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Can You Handle the Truth?
Dec. 19th, 2006 02:37 amFrom a comment I just posted at Davos Newbies:
I've noticed much the same thing (an unwillingness in the US to use truth in an everyday way), and it seeps into all kinds of unexpected places. Much of the problem with Sarbanes-Oxley, it seems, is the requirement to actually tell shareholders the truth. Corporate blogging is frowned upon because it means telling both shareholders and customers the truth.
At first I was willing to chalk this up to the seeping of untruthfulness from the top -- we have the least honest president since Warren Harding, and what can one possibly expect? (Mind you, I said this about the previous president as well. Little did I know that just one administration later I'd be looking upon the Clinton years as halcyon days of honesty and transparency.)
But a friend pointed me at this article, "We Are All Waiters Now," by Thomas Geoghegan. It starts out about tax policy, but the better, broader observations come toward the end. We in the US have a truth problem in much the same way a waiter has a truth problem when it comes to telling you Today's Specials. (Parody I've done: "Oh, you've ordered the rhino snot pie." {beat} "That's my favorite!")
On the other hand, I've also long held it says volumes that the US' great TV show about politics -- The West Wing -- shows the government as more engaged, intelligent, and truthful than it actually is. The UK equivalent -- Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister -- show the government as less engaged, less intelligent, more venal, etc., than it actually is. (It also continues to baffle me why the Canadians, so good at other forms of comedy, have yet to do a good political one. I can only think they believe anything about Ottawa won't sell abroad, and they may well be right.)
I've noticed much the same thing (an unwillingness in the US to use truth in an everyday way), and it seeps into all kinds of unexpected places. Much of the problem with Sarbanes-Oxley, it seems, is the requirement to actually tell shareholders the truth. Corporate blogging is frowned upon because it means telling both shareholders and customers the truth.
At first I was willing to chalk this up to the seeping of untruthfulness from the top -- we have the least honest president since Warren Harding, and what can one possibly expect? (Mind you, I said this about the previous president as well. Little did I know that just one administration later I'd be looking upon the Clinton years as halcyon days of honesty and transparency.)
But a friend pointed me at this article, "We Are All Waiters Now," by Thomas Geoghegan. It starts out about tax policy, but the better, broader observations come toward the end. We in the US have a truth problem in much the same way a waiter has a truth problem when it comes to telling you Today's Specials. (Parody I've done: "Oh, you've ordered the rhino snot pie." {beat} "That's my favorite!")
On the other hand, I've also long held it says volumes that the US' great TV show about politics -- The West Wing -- shows the government as more engaged, intelligent, and truthful than it actually is. The UK equivalent -- Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister -- show the government as less engaged, less intelligent, more venal, etc., than it actually is. (It also continues to baffle me why the Canadians, so good at other forms of comedy, have yet to do a good political one. I can only think they believe anything about Ottawa won't sell abroad, and they may well be right.)
