Maybe They Were Only Asking To Be Nice

Due to his experience filming and operating robots underwater, filmmaker James Cameron was recently asked by BP officials what he would do with the oil spill that is currently killing the Gulf Coast region of the United States. [Sidebar: You know things are bad when people are excited because the last measure has slowed down (not stopped, mind you, just slowed down) the amount of oil pouring into the Gulf every hour.] Well, whatever Cameron told them to do, they didn't want to try and Cameron was apparently very annoyed that they aren't listening to him. Hell, they gave Kevin Costner's idea a chance. Now, I know everyone hates BP right about now, but before we leap to Cameron's side of the issue, I want to know what his idea was. Maybe it was incredibly stupid. Did he just want to CGI some mermaids to attach a new pipe cap? After all, this is the same guy who can only make movies that cost a crapload of money and are all about sizzle, not about steak. (Avatar? Yeah, I enjoyed it the first time I saw it... when it was called FernGully.)

Cameron's annoyance at being ignored reminded me of a guy I used to work with named Joe, who was a miserable prick. I was doing morning-drive traffic reports at the time and this was when the state was finally starting to open the Big Dig, one segment at a time. While every new segment would cause a few days worth of problems as people adjusted to the new routes, there was one segment that when it opened was an especially big annoyance. After crossing the Zakim Bridge heading southbound the highway goes from five lanes to three lanes in about two miles and there are always delays there, even to this day. Anyways, the day it opened Joe was standing over my shoulder and bitching, because bitching was the only thing Joe ever did. Watching the traffic slowly start to back up on the highway, Joe turned to the newsroom and said aloud to no one in particular (we were all busy actually working, as it turned out), "I don't know why they didn't consult with me when they were drawing up the plans." After looking at him to double-check that he was serious (I don't know why I would have thought other-wise, Joe was always serious), I decided I just couldn't take Joe's self-importance anymore. "Maybe it's because you read traffic reports and aren't actually a civil engineer who knows what they are doing," I offered. Joe and I tried to avoid each other as much as possible from then on out.

The point I'm trying to make is this: I joke about various jobs I would like to have, but I'm actually very aware of what I am and what I am not qualified to undertake. Reading traffic reports didn't make any of us qualified to draw up street plans, just like operating an underwater camera doesn't make James Cameron a deep-sea specialist. Cameron is a film-maker, not a drilling expert. Just because he is successful in one business does not mean he should get pissed because people aren't listening to him in a completely unrelated field. A little self-awareness and a little less ego could go a long way for him.