As I started today’s research (further examples of successful cooperation by international organizations), I face planted on the table at Underwood. No, it’s not because I’m exhausted, though the “Seasoned Traveler” set of luggage under my eyes would beg to differ.
As an American, writing in 2017, how do I encourage anyone to do anything about an issue as important as data protection? My country is truly, I don’t care for all the PC-commentary about how we’re a “work in progress,” a mess. We are a great nation. But, just like any Real Housewife on Bravo, we are both great and a mess.
We cannot tie our collective shoe without focusing on 45’s false Tweet about it, the media’s inflated reaction to the lie/Tweet, a further fact check on the Tweet, a week’s worth of 45’s lackeys discussing the alternative facts of the Tweet, Sunday morning talk shows deciphering Morse Code from Russian spies about the Tweet, questions regarding whether or not the world needs Twitter, Congressional aides demanding the US live Tweet during TTIP negotiations…remember the shoe?
It needs to be tied. And, I’m not proud of this, the US can be the first country to a) distract IOs from the shoe and b) burn the shoe to avoid compromising on how to tie it. Problem there? You step on glass, have no shoe, and you bleed. A lot.
“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit” used to be a clever quote by W.C. Fields, right? No and no. First, it’s not just a clever quote now, it’s used to wash away sins and make a joke about things like a presidential administration. But, more importantly, it’s not even a W.C. Fields quote and that’s not the quote. “Well, if I can’t dazzle them with my brilliance, I baffle them with my bull.” That’s the quote and no one seems clear on to whom we should attribute it.
As I’m reading the heavy and lofty Constitutions, Conventions, and Mandates establishing these bulwarks (WTO, WIPO, the UN, NATO, etc.), I see it – greatness. They were created and established for greatness. Through absolutely no fault of their own, unless you consider the members themselves at fault, these organizations are baffled by the bull these days.
I have no idea how to get them to focus on my little shoe. But, I know this…they can focus on my little ballet flat now or they’ll have to focus on a cowboy boot the size of Asia later.
The World of Before You 