Dear Brits:
As an American having been married to an English (half Scot) woman for fifty-seven years with whom, the last few years , I have spent summers in England, I am most definitely an Anglophile. Those credentials should qualify me to be a reasonable cultural bridge between the two nations of America and Britain.
Right now in U.K. great concern exists about anti-British sentiments in America and the President’s recent fiery remarks concerning BP when he said there needed to be “some asses kicked”. I know that came as a shock to Britons to hear the usually imperturbable and cool Barack Obama use such a non-Presidential perjorative. The Daily Telegraph ascribed it to political pressure and jingoism, which I think is a fair assessment. The President has been catching hell from a variety of sources, and he needed to demonstrate some emotional heat and passion to mollify his critics. I know many Brits call us Americans “O.T.T.” (over the top) on many occasions and think we are guilty of hyperbole, which, I admit, is an American characteristic on occasions. We are frequently emotional and don’t hide our feelings.
But---and it’s a big but---I suspect even the understated Brits, if subjected to the pressure of the present Gulf crisis due to the fire and destruction of the Deepwater Horizons rig and the subsequent uncontrolled pollution of a a large area of the Gulf of Mexico, threatening and despoiling the shores, so far, of Louisiana, Alabama, the panhandle area of Florida, and, I fear, a lot more to come, would be inclined to fits of pique and temper.
Put the shoe on the other foot. Let’s suppose that an oil rig was destroyed in the North Sea and was spewing millions of gallons of filth toward the English coast,. say near Great Yarmouth and then spread south, invading the English channel past Dover, Folkestone, Hastings, Eastbourne (where my wife and I live in the summer), carrying on to Portsmouth and then the resort coast of Devon and Cornwall, spreading into St. George’s Channel separating the U.K. and Ireland, etc., etc.. I think we might hear a few choice expletives from politicos in U.K. and certainly from the more rabid newspapers which I say, as an outside observer, are not noted at best of times for understatement. The yellow journalists in England are equal to the worst rags in America,
B.P. is an important corporation for the Brits and one of the mainstays of many U.K. pension funds and investments. The U.K. economy is hurting, and B.P. is a major player. 40% of its shareholders are here in the U.S,, which means it’s pretty important to us. Their P.R. during this mess has been far from perfect, and they have not added any stars to their crown, for sure. To be fair, they are really trying now to do the right thing, but they have not convinced those poor souls who earn their livings as shrimpers, fishermen, motel owners on the resort beaches or the naturalists and biologists seeing what is happening to the sea creatures and birds in the blighted areas.
I’m sure B.P. is not alone in its past philosophy of putting profits first and safety second; I suspect most of the oil companies in America would be just as guilty. What has to be done is to shore up the safety laws to prevent this ever happening again by making the punishment so harsh, including criminal charges, that they can’t afford to cheat., as well as emphasizing alternative sources of energy to minimize our dependence on oil.
It is a time in today’s climate in so many areas of harsh rhetoric. So many people are so busy talking they can’t find time to listen.. But it also a time when the worst oil disaster in American history is threatening the physical lives of so many creatures and the economic lives of so many Americans.
We’re not anti-British. I think most of us want to continue that “special relationship” existing between our two countries. Try to understand that the trials of this crisis are weighing heavily upon us. The economic news in the world as a whole is bad enough---and this oil crisis only exacerbates it.
It’s getting hot here. Let’s all try to stay cool--- but hot to trot when it comes to cleaning up this mess. I think you Brits can relate to that..
Yours Sincerely,
Fleshhpot
I don't understand how our anger at BP can be construed as anti-British. We're pissed at the corporation, not the people of England. As for the falling stock and its affect on pensions and investments, they should be blaming BP for that also; their negligence and lack of preparedness led to this.
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ReplyDeleteYeah, I read the article in the Telegraph. You wrote a very good letter and it's too danged bad more people, Brits, can't read it. I expect for them to hear the President speak as he did, would flinch the mustache on that stiff upper lip. In fact, the last time I heard any president speak thusly, it was Harry Truman.
ReplyDeleteYes, I well remember Harry Truman when he said the music critic of the Washington Post, who had panned his daughter Margaret's singing, had better wear a metal jock!
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