an economist, a bureaucrat, and a poet
The economist:
the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. ... I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately, but after a certain interval; ... soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil. ... Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.[1]
The bureaucrat:
A poet in our times is a semi-barbarian in a civilized community. He lives in the days that are past. His ideas, thoughts, feelings, associations, are all with barbarous manners, obsolete customs, and exploded superstition. The march of his intellect is like that of a crab, backward. ... But in whatever degree poetry is cultivated, it must necessarily be to the neglect of some branch of useful study: and it is a lamentable spectacle to see minds, capable of better things, running to seed in the specious indolence of these empty aimless mockeries of intellectual exertion. Poetry was the mental rattle that awakened the attention of intellect in the infancy of civil society: but for the maturity of mind to make a serious business of the playthings of its childhood, is as absurd as for a full-grown man to rub his gums with coral, and cry to be charmed to sleep by the jingle of silver bells.[2]
The poet:
Whilst the mechanist abridges, and the political economist combines labor, let them beware that their speculations, for want of correspondence with those first principles which belong to the imagination, do not tend, as they have in modern England, to exasperate at once the extremes of luxury and want. ... The rich have become richer, and the poor have become poorer; and the vessel of the State is driven between the Scylla and Charybdis of anarchy and despotism. Such are the effects which must ever flow from an unmitigated exercise of the calculating faculty. ... Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.[3]
The bell rings, the curtain drops, the conference ends, so much say so. But what is truth?
Google provides the means for useful study. The table below shows the number of search results returned for various search strings. The column "Top Match" gives the rank of the first result that directly references the relevant quote above. Some facts:
- Poets far outdistance economists and bureaucrats in generating results. Poetry apparently is a common defense in human life. The relatively poor showing of bureaucrats suggests a need to increase public appreciation for bureaucrats.
- "Economists ideas power 'vested interests'" tops "poets legislators." This result indicates that economists' words have been more fecund than poets'.
- Poetry "useful study" shows few results, but that does not seem to be associated with results from "specious indolence."
- Persons seeking symbolic results should put the poor before the rich. "poor poorer rich richer" delivers about ten times as many results as "rich richer poor poorer." The poet, lacking the calculating facility, lacked this insight.
| Google Search String | Search Results | Top Match |
| economists | 12,000,000 | |
| economists ideas power "vested interests" | 222,000 | 2 |
| ideas power "vested interests" | 287,000 | 1 |
| ideas "more powerful" "vested interests" | 19,200 | 5 |
| bureaucrats | 3,810,000 | |
| poets intellect crabs | 7,350 | 2 |
| poetry "useful study" | 20,000 | 4 |
| mind poetry "specious indolence" | 6 | 1 |
| poets | 38,900,000 | |
| poets legislators | 141,000 | 1 |
| poor poorer rich richer | 1,050,000 | >10 |
| rich richer poor poorer | 117,000 | >10 |
Notes:
[1] Keynes, John Maynard (1936), The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, Chapter 24, Sec. 5. I have re-arranged the order of the quoted sentences.
[2] Peacock, Thomas Love (1820), "The Four Ages of Poetry," in Ollier's Literary Miscellany. Peacock worked for about 37 years as a clerk in the East India Company.
[3] Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1821), "Defense of Poetry," circulated in manuscript, but first published in 1840. Peacock and Shelley were close friends. Shelley's "Defense of Poetry" was a response to Peacocks "The Four Ages of Poetry."
Tags: bureaucrats, economists, importance, influence, poets, SEO
2 CommentsCOB-19: sitting position
Being able to maintain a good sitting position is a core competency for bureaucrats. In the video below, a bureaucrat working in the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission demonstrates the challenges that a conscientious bureaucrat faces. Watch it carefully and learn!
The bureaucrat begins with a lean-forward, braced note-taking position. The problem with such a strong documentary start is that it can be difficult to sustain. Thus we were not surprised to see her soon shift into the double-elbow, flat-arm bracing position. That's an excellent position to go the distance in a long-winded meeting. Moreover, it helps protect the head in the case of a somnolence-induced sagging of the upper spinal region.
Notice, however, that the bureaucrat failed to hold the position. Despite some standard head movements, which signal attention and help to promote blood flow, at 5:10 into the video she broke form into the back-leaning, folded-armed position. This position is associated with arrogance and obstinacy. It has no place in the sitting repertoire of a professional bureaucrat.
Supplementary tentative statement: According to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission, it is against the law in Alberta "to discriminate against anyone in the following areas of activity... [including] public statements, publications, notices, signs, symbols, emblems, or other representations." We therefore and heretofore hereby duly declare that the above public statement is not meant to discriminate against, between, or for anyone in Alberta, and that we hereby affirm, in accordance with the applicable human rights law, that it applies not just to the bureaucrat represented, but equally to all bureaucrats in Alberta.
In other bureaucratic emissions for this month, Tim O'Reilly at O'Reilly Radar discusses Bad Math Among eBook Enthusiasts. O'Reilly is an organization that has been in business since 1978. Hence it qualifies as a bona-fide bureaucracy for the purposes of this Carnival in accordance with Carnival Rule 2.A.a, calculated according to Internet time. Tim declares:
My advice to publishers and authors is this: figure out what it costs to produce what you sell, estimate what kind of volume you'll be able to achieve using the best available data, and then set your prices at a level that will deliver a reasonable profit from your efforts.
This is classic public-utility pricing methodology. Forget about Web 2.0 buzzwords; on the web or off, just set prices for rate-payers. True bureaucratic insight.
Chris Tolles at Topix offers data on comments. The data show that non-registered users generate three times as many comments with only a 50% higher comment rejection rate. Is requiring registration a bad idea? Of course not. Requiring registration helps users to develop their skills in filling out forms.
The Daily Davos reports that billionaire George Soros has called for a "massive injection of regulation and oversight over financial markets." In conjunction with such an effort, we believe it is also important to increase public appreciation for regulators. How about establishing a "Hug a Regulator" Day? If you know a regulator, thank her/him for all s/he does!
Steve Yelverton discusses journalism history. He states, "Today's J-student should understand that the task is not to get a job and draw a paycheck, but rather to build a following." Followers are necessary for a following. Work in bureaucracy is excellent training for developing followers.
Samuel Bryson at Total Wellbeing discusses free market economy and the welfare state. He states, "It may well be that a lot of the money disappears in various bureaucratic processes, which is a common complaint of the classical liberals." It may well be that this common complaint has little merit and should be summarily dismissed.
The Little Professor describes the Academic Olympics. It includes the "bureaucratic triple jump":
Each competitor must fight back against a student grievance, which s/he contests in three different administrative offices. There are bonus points for eloquence, documentation, and concision, but penalties for foul language, threats, and/or tears.
We are delighted that bureaucracy has risen to the level of Olympic sport.
That's all for this month's Carnival of the Bureaucrats. Submit your blog article to the next edition using our Carnival submission form. Submissions should conform to the Carnival regulations. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the Carnival index page.
Tags: assets, bureaucracy, posture, sitting, skills
Bill Evans and Torpedo Squadron 8
William R. Evans was a torpedo-bomber pilot in Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8). That squadron operated from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in World War II. Evans and all but one of his squadron mates were killed in action in the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942.
Bill Evans and Charles Gillispie were roommates in the Wesleyan University Class of 1940. On December 2, 2007, Charles discussed his friendship with Dan Sachs and the creation of the Sachs Scholarship. Charles also remembered Bill Evans.
Acclaimed film director John Ford made a special short memorial film, Torpedo Squadron 8, for the families of members of Torpedo Squadron 8. Only thirty copies of the film,which was never shown publicly, were developed. The film has been available in the U.S. National Archives. Now it is also accessible on YouTube and the Internet Archive. Ford made this film in conjunction with making his widely viewed film, The Battle of Midway (1942).
Torpedo Squadron 8 received the Presidential Unit Citation on April 5, 1943. Its members were also awarded the Navy Cross. The citation for Bill Evans' award states:
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to William Robinson Evans, Jr. (0-098626), Ensign, U.S. Navy (Reserve), for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane of Torpedo Squadron EIGHT (VT-8), embarked from the U.S.S. HORNET (CV-8), during the "Air Battle of Midway," against enemy Japanese forces on 4 June 1942. Grimly aware of the hazardous consequences of flying without fighter protection, and with insufficient fuel to return to his carrier, Ensign Evans resolutely, and with no thought of his own life, delivered an effective torpedo attack against violent assaults of enemy Japanese aircraft fire. His courageous action, carried out with a gallant spirit of self-sacrifice and a conscientious devotion to the fulfillment of his mission, was a determining factor in the defeat of the enemy forces and was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Born: August 11, 1918 at Indianapolis, Indiana
Home Town: Indianapolis, Indiana
The Presidential Unit Citation similarly described the action.
The August 31, 1942 issue of Life Magazine featured as its cover story Ensign George Gay's account of Torpedo Squadron 8. Gay was the only pilot who survived the squadron's mission at Midway. This article includes an excerpt from a letter that Bill Evans wrote on December 7, 1941, the evening of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Habour.
A letter that Bill Evans wrote in April, 1942 appears in the Fetridge, William Harrison, ed., The Navy Reader (Indianapolis, New York, The Bobbs-Merrill company, 1943) pp. 36-38, under the title, "Letter from a Navy Pilot."
Alvin B. Kernan's recent book, The unknown Battle of Midway: the destruction of the American torpedo squadrons (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005) considers Torpedo Squadron 8. This book generated many reviews, some detailed and some highly critical.
The Douglas TBD-1A 'Devastator' that Bill Evans flew has recently been identified.
Robert J. Mrazek, a distinguished writer of military fiction, has a book on Torpedo Squadron 8 forthcoming this spring.
Dan Sachs' words included in the video above are from a letter excerpted in Matt Nimetz's memorial, "Sachs Legacy Endures, Inspires," a part of the booklet Celebrating 35 Years of the Daniel M. Sachs Class of 1960 Graduating Scholarship (May 30, 2004).
Tags: Midway, Navy, pilots, USA, VT-8, WWIIdecreasing value of a telephone call
in focus
A tourist couple asked me to take a picture of them in front of one of D.C.'s sites. Their camera was a Sony Cyber-Shot with face-detection technology. This technology ensures that their faces, which are surely quite familiar to each other, are in focus. The site, which they traveled across the ocean to see, is of less importance for photographs.
Think about that the next time you are pondering the features or capabilities of a communication service.
Tags: exotic, faces, touristsarresting
A friend who worked at the State Department moved out of the area to take up an academic post teaching history at a state university. He and his wife came back a week ago for the annual meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA). They're a swell, smart couple.
At their party in their hotel room at the site of the AHA meeting, my friend's wife wore a black t-shirt that said on the front "arrest Bush." My friend's t-shirt said on the front "arrest Cheney first." I think I get that. But on the back of the shirt was Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution. That section doesn't say anything about arresting political leaders.
Stroking my small head trying to figure out this conundrum, I remembered Lev Razgon's story. Razgon was a Communist Party member in the Soviet Union. After graduating from a provincial teachers' training institute and a short career writing children's stories, he was imprisoned in the Gulag for 17 years. Once by chance he shared a jeep ride in the Gulag with the deputy Chief Medical Officer. The officer reminisced about having personally dined with Soviet President Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin. The officer collapsed hysterically when Razgon inadvertently revealed that Kalinin's wife was imprisoned nearby.
Razgon explained that this situation should not have been considered surprising: "If members of the Politburo were themselves liable to be arrested and shot without more ado, why should their wives enjoy special immunity?"[1] Stalin in fact arrested close relatives of many members of his inner circle.
President Kalinin's wife, Yekaterina Ivanovna, was imprisoned in the Gulag from 1937 to 1945. She spent years working at hard labor. Because of poor health, her job was then switched to working in the washhouse, picking nits out prisoners' underwear. She was released after World War II ended. Razgon explained:
Kalinin was already terminally ill when he was permitted to see his wife again. He died only a year later, in the summer of 1946. ... We reacted with very mixed feelings to the rhetoric gushing from the radio and the press about how deeply the deceased had been loved by the Party, the Soviet people and Comrade Stalin himself. Even more bizarre was to read in the papers a telegram of condolence from the Queen of England to a woman who only a year earlier had been picking nits out of underwear in a prison camp. But most terrible of all was to see the newspaper and magazine photographs of Kalinin's funeral, with Yekaterina Ivanovna following the coffin, and Stalin and his entire retinue walking beside her.[2]
The human way is a hilly, wet foot-path.
[1] Lev Razgon, "The President's Wife," in True Stories (Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1997) p. 14.
[2] Id. p. 18.
Tags: AHA, arrests, history, Kalinin