, anglophilia is shrivelling. Things must be bad when gimpy Cameron has to reassure us that BP wiping its arse on the Gulf of Mexico won't disturb the "special relationship" between the US and the UK. Of course it will.

Never mind that BP is an international company. Never mind that 39% of its shares are held in the US, that half its directors are American. It's got the word British in the title, and that'll do. It genuinely feels like our fault. Like you, I've never supervised the offshore drilling policy of a major oil company, but I can't help feeling responsible. It's like watching a news report in which someone with your surname has been caught having sex with a hollowed-out yam. The disgrace is shared, however irrationally.

And to be honest, the Americans are thus far admirably restrained about the whole thing. If a company called Texan Gloop belched a carpet of black gunk over Norfolk, we'd be surrounding the US embassy and burning sarcastic effigies of Boss Hogg within minutes... Having vandalised Louisiana and laminated thousands of pelicans, the BP spill now threatens to disfigure the Miami coastline, corrupting its relentlessly cheery blue-and-yellow colour scheme with a sea of rainbow black. Congratulations, people of Britain. Even though, strictly speaking, it isn't your fault.

Yes, that's exactly it.

Comments

[diana-molloy.livejournal.com]

I was really surprised by Helen Mirren. Granted, I expect most celebrities to be vacous and all round thick; Helen Mirren though I would have placed into the box of someone who would be less ignorant. At the very least would have kept her mouth shut rather than spout about shit she didn't know.

You're ashamed of being British? Dame Mirren, I* believe right now I'm ashamed that you are



* I don't have British Nationality to be fair as it's over a grand and so I've never gotten around to doing it.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I was surprised by her, too. I've always looked up to her as an intelligent and charismatic actress but her comments were just an ill-advised attempt at scoring points with a foreign audience. Not cool.

Pfft, you don't need a piece of paper to be pretty much British. As Mirren knows, it's your attitude. :p

[mcgarrygirl78.livejournal.com]

I think Charlie Brooker is right on. I like the way he said it. Someone always has to be blamed when these kinds of things happen, I like to blame Corporate-ism in general, with its lack of care about something until all hell breaks loose. Its loopholes and tax breaks and all that jazz. And lets not even forget 11 people died in that explosion. I just think corporations should take better care of its sites and its employees and surely the community as a whole. With all that money it shouldnt be too hard.

Bet it would've been a lot cheaper than the 20billion BP is now shoveling out for ruining small businesses and the livelihood of the people of the Gulf Coast. But that also lays some blame at the government's feet because there needs to be a much better check and balance system of the massive corporation. They wont do anything they *need* to do without guns to their heads.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I agree completely with you. It's horrible (though not unexpected) to see lives (both human and animal) lost and all this suffering, only for people to try and ensure their profits and political careers are okay above trying to help.

BP needs to stop trying out silly PR exercises (like the government) and knuckle down and fix the damned problem already.

[pandorasblog]

This is exactly it. You'd like to think that other corporations which could have just as huge a disaster on their hands will consider their options for prevention, but in practice it seems like such organizations need to be forced. And audited to heck and back...

[versailles-rose.livejournal.com]

I actually haven't heard any anti-Brit on network news. It must be just local crap. True, people a screamingly angry at the company here in NY, but I think we have brains to tell a company from a county.

I mean, it's an OIL COMPANY people! Christ on a cracker!

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't worry. It's not actually American media so much as the politicians and a dopey British actress. The people and media are being a lot fairer!

[zhonghua2000.livejournal.com]

I haven't weighed in on the BP Oil Spill issue because it's so overwhelmingly enormous but I will tell you that the first thing I asked after it happened was: "What does BP stand for?" Walter told me, British Petroleum. Is that bad?

I was all eye-rolly when the US media made a big deal over the BP CEO saying that he cares about the "small people." I knew he meant the regular people or you know the victims or whatever but of course our idiot brigade had to come out and made something out of nothing.

I am sad that the accident occurred and that people died and now the environmental problem exists but I'm hopeful we can learn something from this. When I say "we", I mean the entire world. :)

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about it. There's a huge difference between you wanting to know what an acronym stands for and the president of the US deliberately calling the company this at every opportunity.

People just like hysteria, it seems. We do all need to work together to just solve the issue and stop trying to score points against each other. It's just absurd. And pretty depressing. :(

[mothergoddamn.livejournal.com]

All my love for Obama died after hearing this:

"yada, yada will there be an investigation?"
O: "Sure. I need to know whose ass to kick."

ASS. TO. KICK?

Grow the fuck up.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

YES! I forgot about that!

You're the leader of the free world, Obama! ACT LIKE IT!

[rhionnach.livejournal.com]

I'm not from England, I'm from Scotland. Do you think they mean Britain or maybe the UK?

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Oh, totally. But I see non-Brits fail to make the distinction so often that I don't even raise my eyebrow, anymore. (Especially since a frustrating conversation with a group of Belgians in Barcelona one night. My (Scots) friends and I could not get them to accept the difference between 'British', 'English' and 'Scottish'.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Although there was, of course, no excuse for Mirren talking of the US versus the 'British' national football team. I mean, she's from here! She should know the difference.

[rhionnach.livejournal.com]

That's true. But I have found that some English people very often do not know the difference themselves. I don't know why this should be.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

It's simply that (some) English don't put their brains into gear before talking of nationality. I find myself using British and English interchangeably sometimes and have to make a conscious effort not to. It's also simply the fact that Scots are generally more aware on a nationalistic level (and rightfully bristle against being sidelined by England) but, well... uh, English people don't feel threatened in this way.

It's harsh but I think that's why.

[gairid.livejournal.com]

Like VR said,--there isn't a lot of Brit-blaming going on here as far as I can tell and I've been following the whole debacle pretty closely.

I think my Obama-lurve has shriveled quiet a bit during this whole thing, though. As far as I can tell it's same ole, same ole and frankly I'm sick of it.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Again, it's not your media or even your general Americans - they seem very clued-up! I should also point out that I was worried about the rhetoric and asked on Yahoo Answers (yeah, yeah, I know) what New Orleanians thought of us, and they told me that they adored the British and don't blame us, so I'm very happy with that.

Like you and mothergoddamn, I'm really disappointed in Obama. I can't believe his childish rhetoric or the finger-pointing. Just do something, Obama! Fuck the fines - please help with the clean-up!

More than that, I have been reading more and more about Obama's perceived anti-British stance (read about the Winston Churchill bust incident). Not impressed.