# The BP Oil Spill Has Negatively Impacted My Attitude Towards Brits **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 8, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015 "2010-09-08T03:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/41 "2010-09-09T03:44:30Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > BP internal investigation > > [http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9034902&contentId=7064891](http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9034902&contentId=7064891) It strikes me as vicious behavior. Of course responsibility for the spill rests mainly with BP. They gave the (insistent) green light to proceed with the well. While the equipment just happened to be all kinds of neglected, ultimately it is quite plainly BP’s chain of authority which is to blame for allowing the blowout. But my point is that I am starting to see this kind of behavior as a congenital British trait. So… should I seek counseling? Srsly I can get it free through work ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/42 "2010-09-09T04:27:26Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > > [@villa](#): > > > > The stupidity of some Yanks has negatively impacted my attitude towards Yanks. I try not to let it overflow, given that I live amongst them, and I have wonderful friends who are Yanks, but when I see the utter retardation of some, it is hard not to let that overflow into my day to day interactions. > > So, you got it all figured out, and everyone else is retarded. I’d wager you are the first Brit in history to take that attitude :rolleyes: Not everyone. Just one in particular. One who clearly isn’t smart enough to realize that “some” and “everyone else” are not the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/43 "2010-09-09T04:48:40Z")
> [@villa](#): > > > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > > > So, you got it all figured out, and everyone else is retarded. I’d wager you are the first Brit in history to take that attitude :rolleyes: > > Not everyone. Just one in particular. One who clearly isn’t smart enough to realize that “some” and “everyone else” are not the same thing. Oh come on. Poetic license, hello? Poster and crew make up an ingroup, the implied outsiders are retards. It really isn’t so big a leap. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/44 "2010-09-09T05:14:27Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > > [@villa](#): > > > > Not everyone. Just one in particular. One who clearly isn’t smart enough to realize that “some” and “everyone else” are not the same thing. > > Oh come on. Poetic license, hello? Poster and crew make up an ingroup, the implied outsiders are retards. It really isn’t so big a leap. What crew? WTF are you babbling about? It was merely a comment that me judging all Americans but the few idiots I meet, either here or in real life, is about as sensible as you judging British people by the actions of a global multinational corporation that happens to include the word British in its previous name. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/45 "2010-09-09T05:38:56Z")
> [@villa](#): > > > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > > > Oh come on. Poetic license, hello? Poster and crew make up an ingroup, the implied outsiders are retards. It really isn’t so big a leap. > > What crew? WTF are you babbling about? Well, you did say this: > [@](#): > > I live amongst them, and I have wonderful friends who are Yanks It suggests you have some kind of ‘crew’, be it trans-Atlantic or what have you. Maybe you are one of those rare, likable Brits. > [@](#): > > It was merely a comment that me judging all Americans but the few idiots I meet, either here or in real life, is about as sensible as you judging British people by the actions of a global multinational corporation that happens to include the word British in its previous name. Okay fine well and good. Now what am I supposed to do with this anti-Brit antipathy? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/46 "2010-09-09T06:02:59Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Fucking Brits! > > Don’t get me started! > > Shell CANNOT be allowed to drill in the waters north of Alaska. They will display the same bullshit Imperial attitude towards the project; I personally guarantee you Shell drilling Alaska is a DEATH WARRANT for the region. Forever. amen > > Do not fucking get me started on my position towards the God damn Brits right now! BP is 40% owned by British institutions and individuals and 39% by US ones. BP employees some 96,000 permanent members of staff for the day-to-day operation of the business, 10,000 British and 24,000 American. Why don’t you hate America? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/47 "2010-09-09T06:46:32Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Why don’t you hate America? The new Republican slogan as of 1/20/09 (all they had to do was add “n’t”). ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/48 "2010-09-09T07:27:00Z")
I’ll concede I haven’t conducted a comprehensive review of the process but my understanding is that the legislative authorities that have permitted drilling in Alaska were American; that any regulatory bodies overseeing any drilling in Alaska are American; the powers of those the regulatory authorities are decisions taken by Americans; that the sub-contracting companies are likely to be American (or domiciled in a tax haven) and the foremen, engineers and riggers they employ are also likely to be American. So on that basis it’s crystal clear why it is rational to blame the Brits for everything that might go wrong. > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I am still constantly reminded that a region of the world just went up in smoke, there is a new 10,000+ square mile dead zone, a thousand billion creatures flipped over and croaked… all for nothing. Interesting parallel with what the US has done in the (Arabian) Gulf, don’t you think? > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Now what am I supposed to do with this anti-Brit antipathy? Bottle it. It’s of no monetary value but it does seem to shield you from all manner of dangerous realities. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/49 "2010-09-09T09:28:44Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Okay fine well and good. Now what am I supposed to do with this anti-Brit antipathy? Move to Ireland! No love of the Union Jack in County Cork, I assure you. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/50 "2010-09-09T10:47:39Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Okay fine well and good. Now what am I supposed to do with this anti-Brit antipathy? Oh come on now, old chap. Keep a stiff upper lip about it, there’s a good fellow. Damn colonials, always on about their “feelings”. Harrumph. _rustler newspaper in vexed fashion_ ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/51 "2010-09-09T11:04:33Z")
> [@Fuji](#): > > > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > > > Okay fine well and good. Now what am I supposed to do with this anti-Brit antipathy? > > Move to Ireland! No love of the Union Jack in County Cork, I assure you. You Cork feckers would have him whining in a New York minute 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/52 "2010-09-09T14:41:17Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > > [@Fuji](#): > > > > Move to Ireland! No love of the Union Jack in County Cork, I assure you. > > You Cork feckers would have him whining in a New York minute 😃 That’s assuming he could even understand what the locals were saying. I wouldn’t bet on that… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/53 "2010-09-09T14:43:36Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > It suggests you have some kind of ‘crew’, be it trans-Atlantic or what have you. Maybe you are one of those rare, likable Brits. I live in the States, idiot. I can see why you would assume the normal situation is to have no friends, but that isn’t true for all people. > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Okay fine well and good. Now what am I supposed to do with this anti-Brit antipathy? Stick it up your arse maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/54 "2010-09-09T14:48:29Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > > [@Wile\_E](#): > > > > We should get revenge on those Brits! Let’s … um, I don’t know, throw all their tea in the harbor or something. That’ll teach 'em! > > Tea? Who the hell is talking about tea? Let’s dump all their oil in the gulf – that’ll learn 'em! Couldn’t we just dump our teabaggers? ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/55 "2010-09-09T16:56:09Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Yeah I know it is stupid to blame the Brits as a group for the BP spill. But you know, I used to like to listen to the BBC off and on, and now I generally find it insulting. The coverage of the disaster started to seem like propaganda run by partisan interests to shush the whole thing. Now those plummy accents themselves suggest all kinds of negative personal characteristics. It doesn’t seem rational to me either, but I think I have come to not trust Brits. And that company is still allowed to work on our soil :mad: Have you ever seen Die Hard? Or Die Harder? Or The Aristocats? Or any one of a hundred paint-by-numbers Hollywood thrillers with a British villain? Or Patton: Lust for Glory? (yes, even in WW2, the Brits were the villains!) You’ve been thorough conditioned by your movie industry to believe that plummy accent = Sneaky Brit trying to Get One Over on the Honest Yanks. Once you grok this, you can start to decondition yourself. Remember: just because a bell rings, it doesn’t mean you _have_ to start slavering. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/56 "2010-09-09T17:00:25Z")
BP America is effectively an American company, almost entirely staffed and run by Americans. The people who screwed up the rig were Americans. It’s almost comical to develop a prejudice against Brits based on this incident. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/57 "2010-09-09T18:45:02Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > BP America is effectively an American company, almost entirely staffed and run by Americans. The people who screwed up the rig were Americans. It’s almost comical to develop a prejudice against Brits based on this incident. But … but … they’re _different_! They’re always adding extra vowels to words and they talk funny! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/58 "2010-09-09T20:04:52Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > BP America is effectively an American company, almost entirely staffed and run by Americans. The people who screwed up the rig were Americans. It’s almost comical to develop a prejudice against Brits based on this incident. In fairness, Tony “I want my life back” Hayward’s public statements, in that supercilious Brit accent he has, contributed mightily to the PR issue we see in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/59 "2010-09-10T02:45:15Z")
> [@villa](#): > > I live in the States, idiot. I can see why you would assume the normal situation is to have no friends, but that isn’t true for all people. I assumed no such thing. I don’t have any _British_ friends, maybe that’s what you’re interpreting. Brits do take my money however. > [@](#): > > Stick it up your arse maybe? Colonize me. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015/60 "2010-09-10T02:57:58Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > BP America is effectively an American company, almost entirely staffed and run by Americans. The people who screwed up the rig were Americans. It’s almost comical to develop a prejudice against Brits based on this incident. Perhaps. But it is their money (who cashes those dividend checks? Who is harboring the one of the world’s most destructive organizations?), their system, their property, and their record of fecklessness that got us where we are today. Add to that the lies, the denials, the distortions of the truth, the buying up of Google links for gosh sakes (they come to _Our_ country and fiddle with _Our_ free speech!!), the BBC announcers crowing that they don’t care (the link to the broadcast I am referring to isn’t there anymore. 8/1, the guy who got transferred to Berlin…), all the dodgy maneuvers to avoid responsibility and blame, the lowballing of the flow rate, and I suppose you could throw in a long history of Britain causing a lot of damage and then snooting at their victims. Not that you don’t have a point. I admitted that it isn’t rational. Nonetheless I am not liking the Brits right now, and pretty much assign the whole bag to the British national character. That’s not very nice, no? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bp-oil-spill-has-negatively-impacted-my-attitude-towards-brits/553015.md?page=4)