CSR=Look at the shiny thing while we trash your world!
“Yes, we disabled the alarms on the Deepwater Horizon. Oh, like you’ve never hit the snooze button? http://ow.ly/2fQ6x” 1:57 PM Jul 23rd @BPGlobalPR
Today British Petroleum announced a new CEO, Robert Dudley, an American, meant to appease the millions of Americans without livelihoods now, and the millions of environmental activists up in arms about the devastation in the gulf.
He said they would remain strong on their pledge to pay reparations to the citizens of the gulf, AND KEEP DRILLING. Well, it seems like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has struck again.
So the concept of CSR, as far as I see it, is that you throw some volunteers or money at a relief effort for a tragedy that you may or may not have caused and suddenly you have purchased the indulgences to act exactly as you please, with no need for morals any longer.
What is even more unconscionable is that this is the second such disaster and CEO musical chairs that has been caused by BP in the last five years.
Yes, in 2005, BP had a big blowup at a Texas City oil refinery and some leakage of oil in Alaska as well. So their then CEO, John Browne, was forced to step down, and Mr. Tony Hayward took his place. We all know how well THAT worked out.
My favorite line from The New York Times Article today is, “Mr. Hayward, asked how he felt about the oil spill given that he pledged to improve safety standards in light of the Texas City explosion, said he “was determined not to have a repeat” of such an accident but “sometimes you step off the pavement and get hit by a bus.””
Wow. That is really incredible. Mr. Hayward is STILL NOT ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY for this oil spill. You’d think that if you were BP CEO, you could improve safety standards. That it would be, kind of, your job. Especially since you just stepped in after a previous disaster when your oil equipment wasn’t safe enough, and pledged to “not have a repeat” of the accident. And now he’s going to continue to work for BP, and get his over $14 million dollar payout.
What is wrong with our concept of corporate social responsibility? Basically, everything. But we shouldn’t stop there. We also need to take away corporate personhood, and do as Ecuador has done, and make Mother Nature a person in court with equal rights.
I was reading the Philanthrocapitalism blog yesterday, which is written by an Economist editor, Matthew Bishop, and he asked, “Is CSR evil”? He calls it “Short Term Thinking” that plagues companies. That’s so understated that it’s almost insulting. How about we call it, “We’re going to Rape, Plunder and Pillage your entire life and you don’t have a choice”? I guess that doesn’t really roll off the tongue.
We need to start asking, why aren’t we instilling the golden rule into our accountants, stockbrokers, CEOs and MBAs?
Why are we making “at will employment” the rule, giving people no legal recourse to being fired? Why aren’t we protecting our workers, strengthening our unions, and making safety standards real, instead of just paying lip service to them?
It’s not “short term thinking” we need to eliminate, Mr. Bishop, it’s the sociopathic lack of any concern for anyone other than the company and its image.
We need to dissolve British Petroleum and stop our dependence on oil. We need to FORGET OUR BRANDS and start trying to SAVE OUR WORLD. Thank you Leroy Stick, for putting it so succinctly.
Why aren’t you more angry? What can you do about this?
See more pictures of the spill here
BP Kills. Don't give them your money.
