There's little reaction as BP's CEO lambastes company critics
BP's Tony Hayward (f) and Bob Dudley
Today's health headline is about how cigarette smoking causes Alzheimer's, but after reading the latest diatribe from BP's latest CEO, I wonder if there isn't another culprit -- oil.
Just a few months ago, at the height of BP's oil gusher into the Gulf of Mexico, then-CEO Tony Hayward drew angry public reaction—and ultimately had to resign—for making a number of insensitive statements, such as wanting his life back and saying the spill was tiny compared to the ocean. Even President Obama called for Hayward's head.
But, that was then when oil was flooding wetlands, tarring wildlife and leading the news. Since then, the oil well's been capped, the oil has mostly disappeared from public view (although much if not most of it has retreated to the ocean depths), and the public itself is no longer acting or reacting to what continues as America's biggest oil spill, nor is there any apparent reaction to the Obama administration's decision to let deepwater oil drilling resume.
Even more telling is the complete lack of outrage or even ripples of public distaste over what Bob Dudley, the replacement CEO at BP, is saying about the spill. Today, he came out swinging at those groups, people and other oil companies who said negative things about BP when the oil was flowing unchecked.
Dudley attacked BP's critics for their "great rush to judgment" about the company and the spill it caused—as if BP hadn't shown its own great rush of misjudgment with an abysmal well drilling operation that resulted in the deaths of 11 workers and an uncountable toll on human communities, wildlife, ecosystems and habitat; its many weeks of deliberate misinformation about the spill itself; and its determination to bull forward in the Gulf. As Dudley vowed today, BP isn't "quitting the U.S." and most certainly isn't quitting deepwater drilling.
Based upon the virtual non-response to these in-your-face statements, one must assume that the issue has slipped off America's radar screen. Is it boredom with the issue or has it been largely forgotten?
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Honestly, I don't think many people really care if the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem is wrecked. I do, but so what? How do you make people care about tuna embryos when they are willing to send their sons and daughters to war in defense of cheap oil and the companies that produce it? Gas taxes? Forget it. Public transportation? Keep it.
Folks who care about such things as ecosystems, and collective health and prosperity fail again and again to sell their product: a future. Sell the self-interest angle better -- No More All You Can Eat At Red Lobster -- otherwise you're a chump in the eyes of most of the US electorate. Don't believe me? Look at the people we elect to Congress, and what they sold the electorate (or the people we don't elect).
I promise you, Mr. Bob Dudley and British Petroleum, we absolutely have not forgotten the ecological disaster your company's carelessness has caused to our gulf coast. One way or another, you will be put out of business.
Yet again our nation proves that problems never disappear, but are just made worse by being forgotten. The media drills a topic into the ground until no one wants to here another word. People on youtube claim this is the end of the world! No one wants to visit the Gulf cause all the oil. Gulf shore small businesses go under.
In reality, had the general public not known about the oil spill for a profit for the Media Agencies but seen as what it actually needs is long term support everything would be a lot better off. I went down to Pensacola, FL to visit during the worst time of the oil spill. Workers cleaned the oil at night and the white sandy beaches were clear in the morning. The water was not safe, but the river ways blocked off from the ocean were - went swimming in them all day.
If only the media would not over do every damn incident. Instead report in small doses people would be more likely to remember about stuff. Hell most of the Gulf Coast is still in a shit hole from Katrina do you hear anything about that?
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