Gabriel Garnica
PIA's collateral damage
By Gabriel Garnica
Sometimes, in the course of human and political events, the tragic trifecta of Power, Incompetence, and Arrogance (PIA) come together to result in disaster, individual and collective. Since the personal and political spheres are often interwoven, PIA's personal and professional wreckage is often one and the same.
Typically, there is a personal pattern, developed through years of pampered existence, which convinces the purveyor of PIA to fancy himself above the limitations of good sense, integrity, and personal responsibility. Years of yes men and women ready at the purveyor's every whim have distilled a delusion of immunity to misfortune. This delusion, developed and fed through years of fictitious qualification and fawning fanaticism by dim-witted drones, often leads the purveyor to reckless, narrow-minded behavior which is either ignorant of or oblivious to the potential consequences, and collateral damage, of his actions.
Sadly, that collateral damage often takes the form of innocent lives saddled with the unhappy misfortune to have their destiny tied to Mr. PIA, whose only focus is the advancement of personal and professional agendas. Sooner or later, these unfortunate people suffer the consequences of PIA's bumbling steps, and quickly become collateral damage impeding PIA's perceived path to greater glory.
Desperate to preserve that path at all costs, and fearful that the collateral misfortune will derail their ultimate goals, PIAs instinctively prefer to run and hide from the truth, preferring to plant fiction rather than fact in a vain and pathetic attempt to divert public attention from their complicity in the disaster.
Lord knows how many times PIAs have literally gotten away with murder, direct or otherwise, thanks to their typically extensive network of enabling puppeteers, often wealthy and connected, who focus their considerable financial and media resources to preserve some semblance, often much more, of the PIA's shredded reputation for having a clue.
However, every once in a while, the PIA and its resulting collateral harm are so great that even these puppeteers and enablers cannot fully conceal the scandal. It is a testament to the power of these puppeteers and enablers that PIAs are left with any political career to salvage at all. In fact, if history teaches us anything, it is that PIAs have many lives, and are granted many chances to continue wreaking havoc and harm, thanks to these gushing media geishas.
It is in those moments when PIA scandals seep through the media censorship, and the purveyors of PIA are caught without their facades of competence, that we truly appreciate the tragedy of being water under the bridge, collateral damage, on the PIA purveyor's path to greater political success.
Sometimes, every once in a while, if one is lucky, PIA's chickens come home to roost.
© Gabriel Garnica
October 31, 2012
Sometimes, in the course of human and political events, the tragic trifecta of Power, Incompetence, and Arrogance (PIA) come together to result in disaster, individual and collective. Since the personal and political spheres are often interwoven, PIA's personal and professional wreckage is often one and the same.
Typically, there is a personal pattern, developed through years of pampered existence, which convinces the purveyor of PIA to fancy himself above the limitations of good sense, integrity, and personal responsibility. Years of yes men and women ready at the purveyor's every whim have distilled a delusion of immunity to misfortune. This delusion, developed and fed through years of fictitious qualification and fawning fanaticism by dim-witted drones, often leads the purveyor to reckless, narrow-minded behavior which is either ignorant of or oblivious to the potential consequences, and collateral damage, of his actions.
Sadly, that collateral damage often takes the form of innocent lives saddled with the unhappy misfortune to have their destiny tied to Mr. PIA, whose only focus is the advancement of personal and professional agendas. Sooner or later, these unfortunate people suffer the consequences of PIA's bumbling steps, and quickly become collateral damage impeding PIA's perceived path to greater glory.
Desperate to preserve that path at all costs, and fearful that the collateral misfortune will derail their ultimate goals, PIAs instinctively prefer to run and hide from the truth, preferring to plant fiction rather than fact in a vain and pathetic attempt to divert public attention from their complicity in the disaster.
Lord knows how many times PIAs have literally gotten away with murder, direct or otherwise, thanks to their typically extensive network of enabling puppeteers, often wealthy and connected, who focus their considerable financial and media resources to preserve some semblance, often much more, of the PIA's shredded reputation for having a clue.
However, every once in a while, the PIA and its resulting collateral harm are so great that even these puppeteers and enablers cannot fully conceal the scandal. It is a testament to the power of these puppeteers and enablers that PIAs are left with any political career to salvage at all. In fact, if history teaches us anything, it is that PIAs have many lives, and are granted many chances to continue wreaking havoc and harm, thanks to these gushing media geishas.
It is in those moments when PIA scandals seep through the media censorship, and the purveyors of PIA are caught without their facades of competence, that we truly appreciate the tragedy of being water under the bridge, collateral damage, on the PIA purveyor's path to greater political success.
Sometimes, every once in a while, if one is lucky, PIA's chickens come home to roost.
© Gabriel Garnica
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