Samuel Johnson quoted in Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson
Memories of my younger days suggest that institutions had
more integrity than is the case today. The Post Office, the BBC, the AA, the
police, the local council and even the government may have been stuffy and
somewhat inefficient, but were not generally regarded as mendacious.
Today institutions have changed for the worse – they tell
lies. Usually lies of omission, Johnson's carelessness perhaps, but still lies. I could be looking back through rose-tinted
spectacles of course, but I’m not too sentimental, I don’t actually want to go
back to driving an Austin A40. In any case, there is a reasonable explanation for the mendacity of modern institutions and that’s public relations.
A few decades ago, institutions may have had their press office to
deal with newspaper reporters and even a rare visit by a chap from the BBC, but
they were much less inclined to put out a message so dripping with positive
spin that it may as well be a barefaced lie.
Modern institutions have their off-days, but are far more inclined to defend the indefensible, if necessary for years. They are far more inclined to put out press releases which don’t even
tell half the story, manufacture stories from nothing and generally exaggerate,
misinform and mislead.
That would be bad enough, but all this positive spin promotes
institutional mendacity. That in turn promotes mendacity among employees. It attracts
those who are more inclined towards shading the truth, influences career progression,
seeps into the culture, infecting everyone without the integrity to resist.
Institutions were always an important part of our culture. The
BBC, the police with their whistles, bicycles and truncheons, the local council
and the local bank. Again it’s worth wiping those rose-tinted spectacles in
case they are misted up with nostalgia for a more honest past, but I don’t
think it is all nostalgia.
The mendacity of institutions is genuine and most of it
seems to be down to PR. How are we supposed to build a culture on lying?
5 comments:
Absolutely right. Promotion through the ranks in such institutions is pretty much a test to see how much of one's integrity and truthfulness one is prepared to jettison. The selection process is based on interviews for a good reason. Few human interactions are so geared towards lying, prevarication, and shameless deception. I often hear people say that interviews are ineffective ways of choosing the right person; but I have come to think that they are in fact perfect.
I agree. I would go further and suggest that the climate of lying that is now widespread in public bodies, authorities and commercial firms (especially the financial industries) is a more important factor than dishonest politicians in creating the anti-establishment feelings that are now affecting politics. For most people government bodies like the police, NHS, Tax etc represent the establishment because those are the bodies people interact with.
Personally, I would love to have an Austin A40, but part from the nostalgia would agree. It is not just public relations, but modern management theory in many ways allied to politics that always was shifty at the best of times. My view, typical at the time was that it was far better to recognise and deal with errors etc. fast and get them out of the way. Because if you did not the consequences could be a lot worse. This was not just moral but gained from the military, in which most of us had served, in that case the reasons were obvious. One feature these days is the culture of cheating is very wide and almost the norm. The result is a lot more messy problems and the lack of the mind set that knows how to deal with them.
And another thing. These days, so much is impersonal, in the past so much was personal. The meter man, the local shop, the insurance man, the rent collector etc. Now it is nearly all distant with unseen faces and voices working to a script or just online.
Sam - and once a certain level has been reached it's a tap on the shoulder rather than an interview.
Woodsy - I agree. We discount the politicians because they aren't even expert liars. The more subtle liars are elsewhere.
Demetrius - I saw a superb A40 quite recently. How the owner kept it in that condition I've no idea. A heated garage presumably.
Dealing with errors quickly is the only way. Tesco did it with horse meat, but many institutions won't admit the error and move on. Not carrying the can is part of their culture.
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