My Rant on the Gulf Tragedy

We are closing in on 60 days that an outrageous amount of oil has been spilling into the beautiful Gulf of Mexico that has now be categorized as the worst oil spill in history. Now let me preface by saying I am not usually the person to jump on bandwagons or hold up protests signs or care much about matters that are out of my hands but this monstrosity has made me reach my breaking point and I need to let my frustrations out. Let me also say that I am in no way an environmental activist (although I do recycle and try to conserve energy) and I do believe in the drilling for oil to sustain our current lifestyle. I just think the way in which things were handled and the corners that were cut by BP are unacceptable.

Now on to my rant...

Not that I had much to begin with, but BP has lost all respect in my book. I have never been so upset, disappointed and downright PISSED OFF at a company as much as I am at BP. The more and more I read, the more I find out about the mistakes the company made leading up to the spill and during the aftermath. To find out that this devastating event could have been avoided, makes me sick to my stomach.

Being in the PR world, every day that passes by I wonder when BP will admit their mistakes or come up with a plan to combat the terrible publicity. For starters, they had no crisis communications plan waiting in the wings.

Eric Denzenhall said it best in his article Why BP Didn't Plan for this Crisis when he stated "corporations are a collection of individuals motivated by a short-term personal self interest, the first and foremost of which is job advancement and preservation....these individuals fall prey to what psychologists call 'the apathy of crowds,' the passive assumption that someone else, somewhere has things covered."

Today, 50 something days after the initial spill, I saw the first ad from BP CEO Tony Hayward (granted it could have aired earlier but I saw it for the first time today). He apologized for the spill and said BP will do everything to fix it. TOO LITTLE TOO LATE Tony!!! Sorry doesn't fix it.

What breaks my heart the most is the wildlife that are dying because of human stupidity. BP claims that they will pay to protect and rehabilitate the wildlife in the gulf but will they follow through? And what about all the people that can't work because of this? What are they supposed to do? Will BP pay for their lost income as well? I am going to be even more mad if when I go to Destin in July and my pearly white beaches are covered with oil slime. This spill is affecting more and more every day!

I also want to know why they haven't figured out some way to stop the leaking? I find it very hard to believe that nobody in that entire company did not have some kind of plan, however elementary it might be, to fix the leak permanently. I will just add that to the growing list of outrageousness that is the BP company.

I know I have no solution to the problem but I do know that an ocean is being destroyed, wildlife is dying and somebody better find a way to fix it all NOW!