John Heelan [JH] replies to John Eipper [JE]'s question of 21 February:
JE: But is the "opposite" of the "Law of the Unintentional Opposite" really unintentional? When Pres. Bush, for example, decried the US response to Hurricane Katrina as "unacceptable," wasn't he intentionally saying that it (literally) was acceptable? What was not accepted? Who was in a position not to accept it?
JH: It might interest WAISers to learn that one of the best-selling self-help pamphlets at the recent Davos Conference of World Leaders was the recent reprint of the handy, pocket-sized check-list "How to Escape Blame and Survive as a Political Leader" [Firenze: Machiavelli Press, 1514] containing further fresh learnings from Presidents Bush and Blair. [It is reproduced below as a service to WAISers!]
"HOW TO ESCAPE BLAME FOR YOUR ACTIONS"
When faced with a major problem that challenges your authority, judgement or trustworthiness, adopt the following procedure:
Stage 1 Outright denial that the problem has occurred. (e.g., "I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky"- Clinton)
Stage 2 If Stage 1 fails,
a. wrap yourself in the trappings of democracy and open government by promising "an independent, full, frank, rigorous and searching inquiry"
b. ensure that the terms of reference of the Inquiry are constructed to achieve the "right" result (i.e., clear you of any responsibility.)
c. personally choose the person leading the Inquiry, i.e., a "safe pair of hands" or somebody of whom you know where the skeletons are kept (e.g. "There will be no whitewash at the White House--Richard Nixon"; the UK Hutton Report, The UK Butler Report).
Stage 3 If Stage 2 fails, to your well-feigned surprise,
a. deny personal responsibility and blame somebody else ( e.g. "God told me to invade Iraq"--George W. Bush),
b. blame underlings and sacrifice them (e.g., Rumsfeld, Hoon, Straw, Powell, multiple generals and others)
c. blame the quality of the information (or anything else) you received (however, still promote the Head of the Intelligence Services--it is always a good investment as he/she also know a lot about skeletons!)
Stage 4 If Stage 3 fails:
a. quibble on semantic details of the Inquiry Report ( e.g. "It depends on what you mean by 'is'"-- Clinton; use alternative PR spin words "liberation or occupation?", "terrorists or insurgents or freedom fighters?" "transfer of sovereignty or puppetry?" etc).
b. Delay public debate on the Inquiry Report for as long as possible, say until after your term of office expires, by introducing further delays and obfuscations claiming they are in the interests of "national security", in the hope that the media and the public will lose interest or be distracted by another event (which you should plan to make occur).
Stage 5 If Stage 4 fails:
a spread the blame ( e.g., the whole world believed the intelligence that Saddam had WMDs ready to fire- Bush/Blair)
b. mitigate damage by emphasising the benefits of your action--however minor, rarely is something all bad--and try to claim benefits for your action that really belong to another action (the public won't notice and even if they do your spin-people can divert them with another juicy story- illicit sex in high places is usually a winner).
c. emphasis that your action, while regrettable, is insignificant and common practice worldwide
d. attack your opposition for hypocrisy in that they, when in power, have done similar actions more frequently with substantially worse effects.
e. accept that your action though well-intentioned was perhaps mildly regrettable and state that realpolitik demands that it was time to "draw a line" under the situation and "move on" [lines frequently repeated by Blair, Straw, Hoon, Bush and others over the last four years]
f. if all else fails, escape blame by claiming "History will absolve me"--Blair
Stage 6 If everything fails and you are still on the hook,
a. accept your eventual dismissal with grace by presenting yourself as a martyr to your political cause and/or religion
b. accept the offers lucrative positions with the Carlyle Group, armaments manufacturers and similar commercial organisation that have benefited from your term in office.
c. Retire to warm climes to enjoy a highly lucrative post-politics career from making personal appearances at business conferences and giving short seminars (2 days maximum, so as not to be too tiring) at political universities in pleasant locations around the world.
JE comments: John Heelan's "forward" will give us a lot to talk about! That gentleman Machiavelli sounds like he would have a fruitful career as an eminence grise behind any number of today's politicians. He should get his resume ready. Karl Rove, step aside...
--
For information about the World Association of International Studies (WAIS), and its online publication, the World Affairs Report, read its homepage by simply double-clicking on: http://wais.stanford.edu/
John Eipper, Editor-in-Chief, Adrian College, MI 49221 USA
O texto acima foi-me enviado por meu irmão, Rod Romano. Ele, por sua vez, o recebeu de um amigo, com uma nota sobre a eventual leitura das frases citadas por lideranças de nosso governo. Não sei responder se é possível tal façanha, mas imagino que em situações análogas, as atitudes dos atores políticos é quase sempre similar...
Roberto Romano
JE: But is the "opposite" of the "Law of the Unintentional Opposite" really unintentional? When Pres. Bush, for example, decried the US response to Hurricane Katrina as "unacceptable," wasn't he intentionally saying that it (literally) was acceptable? What was not accepted? Who was in a position not to accept it?
JH: It might interest WAISers to learn that one of the best-selling self-help pamphlets at the recent Davos Conference of World Leaders was the recent reprint of the handy, pocket-sized check-list "How to Escape Blame and Survive as a Political Leader" [Firenze: Machiavelli Press, 1514] containing further fresh learnings from Presidents Bush and Blair. [It is reproduced below as a service to WAISers!]
"HOW TO ESCAPE BLAME FOR YOUR ACTIONS"
When faced with a major problem that challenges your authority, judgement or trustworthiness, adopt the following procedure:
Stage 1 Outright denial that the problem has occurred. (e.g., "I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky"- Clinton)
Stage 2 If Stage 1 fails,
a. wrap yourself in the trappings of democracy and open government by promising "an independent, full, frank, rigorous and searching inquiry"
b. ensure that the terms of reference of the Inquiry are constructed to achieve the "right" result (i.e., clear you of any responsibility.)
c. personally choose the person leading the Inquiry, i.e., a "safe pair of hands" or somebody of whom you know where the skeletons are kept (e.g. "There will be no whitewash at the White House--Richard Nixon"; the UK Hutton Report, The UK Butler Report).
Stage 3 If Stage 2 fails, to your well-feigned surprise,
a. deny personal responsibility and blame somebody else ( e.g. "God told me to invade Iraq"--George W. Bush),
b. blame underlings and sacrifice them (e.g., Rumsfeld, Hoon, Straw, Powell, multiple generals and others)
c. blame the quality of the information (or anything else) you received (however, still promote the Head of the Intelligence Services--it is always a good investment as he/she also know a lot about skeletons!)
Stage 4 If Stage 3 fails:
a. quibble on semantic details of the Inquiry Report ( e.g. "It depends on what you mean by 'is'"-- Clinton; use alternative PR spin words "liberation or occupation?", "terrorists or insurgents or freedom fighters?" "transfer of sovereignty or puppetry?" etc).
b. Delay public debate on the Inquiry Report for as long as possible, say until after your term of office expires, by introducing further delays and obfuscations claiming they are in the interests of "national security", in the hope that the media and the public will lose interest or be distracted by another event (which you should plan to make occur).
Stage 5 If Stage 4 fails:
a spread the blame ( e.g., the whole world believed the intelligence that Saddam had WMDs ready to fire- Bush/Blair)
b. mitigate damage by emphasising the benefits of your action--however minor, rarely is something all bad--and try to claim benefits for your action that really belong to another action (the public won't notice and even if they do your spin-people can divert them with another juicy story- illicit sex in high places is usually a winner).
c. emphasis that your action, while regrettable, is insignificant and common practice worldwide
d. attack your opposition for hypocrisy in that they, when in power, have done similar actions more frequently with substantially worse effects.
e. accept that your action though well-intentioned was perhaps mildly regrettable and state that realpolitik demands that it was time to "draw a line" under the situation and "move on" [lines frequently repeated by Blair, Straw, Hoon, Bush and others over the last four years]
f. if all else fails, escape blame by claiming "History will absolve me"--Blair
Stage 6 If everything fails and you are still on the hook,
a. accept your eventual dismissal with grace by presenting yourself as a martyr to your political cause and/or religion
b. accept the offers lucrative positions with the Carlyle Group, armaments manufacturers and similar commercial organisation that have benefited from your term in office.
c. Retire to warm climes to enjoy a highly lucrative post-politics career from making personal appearances at business conferences and giving short seminars (2 days maximum, so as not to be too tiring) at political universities in pleasant locations around the world.
JE comments: John Heelan's "forward" will give us a lot to talk about! That gentleman Machiavelli sounds like he would have a fruitful career as an eminence grise behind any number of today's politicians. He should get his resume ready. Karl Rove, step aside...
--
For information about the World Association of International Studies (WAIS), and its online publication, the World Affairs Report, read its homepage by simply double-clicking on: http://wais.stanford.edu/
John Eipper, Editor-in-Chief, Adrian College, MI 49221 USA
O texto acima foi-me enviado por meu irmão, Rod Romano. Ele, por sua vez, o recebeu de um amigo, com uma nota sobre a eventual leitura das frases citadas por lideranças de nosso governo. Não sei responder se é possível tal façanha, mas imagino que em situações análogas, as atitudes dos atores políticos é quase sempre similar...
Roberto Romano
