Monday, November 21, 2011

The Difference Between the Navy and Civilian Institutions

In the Navy, if a facility or ship commander screws up, they get fired and maybe sent to prison.

In civilian life, a chief executive takes "full responsibility", keeps their job and fires other people.
"I am deeply saddened that this happened on our campus, and as chancellor, I take full responsibility for the incident," [UC-Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi] said.
She "takes full responsibility" and because she says that she's not to blame, she gets to keep her job.

In 19th Century Europe, she would have been given a nice presentation revolver, such as this:


But there would have only been one cartridge in the cartridge block of the case.

The Japanese, of course, had a different gift:


But nowadays, "I accept full responsibility" is equivalent to: "I did nuttin' wrong, it was all of them odder guys, see? I'm innocent, I tells ya!"

Funny thing about academia: "Zero tolerance" doesn't apply to any of the administrators' fuckups. A kid screws up, no tolerance. A teacher screws up, down comes the hammer. An administrator screws up, well, they'll find someone else to blame.

3 comments:

  1. I used to say, in the fabled computer company I worked for, that after every defeat, they pinned medals on the generals and shot the soldiers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And to think that all this is going on at the "cow college" of the U.C. system.

    But past that observation, please remember that if you go back only a few hundred years, failed leaders would have to put their heads on a block to be chopped off by a man wearing a black mask and carrying a big axe.

    All we're asking for is the chancellor's resignation.

    Yours very crankily,
    The New York Crank

    ReplyDelete
  3. Last night's episode of "The Good Wife" included a military trial. Everyone is working double shifts, everyone is taking some kind of drug to stay awake. Is falling asleep on the job a court martial offence?

    ReplyDelete

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