Baltasar Gracián - The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
This has become the function of the House of Commons, to make obligations out of blunders made by the permanent administration, including what is now the transnational administration. In return, MPs get a spell on the stage, useful contacts and further career opportunities.
Net Zero is an obvious blunder which has become an obligation. The pandemic response was another, a blunder so huge it had to become an obligation almost immediately. The EU is a cumulative blunder which went on for decades and could only be sustained as an obligation. Similarly with the UN.
An apparently widespread intention to vote Labour after a series of Conservative blunders won't have a long life as an obligation before it turns into yet another blunder. It's all a bit chicken and egg that one.
3 comments:
I'm wondering whether for a lot of people, the initial blunder comes when they first open their mouth to express an opinion about something. With good intentions, they say the expected thing - "Of course we should make immigrants welcome"..."If he calls himself a woman, then who am I to argue?"..."At least Starmer seems to have a few good ideas about the economy". After that, fear of appearing to vacillate takes over, and they get deeper and deeper in.
Perhaps the root problem is the cultural expectation that we should have an instant opinion, an approved opinion, and express it. I've noticed that many people raise their pet topic and then pause with eyebrows raised, apparently expecting me to agree and to confirm their ideas.
I am (sadly) reminded of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale 'The Emperor's New Clothes'.
https://interestingliterature.com/2017/06/a-summary-and-analysis-of-the-emperors-new-clothes-hans-christian-andersen-fairy-tale/
Similarities: The Emperor (politicians and the clerisy) care only about clothes (ideology). The Emperor uses the failure to admire his new (non existent) clothes to identify those he considers fools. The swindlers produce no clothes but pocket all the money they are given to produce them. The Emperor cannot see the 'new clothes' but dare not admit he cannot see them for fear of being seen as foolish.
Still the Net Zero waistcoat looks stunning, and the COVID lockdown trousers are examples of the finest weaving. But who will puncture the illusion?
Sam - I'm sure you are right, saying the expected thing without too much thought does seem to lead people into their initial blunder. In response to a mildly expressed alternative viewpoint, some people will make slight modifications to what they originally said rather than make it into an obligation.
DJ - yes, 'The Emperor's New Clothes' gives us an enduringly valuable analogy, although the Net Zero waistcoat is beginning to seem too thin all over, as if there was never enough material to begin with. The COVID lockdown trousers seem to become tighter and tighter, which probably explains why we see fewer and fewer people wearing them.
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