Southwest: Celebrating Hurricane Katrina?
When reading comments on the possibilities of corporate blogging, it’s easy to get carried away by all the talk about how a new kind of openness will revolutionize business, how blogging is about dialogue, etc.
But of course the prerequisite for all of that is that you have people who know how to write. I can’t resist posting this example for what one could justifiably call the opposite, an entry from the Southwest Airlines Blog on the Katrina anniversary.
As we approach the first anniversary of the horrible destruction wrought on the New Orleans area by Hurricane Katrina, I thought a bit of celebration might be in order.
Horrible destruction and celebration do not belong in the same sentence, unless you’re a) an evil overlord or b) talking about the concept of creative destruction as developed by economist Joseph Schumpeter.
Along with all of Southwest Airlines, as well as the entire human community, I celebrate the spirit of survival that so many in New Orleans and all of the Gulf Coast displayed through their ordeal.
Is it me or does that make him sound like he’s Kofi Annan addressing the Borg?
I celebrate with deeply abiding LUV what the Employees of Southwest Airlines in New Orleans have accomplished in this year.
Who else does this give the impression that Mr. Owen is in fact an adolescent MySpacer leading a double life as a professional blogger? Though that’s being unfair to the MySpace community. They ***LUV*** all sort sorts of stuff, but at least they’re not deeply abiding.
They have wonderfully, and faithfully, served our Customers on a reduced flight schedule and reduced headcount, yet still turned in incredible, Positively Outrageous Service.
Bill, Why not Just Capitalize EVERYTHING?
I’ll switch off cynicism mode now. If you read the post carefully, you in fact get a quite vivid impression of the situation of Southwest’s employees during and after Katrina hit New Orleans. The problem is that, depending on how nitpicky you are when it comes to style, you’ll find this funny or outright embarrassing - not what the author had in mind, obviously. Or, you’ll see past the clumsy prose and find Mr. Owen’s post all the more authentic because it is not exactly Shakespearean. Apparently, Southwest has decided to go with “imperfect=authentic”.
It’s a fine line. Where do you draw it?
Edit: Apparently the non-standard spelling of love as LUV is some sort of trademark language abuse commonly used by Southwest. It’s in their user’s guide too. Note that I don’t have beef with t3h l33t haxX0r l4n9ua3 as such. It’s the fact that it’s in an official company web log which intends to commemorate a major natural disaster. Am I being a snob here?