Death To That Guy!

Oh boy. Blogging has truly entered a dark age of sorts with diddly squat happening in the news. Well, one thing happened. Department of Veteran Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald just ate a bus load of nuns. Or maybe he didn’t. Maybe people are overreacting. Hmm. Let me work through this...

On Monday, DVA Sex-kitten Bob McDonald said some words he now regrets. He was asked about wait times at VA Hospitals and he said:

“When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line? Or what's important? What's important is, what's your satisfaction with the experience? And what I would like to move to, eventually, is that kind of measure.”

Everyone on the right grabbed their pitchforks and immediately went after old Bob. He doesn’t care about wait times for veterans who are dying every day in those lines. Damn you Bob. Damn you to hell!

Honestly, this is ridiculous. It’s not like Bob is actually saying that wait times don’t matter. What he’s saying is that they want to look at more factors than just wait times when it comes to determining whether or not the VA is providing good service. The idea that Bob meant he didn’t care about wait times is manufactured outrage. Ditto on the idea that it’s somehow wrong to compare Veterans to customers at Disney. The man chose Disney because they have an amazing reputation for customer service.

So I’m with Bob, right? Nope. Why? Because he kept talking. Bob went out and doubled-down by saying the following:

“Look, we get it. Wait times are important. There’s no question wait times are important, but they aren’t the only measure of the veteran experience. If I was misunderstood or if I said the wrong thing, I’m glad I have the opportunity to correct it.”

Grr. Now I have to fault Bob. This is pure arrogance. Translate this statement and you get: (1) duh, your argument is stupid because no sh*t everyone knows the point you are trying to make... what are you? Slow? (2) And if you are one of those who is too stupid to get what I was saying then learn to cope. This is not the tone one should strike if you genuinely didn’t mean what the public thinks you meant. He should have just said what he had to say about the issue genuinely. He didn’t though, and today, Bob tried again:

“If my comments Monday led any Veterans to believe that I, or the dedicated workforce I am privileged to lead, don't take that noble mission seriously, I deeply regret that. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Now this really pisses me off. This is the modern corporate apology and I find it to be truly insulting. It is evasive. It avoids taking responsibility. It is not genuine. It is public relations of the most cynical kind. What’s more, I can guarantee you that the lawyers who wrote this are laughing about the last part. You simpletons are supposed to believe this is an apology, but it’s really just an intentionally injected ambiguity. What exactly couldn’t be further from the truth? The idea that whatever you think he said is really what he said? That he didn’t take his noble mission seriously? Or that he regrets your belief? At no point is there a genuine apology here, it only seems he apologized. Big Business America never apologizes.

So I think, all told, my view is that people were stupid to read this quote to be negative in the first place, but I can’t feel sorry for Bob because he’s not dealing in good faith with the issue. In fact, I simply don’t accept the corporate apology... it is for fundamentally dishonest people who only want to shut you up rather than making a situation right. No one should ever trust anyone who uses the corporate apology. So go ahead and string the bastard up.

This stuff makes my head spin.

Thoughts?