Anti-British feeling from BP oil leak?

[andyandy]

From a populist perspective it plays quite well - it's the foreign company's responsibility -it's relatively easy to stoke up the nationalist sentiment (as Obama et al are doing)

And obviously BP share a large chunk of the blame....

however, there was some American right-wing idiot on the radio who was blaming Britain for this spill. It was explained that BP was a multinational (British) company - not state owned, but this seemed to cut no ice - no it was a British company therefore it was Britain's fault.

Then I was thinking, if the roles were reversed, and American Petroleum had caused a similar spill off the coast of the UK - well, we have plenty of morons here in the UK as well who'd probably blame America for that.....

So, is there anti-British sentiment in the US as a result of this?

Discuss

 

[mummymonkey]

I can't help but feel that if this spill was off the coast of Nigeria or Venezuala there would be rather less fuss.

 

[Fiona]

Radio 4 has covered this story over the last few days and one of the aspects discussed was the approach of the BP front man. There was quite an interesting discussion one morning last week. Two american commentators were severly critical of the PR effect of this man's statements and interviews. According to them he has infuriated Americans. One reckoned he was just plain cack-handed: the other took the view that it was a cultural difference. One of the things mentioned was him saying that they did not have the right tools in the tool box (something like that): according to those commentators such a statement is just unacceptable to americans. His unemotional and somewhat self-deprecating demeanour did not play well either: one said that americans are not looking for a "stiff upper lip" but rather expected someone in his position to "tear up"

I have no idea if any of this is true, but I did find it interesting. If it is true I wonder if that has had any influence in making people think that this is a British problem? Might be wholly unrelated, though: I don't know

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I'll start hating once I figure out the geographic differences between Britain, England, Great Britain, and Hogwarts.

 

[geni]

I'll start hating once I figure out the geographic differences between Britain, England, Great Britain, and Hogwarts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:British_Isles_Euler_diagram.svg

 

[Fiona]

That is no good, geni: Hogwarts isn't shown

 

[andyandy]

I can't help but feel that if this spill was off the coast of Nigeria or Venezuala there would be rather less fuss.

There are certain parallels with the Bhopal disaster -an American company liable for a multi-billion dollar contamination in India....

for which they spent years fighting compensation and agreed to pay only a small faction of the costs....

That definitely did spark anti-american in India

 

[NWO Sentryman]

just ait till Lyndon larouche gets a hold of this

 

[leftysergeant]

That snivelling little punk Tony is the most hated man in America right now. His "I want my life back" remarks went over like a ham and cheese sandwich at a Bar Mitzvah.

He aint getting his life back, if the American people can do anything about it. Nobody else will, given the current technology.

One can hope that this will at least change people's attitudes toward globalization of the ecconomy and trans-national corporations.

I think it is more BP and Tony that we hate than British people in general.

(I do hope you haven't many more like that waiting to come out of the dungeon like a nightmare goblin.)

 

[andyandy]

That snivelling little punk Tony is the most hated man in America right now. His "I want my life back" remarks went over like a ham and cheese sandwich at a Bar Mitzvah.

He aint getting his life back, if the American people can do anything about it. Nobody else will, given the current technology.

One can hope that this will at least change people's attitudes toward globalization of the ecconomy and trans-national corporations.

I think it is more BP and Tony that we hate than British people in general.

(I do hope you haven't many more like that waiting to come out of the dungeon like a nightmare goblin.)

You would have thought BP would decide that their best interest would be served by ditching their Chief Exec ASAP....

BP's PR has been pretty dreadful - everything from his comments, to the absurd idea that they were going to have a live feed of the leak - "hey look at all the pollution! We're filming it 24-7 for your enjoyment!" Crazy.

 

[JihadJane]

BP still stands for Be A Part Of Apartheid in many British minds.

 

[leftysergeant]

...they were going to have a live feed of the leak - "hey look at all the pollution! We're filming it 24-7 for your enjoyment!" Crazy.

I think little Tony was afraid after the outcry for morre information that the peasants with pitch forks would come and roll him in crude and torch him if he didn't do that.

 

[NWO Sentryman]

BP still stands for Be A Part Of Apartheid in many British minds.

What are you on about? I have never heard of that claim in my life.

 

[JihadJane]

What are you on about? I have never heard of that claim in my life.

Perhaps your life is too short.

 

[Nogbad]

BP used to stand for British Petroleum but in recent years they have remodelled that to Beyond Petroleum. The merged with Amoco, Arco and Burmah Castrol. They are a truly global company. They dropped the old shield logo when they went Beyond Petroleum. The chairman is Swedish and there are obviously US people on the board given the companies they have merged with.

The shareholders of BP are spread around the world and paying out dividends will put money into US pension funds.

I think is fair to say they are genuinely trying to cap the leak - how they pick up the tab afterwards will rightly be subject to scrutiny. Union Carbide set the bar for moral rectitude enticingly low but I doubt even Tony Hayward could limbo under that one.

 

[daredelvis]

To this American, it is more of BP problem than a British problem. As far as I'm concerned, BP has a bad reputation when it comes to safety. The aftermath of the Texas City explosion revealed a corporation with a caviler attitude towards preventative maintenance, and the safety of its employees.

Daredelvis

 

[XBoxWarrior]

Well, here in NOLA, (new orleans) these T-shirts have been popping up in store fronts (shops). Probably violates BP's copy-write using that logo, but right now BP is not too popular in Louisiana...There also appears to be a ban on serving soggy bland food here as well.

I would have bought one, except they were printed on cheap cotton.

 

[The Fallen Serpent]

I have not noticed any anti-British sentiment in the Pacific Northwest. Plenty of anti-coprorate (both sides of the political spectrum), anti-market/conservative and anti-Obama/liberal sentiment attached to the disaster. I think with a few glaring exceptions the US largely does not consider this a British problem. We in general still consider the British one of the "good guys." If BP originated in a country other than one of our English speaking cousins I think there would be heavy sentiments attached to the country.

 

[mummymonkey]

There also appears to be a ban on serving soggy bland food here as well.

Shut all the TexMex restaurants have they?

 

[Undesired Walrus]

I can almost certainly guarantee that if it was an American company that had caused this devastation around the British Isles anti-American sentiment would be high.

Anti-Americanism is just the in thing I suppose. We seem to like to think you are dumb and slack jawed, patting you on the back for electing an intellectual like Obama.