Really? I Don't Think So

The Emperor Has No Clothes

The spin being put out by The White House never ceases to amaze me. Their social media posts claiming the economy is the best it has ever been when 90% of us are struggling financially is the icing on the cake. Not to mention how the press secretary tries to tell us that the POTUS calling a woman “Piggy” is something we should be pleased about since he’s being “frank” and more “respectful than the previous administration.” There is nothing respectful about calling others derogatory names.

I’m reminded of another president that I worked with at a small, private two-year college. At the time, I and other colleagues had spent about nine months considering the future of the institution. We weighed the model, looked at quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of sources. It became evident that remaining a private two-year school was not viable for the future. When I made the written argument, I described the college as the best black and white TV on the market. Yes, the school met its mission a as two-year, but no one was in the market for such, rendering it a dinosaur.

The long-range planning committee passed on our findings to the college president. Soon after, we were gathered in the second oldest building on campus to be scolded for thinking proactively. I was not yet a VP; I was merely the institutional researcher who had done her job and done it well. Around me where my superiors – the provost, other VPs, the dean of the library. The president made his argument for remaining obsolete, topping it off with the following: There are lots of four-year schools going two-year.

The room grew silent. I was flabbergasted. Because of who I am (and I’m pretty sure I’m on the spectrum, because I often miss nuances and subtleties that other more politically astute people seem to get), I first assumed I had missed some key research. What was he talking about? I had done hours of work, and I had only seen evidence of two-year schools moving to the four- year model. My self-doubt turned to anger. I piped up, I’ve done a lot of research and have not seen any evidence of this. Can you share which schools are referring to?

I was greeted with a steely silence. This president briefly stared at me and then began to speak of something else. I don’t recall what that was, because I was digesting that he didn’t have a valid reply. Even more shocking to me was that he thought he could state an obvious untruth and expect everyone in the room to comply with his lie.

No one in that room came to my defense, and they had also seen the evidence. I was out there alone, wondering why. I came to the assumption that the reason for this was that I was the one in the room who had the least to lose. I wasn’t on the leadership team. I was the lowest on the pecking order of the organization chart. They were concerned about their job security. I was too clueless to care.

The president who made that outrageous claim was soon dismissed, his tenure lasting just two years. I was happy to see him go. The institution eventually did move into a new model. But the point is this: when your gut, along with data, tells you someone is lying, they probably are. Just because they hold the highest position in the room does not mean you should automatically believe everything they say. I think of Janus, a common image Shakespeare used in multiple plays. Janus is the Roman God who is two-faced, representing not just beginnings and endings, but also truth and deception. Be wary of the face being presented.

 Excerpt from The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare:

Solanio: … Now, by two-headed Janus,

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time.

Some that will evermore peep through their eyes

And laugh like parrots at a bagpiper,

And other of such vinegar aspect

That they’ll not show their teeth in way of smile

Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.