Copacabana

Riding for the Brand

I found these sentences in my Political Analysis textbook (White, 1999, 4th ed.) and I believe them to be the finest statements in defense of democracy and freedom of thought that I've seen in some time:

"Former (NASA) Director William Lucas was notably intolerant of criticism, and he intentionally or not discouraged midlevel officials from reporting any information that would raise questions about the shuttle or about planned flights. In consequence, managers aware of the potential problems with the rocket joints that caused the shuttle disaster did not report the information."

But Lola, you say, this is old news. Actually, what interests me isn't the cause of the disaster but the bureaucratic bullying that kept people from reporting any malfunction that might deter the organization from their blind ambition. And I don't think this topic has been discussed enough as it relates to the functioning of our government offices.

I'm just saying...

posted by Lola @ 2:07 PM