Dear BP,
That was not nice! Isn't it enough that you've polluted the ocean, massacred wildlife, and destroyed people's businesses?
Now you have to go after me? I'm also a Brit, in case you weren't aware.
Am I really such a threat? I know, I know, the pen is mightier than the oil drill, but do you really feel so threatened by the onslaught of literature?
Oilspill dotcom isn't even about you. It could be, and I wouldn't be surprised if one day it will be, but I was having a go at McDonald's. Honest. I happen to love the rain forests as well as the oceans.
I sell most of my books over the Internet. It’s the only way. I have a full time job running a non-profit that supports students. And they will, unfortunately, all be driving oil-fueled cars in the very near future, so you could see me as a stakeholder of sorts.
Did you really have to buy up ALL the 'oil spill' search words from Google? Now all those literature lovers are going to get distracted by apologies to the tarred brown pelicans and your explanations for why BP shares aren't performing as well as one might expect.
Poor buggers. They just wanted to buy a novel to read on the beach (a tar ball-free one) this summer, enjoy reading some humor, sex, and politics. Solid summer reading that QUESTIONS THE UNCHECKED POWERS OF MULTINATIONALS!
Oilspill dotcom confronts the issue of freedom of speech and you buy up all search words to control what people see on the Internet – the final frontier of freedom – do you even see the irony?
BTW - there is also a small company down in West Chester, PA. They clean up oil spills and their business URL is http://www.oilspill.com/ I wish their business well. I hope they don't rely too much on the Internet for business referrals. Hey, perhaps you could become a client!
Your Internet Competitor,
Alon
http://www.alonshalev.com/
Showing posts with label BP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BP. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Oilspill / Oil spill
I am passionate about New Orleans as you will know from reading this blog. I organize groups of students to travel to Louisiana for a week of volunteering. I have traveled every year but one, and even that year I recruited students and raised money to help them make the trip. Our program, beyond hands-on work, includes meeting people impacted by the hurricanes and helping to rebuild the community.
So you can imagine how sad I am at the impending disaster to the Louisiana community if and when the BP oil spill reaches the coast, and the damage already done to the seafood industry. I listen to the stories on National Public Radio and my heart goes out to them.
My car sports a magnet on the passenger door with Oilspill dotcom in big black letters and the words: "Maybe there is a way to hold big business accountable for its actions." In the world of marketing, my book is "trending." The key words are in the news, on the web and in conversations among activists and concerned citizens.
But I feel bad every time someone comments on my car magnet and rather than lamenting the Louisiana disaster, I direct the conversation to talking about my book, in hope of the next sale. Honestly, I need the sales, the exposure, anything that can help me promote Oilspill dotcom. I want and need to make money from my writing and shouldn't feel ashamed doing so.
And yet I feel guilty highlighting my needs when perhaps I should be highlighting my passion for a community about to be consumed in its second natural disaster in five years, when it hasn't even recovered from the first.
Hillel, a great Jewish teacher, has a famous quote.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when?
To me he suggests a balance. So now I alternate, talking one time about my book, the next about the Gulf Coast.
But the community there needs serious help if it is to preserve its heritage, its uniqueness, and its culture. And if not now, when? Now, absolutely now. There may not be an opportunity later. If you are interested in helping, I have worked with this agency (Jewish Funds for Justice) in the Gulf Coast Area since Katrina, and I have great respect for their work.
Good Writing,
Alon
http://www.alonshalev.com/
So you can imagine how sad I am at the impending disaster to the Louisiana community if and when the BP oil spill reaches the coast, and the damage already done to the seafood industry. I listen to the stories on National Public Radio and my heart goes out to them.
My car sports a magnet on the passenger door with Oilspill dotcom in big black letters and the words: "Maybe there is a way to hold big business accountable for its actions." In the world of marketing, my book is "trending." The key words are in the news, on the web and in conversations among activists and concerned citizens.
But I feel bad every time someone comments on my car magnet and rather than lamenting the Louisiana disaster, I direct the conversation to talking about my book, in hope of the next sale. Honestly, I need the sales, the exposure, anything that can help me promote Oilspill dotcom. I want and need to make money from my writing and shouldn't feel ashamed doing so.
And yet I feel guilty highlighting my needs when perhaps I should be highlighting my passion for a community about to be consumed in its second natural disaster in five years, when it hasn't even recovered from the first.
Hillel, a great Jewish teacher, has a famous quote.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when?
To me he suggests a balance. So now I alternate, talking one time about my book, the next about the Gulf Coast.
But the community there needs serious help if it is to preserve its heritage, its uniqueness, and its culture. And if not now, when? Now, absolutely now. There may not be an opportunity later. If you are interested in helping, I have worked with this agency (Jewish Funds for Justice) in the Gulf Coast Area since Katrina, and I have great respect for their work.
Good Writing,
Alon
http://www.alonshalev.com/
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