Another Look At Titles...

Back in March of 2008 (when dinosaurs roamed the earth, in Internet terms) I wrote a blog post called My Title's Better Than Your Title. It was my reflection on our penchant for giving ourselves grand titles to establish our position in social, political, and economic hierarchies, and in it I told the story of why I would like to have the distinguished title of Illustrious Potentate.

I think the whole subject of titles and honors is fascinating, and since writing that post I have come across many other titles that I've found interesting, if - sometimes - unfortunate. Consider the handle of this fellow from the Small Business Administration who was mentioned in a recent summary of movements of senior government officials:

Director, Disaster Credit Management System Operation Center

Wow ... let me dust off my degree in Linguistics for a moment while I think about this one.

On reflection, I'm pretty sure I understand what this gentleman's responsibilities were: they probably involved directing efforts to ensure that small businesses have access to credit to help them recover in the wake of disasters...to rebuild facilities, replace stock, make payroll, etc.

But that's not how I read it at first.

My first reading suggested that this gentleman was responsible for ensuring that the right people got credit for disasters. For example, he might have signed the papers and issued the press releases that gave Republican economic policies credit for the huge crater where our economy used to be. Of course, it's not all the Republicans' fault ... they just slashed government income by cutting taxes and gutted regulation of the financial "management" industry so that Real People's assets could be more efficiently looted. The Democrats did their part by championing expensive programs without considering how they might be funded - an issue which, had they considered it, would have been made a bit more difficult by the tax revenue no longer available.

Yes, there are plenty of people who should have credit for managing this disaster. Think about that when you go to the polls on November 2nd.

But you won't, because we Americans have woefully short memories to go along with our voracious appetites.

And I'll be happy just continuing in my effort to be an Illustrious Potentate. Or the best grandfather I can be ... which is probably better, anyhow.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo