Sitemap
The coats of arms of the Popes Pages on a specific Pope An 1852 map of Rome by P. Letarouilly Filippo Juvarra's drawings of the finest coats of arms XVIIIth century Rome in the 10 Books of Giuseppe Vasi - Le Magnificenze di Roma Antica e Moderna Visit Rome in 8 days! A 1781 map of Rome by G. Vasi The Grand View of Rome by G. Vasi Pages on the Venetian Fortresses in Greece, the Walls of Constantinople and many other topics Visit the Roman countryside following the steps of Ferdinand Gregorovius My Guestbooks A detailed index of my websites

Cleopatra's nose and Lee's lips

(an open letter to Mr Lee R. Raymond, President of ExxonMobil Corporation)

Rome, November 2002

Dear Mr Raymond,

your chamberlains (1), sycophants (2) and janissaries (3) have twice attempted to forbid me to make known through my web pages my love for you. ExxonMobil managers who earn in a month what I earned in a year, have spent their precious time in writing to my providers instigating them to solve their contracts with me, thus deleting hundreds of web pages devoted to Baroque Rome.

And all this because of a misinterpretation of my feelings: to make these feelings clear beyond doubt I named this site "I LOVE LEE" in your honour. There are so many web pages where you are called the "infamous Mr. Raymond" or "the great villain" or the "scoundrel" that I expect this declaration of love to be appreciated by you and by your chamberlains (1), sycophants (2) and janissaries (3).

I am also accompanying this page with fine images with the purpose of establishing a positive association between you and them.

The facts: with the merger in December 1999 all ExxonMobil(*) employees in the world were given access to an intranet site containing generic information about the new company including a summary of the biographies of the key managers with their official portraits.

I was so happy!!! Although I had had the occasion to meet you personally, I had not dared to ask you to allow me to take a picture. The image in the intranet site was available in a very large size and this was great, because I could print it on a large sheet of paper and make posters to decorate my office (and an altar in my bedroom).

However, the devil is in the details: the image given to the employees (it is the same image given to the public in the official ExxonMobil internet site) was edited and it did not match my recollection of your face.


Lee R. Raymond

I did not understand why your image had been edited. To me even the models of classical beauty shown here below were inferior to your image (the actual one!).

Apollo and Hermes

In a company where employees are preached to be absolutely candid, I found your portrait not to be a good example of faithful reporting. You, your chamberlains (1), sycophants (2) and janissaries (3) always repeated that no violation to candid reporting requirements would be condoned. The editing of the portrait reminded me of a typical approach of the former Soviet Union management (the most centralized bureaucracy in world history) to embellish and edit the images of the leaders (personality cult), so that they looked nice and fit even in their death bed.

I was frankly surprised when I saw your portrait. You did not seem to me a man who is worried about what other people think of him and I can hardly believe what your chamberlains (1), sycophants (2) and janissaries (3) hinted to my providers: that you nearly burst into tears when you saw in my former web page an enlarged image of your edited lip.

I therefore thought of another rationale behind your edited image. Maybe (it is just a guess) you were reported a thought by Blaise Pascal (4) which says:
"Had Cleopatra's nose been shorter,
the whole face of the world would have been different."

Cleopatra (5)

Because I know that ExxonMobil management take things very seriously, I expect that after extensive research and debate management identified a potential risk scenario: I can hear them saying: "Because the influence of Mr Raymond on today's world, by far exceeds that of Cleopatra, we must do something about Mr Raymond's lips, so that tomorrow nobody could say:

"Had Lee's lips been smoother,
the whole face of the world would have been different."

Mr Raymond, besides the ethical aspects of appearing with a different face, are you sure the official portrait does you good? In my view the editing mollifies your face, it gives you a meek look, which does not fit with your role of leader of a Texas based giant oil company. Do not follow the advice of your public image advisors: believe me, they are all sissies! Show up as you are and see here below how you will be perceived by the public.

My Lee.jpg

In their frantic efforts to protect your image, your chamberlains (1), sycophants (2) and janissaries (3) achieved the deletion of my website "History and Art in the Coats of Arms of the Popes" and narrowly failed the deletion of my website "Rome in the footsteps of an XVIIIth century traveller". I know, Mr Raymond, your love for fine arts: I always admired your skill in carving out a weekend in Venice between a trip to Kazachskaja and a three-hours' visit to a refinery in Sicily. But you know, Mr Raymond, not everyone in the world has your same opportunities: my websites, which have no commercial purpose (I know you think I am mad), had the ambition to provide a virtual walk in the streets of Rome to those who, for lack of time, money or health, cannot do it.

Your chamberlains (1), sycophants (2) and janissaries (3) highlighted in their letters the damage I am causing to your reputation. I think they got a bit too excited. We should all be aware of what is our actual reputation, of what others think of us: human nature is such that there is very little room for damaging anyone's reputation. Blaise Pascal (4) used to say:

"If all men knew what others say of them,
there would not be four friends in the world."


With love

Roberto Piperno

P. S.: I am sure you are not a man who believes that there are....


(1) chamberlain: officer managing household of sovereign
(2) sycophant: servile flatterer
(3) janissary: one of body of Turkish infantry forming Sultan's guard; (fig.) devoted follower
(4) Blaise Pascal (1623-62) French scientist (Pascal's Law) and philosopher (Thoughts)
(5) Cleopatra was the last pharaoh who ruled Egypt. She used her charms with Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony.

(*) The words ExxonMobil, Exxon and Mobil are used in a generic sense. I actually worked since January 1, 1966 for Esso Standard Italiana Spa, subsequently renamed Esso Italiana Spa and Esso Italiana Srl. On April 5, 2001 I was notified that my contract had been sold on January 1, 2001 to another company named ExxonMobil Mediterranea Srl (previously a subsidiary of Mobil). Four days after this notification I left the company. Therefore I never had any direct legally binding agreement with Exxon Corporation or ExxonMobil Corporation. The image of Mr Raymond is the same shown at ExxonMobil website: employees were given a larger image.


Other pages about ExxonMobil:
Introduction
system of management
legal structure
compliance with company policies.

I had to adopt this motto (Wild with the wild ones)

This site is maintained by Roberto Piperno. Write to romapip@quipo.it