Good friends and dumb decisions
By Dave Anderson
In my experience, good friends help their good friends avoid amazingly and predictably dumb decisions before those decisions are made.
Several years ago, I was the best man for a good friend. I was in charge of the bachelor party. After the 2nd bar of the night, I made the executive decision to scrub the excursion to the strip-club because the groom to be was doing his best imitation of a dead cockroach and saying "I want to feel boobies..." Going to the strip club ensured either an ass-kicking from a nasty bouncer, one hell of a nasty fight with his fiancee or both.
That same friend, several years before, physically restrained and threw into trunk of his car his very drunk roommate (who, soaking wet weighed 138 pounds) on his 21st birthday because that roommate wanted to go to a biker bar and start a fight.
Both of those decisions were made by good friends looking out for the best interests of their good friends who were not in the position to make good decisions.
The invasion and occupation of Iraq was predictably going to be a clusterfuck. The reason for war changed weekly, and the reason and motivation was independent of any evidence to the contrary. Good friends of the United States were making it abundantly clear that they thought this was a dumb idea. Yet, the "best friend of the US" in a "special relationship" did nothing besides enable:
Tom Ricks passes it along:
A good friend is in the position and has the obligation to deliver a dope slap when their friends are doing something predictably and amazingly dumb. The good friend is in that position because they have a history of supporting the decisions of their friends, so opposition should be notable and credible as it is rare.
In my experience, good friends help their good friends avoid amazingly and predictably dumb decisions before those decisions are made.
The invasion and occupation of Iraq was predictably going to be a clusterfuck. The reason for war changed weekly, and the reason and motivation was independent of any evidence to the contrary. Good friends of the United States were making it abundantly clear that they thought this was a dumb idea. Yet, the "best friend of the US" in a "special relationship" did nothing besides enable:
Tom Ricks passes it along:
As a British naval historian friend I know once noted, the time when the British government could have helped -- and perhaps stopped the war -- was back in the winter of 2002-2003. Real friends speak up when a friend is making a big mistake. Instead, Tony Blair may have destroyed the "special relationship" by supporting the invasion when he should have opposed it.
A good friend is in the position and has the obligation to deliver a dope slap when their friends are doing something predictably and amazingly dumb. The good friend is in that position because they have a history of supporting the decisions of their friends, so opposition should be notable and credible as it is rare.
The reason for war changed weekly,
no it did not.
it was always about the OIL and is still all about the OIL.
i mean, really, come on, can't you people just admit it ??
Posted by: The Glory and The Oil | December 02, 2009 at 06:17 PM