Writes Brian Dunaway:
There are many elements that converged which led to the astonishing Jaguar marketing decisions, resulting in what can only be described as annihilation. (That is, a 97% drop in sales.) Among the sane, this spectacle leaves the observer’s mouth agape for minutes at a time. You want to look away but you can’t. But as astonishing a disaster as this is, “wokeism” is just one element of it – the root cause being Western corporate incompetence in general, often driven by cowardice.
I spent my entire career employed (sorry, I was a “team member”) by a very, very large legacy aerospace company. In an observation so true it has become trite, with few exceptions, legacy companies are saturated with management whose members are galactically ordinary and spectacularly stupid, but above all, weak. This lack of leadership leads not just to inane decisions, but even criminal ones. (The legacy corporate environment also promotes sociopaths, which appear to provide the mitochondrial energy required for mindless activity, often misinterpreted as efficiency.)
During a temporary assignment to a new program, I befriended a pair of engineers whom I learned were more or less worldview fellow-travelers. (Incidentally, I quickly discovered they both read lewrockwell.com.) After having known me only a week, I think they already had my number: A radical (the way K-L described it), but having an extreme sense of propriety. At this time, they told me a little recent history of the group. I could just feel their anticipation of my response.
The story: In their engineering group, there existed two females in a “romantic” relationship. One of them, the designated butch. The other one – who was quite attractive, and apparently had not read the official operating manual for lesbianism – was attracting the attention of a male in an adjacent group. Catching wind of this, the butch informed the potential male suitor, via company instant messaging, that if he didn’t knock it off (pun intended), she would “cut his balls off.”
Management discovered this, and panicked. Because that’s the defining ontological feature of legacy corporate management. Not for least because they were dealing with two “team members” who had double legal and social protection. Fortunately for management, all members of this love triangle were Caucasian, so no protection trifecta.
All methodologies of cowardice were followed flawlessly, including Rule No. 1, which is: No Confrontation.
So, what happened? Ask anyone who has worked in these environments the answer – I have many times. I tell them the story, and I always receive the same answer. They always get it right. Always.
That’s right. The butch was promoted.
How can the punchline be the answer that exists in reality, with near-perfect consistency?
It is deep sickness.
