Today's headline is a little bit of nostalgia for those old enough to remember the gurgling sound of a White House sinking in its own lies. I doubt we'll hear it again, now that, as Non Sequitur notes, we no longer have to worry about objective truth as a factor.
The term "village idiot" gets thrown around more frequently than "village bullshit artist," and, as I've said before, we did have a fellow in our town who had suffered massive brain damage as a child and was, in his 40s, someone we watched out for and took under our collective wing.
But we also had a "village bullshit artist" whose utter lack of grounding was only made bearable by the cocksure, pompous method with which he announced his findings. But we'd grown up together, we were friends and he had been absolutely, totally full of shit for as long as I had known him.
I would note, however, that he was not in a position to influence national policy, much less get his hands on the nuclear launch codes.
As Tom Toles suggests, the utter disregard for facts of this current crew of bullshit artists is scary and dangerous, in large part because so many people permit it to go forward.
And, as I said yesterday, fatuous ignorance on the topic of "How This All Works" is hardly confined to the pro-Trump side of things.
When Theodore Roosevelt discovered that he could create national monuments and wildlife refuges without having to battle Congress on each one, he cheerfully began declaring them through executive order.
Creating national parks still took Congressional action, but Roosevelt was able to save plumed birds in Florida from the hatmakers and ancient pottery in the Southwest from souvenier sellers, and, much as Taft went against his policies once in office, Roosevelt's executive orders have stood for over a century.
Trump could wipe them all out with a stroke of his pen and, without a sense of propriety, a sense of perspective or, certainly, a sense of history, might well do it.
Which means that the joy over the Army Corps of Engineers' announcement that they will not grant permits for that pipeline to go forward as routed is totally, unforgiveably naive.
Dammit, you cannot fight a system you refuse to understand.
As for Richard Nixon, whose felonious assault on the system was operative despite Ron Ziegler's insistence that it wasn't, Nixon not only founded the Environmental Protection Agency but generally acknowledged the validity of the laws he and his staff broke.
I'd rather deal with an active liar who defies reality than a bullshit artist for whom "facts" are whatever tumbles out of his mouth.
Barney & Clyde also touches on the connection between objective truth and executive hustlers, and, if Weingarten & Company want to go there, having a hustler in the White House hands them four years of pointed satire.
Again, the issue is less about lying than it is about bullshitting, and, for the executive hustler, it's more important to appear to be in control of the facts than to know them.
Most are not liars. They're bullshitters.
I learned the importance of the "executive summary" when I was promoted to marketing manager at a TV station and, a few weeks into the job, produced a lengthy document intended to resolve the duplication of effort and confusion of roles between sales and production.
Before releasing it, I gave a copy to the new station manager, a fast-talking NYC type who was, as the phrase goes, sometimes in error but never in doubt.
I did not realize that the "executive summary" is so called because executives only read the first three paragraphs of anything. And I hadn't included one.
A week later, I asked him if he'd had a chance to look it over and he assured me that he had and that it was fine, so I distributed it.
A few days later, someone told him what was in it and he declared the whole thing inoperative.
And it wasn't so long after that my job became ditto.
Which I deserved for not knowing how these things work.
And speaking of how things work, Alex touches on the office Christmas party, the sort of thing which in military circles is known as "mandatory fun."
At my first paper, our annual party was at Labor Day and was a grand affair, with an open bar and an ongoing buffet. Liability issues soon turned the open bar into two drink tickets and a cash bar, but the party continued until we began publishing 365 days a year and then it disappeared.
However, my next newspaper still had one, and I eventually discovered the wisdom of how the brass treats these things: You show up, have one drink, circulate and shake hands and then, having been seen, get the hell out.
There are all sorts of helpful hints on all sorts of websites this time of year, advising you on how to navigate the office holiday party, but trust me: Show up, be seen, go home.
Think of it as the executive summary of a party.
Save a few bucks, support a few artists
GoComics will be activate its new design in 2017 and is offering subscriptions at the old annual price of $14.95 until January 1, after which it will increase to $19.99.
A few points:
A. I'm strongly in favor of supporting the medium and, if you like comics, it seems logical you would be, too. If you aren't already a subscriber to both GoComics and Comics Kingdom, you should be.
B. $14.95 is less than $19.95. Neither is much over the course of a year, but five bucks is five bucks. Do it now.
C. They've dropped that annoying "your strip didn't update, so we're giving you this one instead" feature from the beta and the new site is now quite good.
Support the medium. Sign up.
Happy Holidays
In the real world, that blonde would turn out to be his new boss.
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