…the age of incompetence revisited…

Observe the leadership (or lack thereof) around you…incompetent (an understatement), attention-hungry folks who push, shove, cheat, bribe, coax, and threaten their way up to the top…in complete denial of the many underlying insecurities and complexes haunting their existence…and dangerously overconfident of the skills, knowledge, experience, wisdom, and character that they don’t possess (and have no intention, capacity, or desire of ever acquiring)…

Look closely and you’ll easily spot the incompetent ‘martyr‘ – like Sarah Palin – pretending to have ‘dedicated‘ her entire career to the ‘service‘ of Alaska (while the rest of her immediate family and good friends were busy accumulating a lot of wealth courtesy of some very lucrative government contracts) – a career in which, she believes (or wants others to believe), she has served her people better than anyone else before her in that office…and who now claims to be resigning from office out of her undying ‘love‘ for, and ‘loyalty‘ to, the people of Alaska, her family, and the party she represents…sacrificing her golden-egg producing position in politics for the ‘greater‘ good…and blaming everything around her for all the ‘bad‘ things that happened (or supposedly did not ‘really‘ happen) on her watch…

Speculation is rife with stories about a potential presidential or senate run…but very little is being said about an intense investigation underway – a massive corruption scandal – maybe, just maybe, that is a good enough reason to ‘sacrifice‘ that profitable political seat – a fair trade for a ‘get-out-of-jail-free‘ card…then again, with the amount of stupidity prevalent on our planet, a presidential run may not be such a bad idea after all…there are enough idiots out there that will help her get the majority vote she needs to give her the opportunity to destroy an entire country – or even the entire planet…always aim high – even when being stupid…

Do you see that incompetent martyr around you?…the one who works tirelessly at being less than productive – clocking in a cool 12.25 non-stop hours even on New Year’s Day on meaningless tasks – and making sure everyone in the hierarchy knows that she/he was in the office that day…the one who shows up to work after picking up her/his cholera medication from the neighborhood pharmacy…the one who made it to the last board meeting in cast and crutches driven to the office by the paramedics who picked her/him up right from the crash scene…I’m sure you know these folks…they’re everywhere…

Then there is the incompetent ‘bully‘- and you guessed it…the ole’ bushyman-cowboy-type and her/his dick-headed ‘condi’ment of mass deception – there are too many of them around nowadays to list in one rant…enough said, I think.

Let’s see if you can spot this character around you…old-school mentality, fanatically religious (obviously – since it is the business of religion that helps her/him divide and conquer…duh!), resistant to change, superbly deceptive, and a downright scoundrel. The most unapproachable of them all…where she/he is today is (more than likely) courtesy of an influential connection who expects her/him to quietly and subserviently obey and fulfill the underlying agenda of that influential entity…unable and unwilling to make decisions and quick to question the credibility, loyalty, and integrity of those around her/him when challenged and/or as a tactic of distraction and/or deflection…

Closely allied with the incompetent bully and the incompetent martyr is the incompetent ‘non-stick-clown‘…remember Tony Blair? – or ‘Teflon Tony‘ for those who knew him well…an entire highly evolved species contained within an individual character with the gifted ability to smoothly cruise-by in stealth-mode while crap is flying all around him emerging at the other end looking (and smelling) squeaky-clean…

Gee…I wonder if there is such character around me…never provides a straight answer, quick to produce proof that she/he was in Timbuktu when that bad decision was made even though the document authorizing the poorly articulated plan (or lack thereof) contains her/his signature and there is taped evidence of her/him sealing that very decision…this master of spin is highly skilled at pulling wool over everyone’s eyes and gets away with it every single time…I’m going to take a five minute break here because for some odd-reason, my brain is screaming Stephen Harper…Stephen Harper…Stephen Harper…and I just don’t understand why…maybe that break will help…

…okay I’m back – the screaming has stopped, thankfully…but now I’m getting these visions…I see a non-stick frying pan with the image of Canada’s Prime Minister etched on its inner surface…sigh!…I wonder what’s happening in that little brain of mine…

…on with the rant…

Then there is the incompetent ‘who-what-dude(tte)‘- the Canadian senate (and that of the great US of A) is full of this brand of incompetence…some of these dudes and dudettes are known to have been away from their duties for years…collecting a hefty pay-cheque courtesy of the ignorant tax-payer while vacationing indefinitely in the beautiful tropical paradises of the south, with the rest of their colleagues asking questions like: “…I‘ve heard that name, but who is that? what does he look like?? is he even alive???…”

I’m sure you’ll easily be able to list many of these characters around you – here’s a hint to get you off the ground: start with your most beloved senate and work your way down to the mighty unions (or should I say ‘UP‘ to the mighty unions?) and you’ll be busy writing names for the rest of this year…

Who doesn’t know the incompetent ‘bragster‘? – the one who stops people on the street and points to her/his gold-plated name badge – making sure everyone knows, over and over again, who she/he is…from India’s beloved, Laloo Prasad Yadav – current day politician and elected leader, convicted and jailed in the 70’s on a ‘national security‘ charge (ironic, eh?) – to the frog at work because of whom the sun dutifully rises everyday, and with whose permission it sets; the bragster is alive, well, and forging ahead will full gusto…

Know this character? Work with her/him? Live with her/him? Grew up with her/him? – I’m sure you have (and probably still do)…

…I will end this rant here…but know that there are too many incompetent leaders out there – in politics, in business, in friendship, in family, in faith, in education – everywhere – just observe your surroundings and you’ll see it clearly…

It’s time to weed this incompetence out folks…the status-quo is unacceptable…the ‘reptilian-brains‘ out there need to move over and make room for more competent leadership…stand up…be counted…don’t accept mediocrity anywhere – start with yourselves and set a higher standard in everything you do and touch, and keep raising that bar every day…change is a slow and tedious process…you and I may not be able to usher in the era of competence during our lifetime…but if we start now, there may be hope for our future generations…

“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thoughts in clear form.” – Albert Einstein

The opposition will be very violent…both from our individual ‘internal‘ incompetence and from the incompetence around us…but thoughtlessly submitting to the sickly status-quo is not an option…stand up…be counted…don’t accept mediocrity…start with yourself…

Stay Well!

- The Ranting Dream