With much fanfare, School District 271 Superintendent Hazel Bauman announced the creation of a new department in the School District. It hasn’t yet been named, but we modestly suggest it be called the “Department of Diffusing Responsibility.”
According to Bauman, the School District already has adequate policies in place to deal with “…weapons, dress code, language, public displays of affection, bullying and the use of electronics devices at secondary schools,” but the task force will focus on enforcing the policies. Since enforcement is the responsibility of the present school administrators and Board of Trustees, readers can reasonably infer the administrators and Trustees don’t know how to do their jobs. Or perhaps they’re just too cowardly, afraid of having to deal with irate students and indifferent parents who say they want discipline but really don’t.
Hence, Bauman is creating a “task force” which we really do believe would be more aptly called the “Department of Diffusing Responsibility.” But if it’s going to be a task force, will they get to wear snazzy black fatigues and black combat boots? Will their shoulder patch be a subdued teenage couple kissing? Their uniform hat ought to be the one leading off this post.
C’mon, Superintendent Bauman. Do your job. Them that can, do. Them that can’t, form committees to diffuse responsibility and divert attention from those who should but can’t or won’t.
As I wrote over on the Press blogs, this type of action (forming a committee) is exactly what happens when there is a dearth of leadership. It reminds me of the type of 1984 comedy you found in dystopias like Terry Gilliam’s Brazil:
The government is working to form a committee that will look into ways to combat the fire that is currently engulfing the old folks home.
I am also reminded of this Thomas Nast cartoon:
Comment by Dan — April 10, 2011 @ 8:55 pm
Shouldn’t the hat pictured be a shoe hat?
Comment by Susie Snedaker — April 11, 2011 @ 5:31 pm
Okay, who can name the four highlighted characters in Nast’s cartoon. Most everyone will recognize Tweed, but who are the three to his left?
Comment by Bill — April 11, 2011 @ 5:49 pm
Not sure who is immediately to the left of Boss Tweed, but I think the other two are Williams Jennings Bryan and Carl Schurz.
Comment by Dan — April 11, 2011 @ 7:53 pm
I think the L-R order may be William “Boss” Tweed, then his assistant and Parks Director Peter B. Sweeney, then his comptroller (whom we would title Finance Director) Richard “Slippery Dick” Connolly, and finally Mayor Hall. I think the Nast cartoon intentionally made the Mayor much smaller to show he was more of an unimportant figurehead.
This Nast cartoon of the Tweed Ring gave rise to the methodology governments use to establish (read: avoid) accountability: Stand in a circle, point to the guy (or gal) on the right, and say, “It’s his (or her) responsibility.” The more people in the circle (e.g., committees) and the larger the circle becomes, the more diffused accountability and responsibility become. Things really haven’t changed in well over a century.
Nast’s genius was recognized by Tweed. Tweed recognized that while most of the people who saw the paper couldn’t read, they could certainly get the message from Nast’s cartoons. Tweed was less concerned about the comparatively irrelevant news stories, but he was exceptionally concerned about the Nast cartoons.
Comment by Bill — April 11, 2011 @ 8:32 pm
Dan,
Interestingly, Nast’s cartoon characterizations of both Carl “The Carpetbagger” Schurz and Mayor Abraham Oakey Hall were very similar. The only reason I think it might be Hall rather than Schurz is that Schurz campaigned against the Tammany Hall corruption in the German community.
Comment by Bill — April 12, 2011 @ 7:39 am