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Cronyism...blatantly obvious. Why is this even being tolerated by the Republican party? Why is this acceptable at all? Remove Democrats from the equation <insert joke here>, and this still would look suspect. U.S. Intelligence committee appointeesPosts: 1480 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Cronyism is deeply entrenched in American life. Business schools even encourage it under the name "Networking." Everyone who has been recommended for job by a friend, family member, church member, or co-worker is at some level a crony. It's part of who we are, and not necessarily a bad part, it's also one of the leading factors that sustain racism, classism, the economy, and golf.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Networking is the act of considering someone that you know for a job, but only if they meet the qualifications necessary to perform the duties required by the job.
Cronyism is a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" type of arrangement.
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I just don't know how easy it is to decide when the qualifications end and the scratching begins.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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There's a gray area in the middle where it's generally accepted. The problem is when it becomes blatantly obvious that the people being appointed/hired have no qualifications.
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Think of the gray area as the space between high tide and low tide on a beach.
The space between the two points constantly shrinks and grows, but no one panics until the tide rises so high that it floods your basement.
Posts: 1480 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
LOL, see, that's the joke. My first editing job (non-fiction) was coincidence. One of the instructors at my son's martial arts school saw me making notes on copy, and asked what I did.
I just told him I was a full time mother, but that I did some editing for a couple of people sometimes. They were desperate, and gave me section of their book to see what I would do with it. Eventually, they hired me. I ended up telling them they needed a ghostwriter, because this thing needed more work than I was willing to give it.
My husband and his best buddy since High school talk about everything, so this guy was aware that I was an English major and that I did that stuff for the martial arts group. His company had ordered a research paper for a client from another group in India. Th ewriters of the paper were engineers mostly, and English wasn't their native language. So, he asked me to fix it up. He paid me more than what I was doing was worth, at first but he owed us some money.
From there he gave me other things to do. He doesn't keep me constantly busy, but I am scrupulous about my work for him. Moreso than I was for the government. He's my husband's oldest and dearest friend. I know his wife and absolutely adore their son. I'd rather NOT work for him than do anything that would jeopardize their security.
Which I think is why he likes me. I think people want loyalty, which is easier to get from longtime friends than Joe off the street. However, it's the balance between loyalty and skill that is hard to find.
In my case, he knows I'll do crap work and that I'd leave before I would undercut him in any way. So it works out well for both of us.
So, I'm a crony AND a crone. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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It was aim to you, Target. I don't think that it was a apt analogy. I think that until you figure out the appropriateness of the grey areas, the black and white ones aren't going to make any sense.
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However, it was established in another thread that you can qualify as a geezer (in time), while we CITs cannot.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Actually, a geezer can be a male of any age. Especially in Britain, where it is used as a generic male designation.
I know that the popular practice of croning requires a woman to be post-menopausal (and the three stages of womanhood are traditionally Maiden, Mother, and Crone), but the dictionary seems to be a bit more liberal. According to dictionary.com , I only have to be an ugly, withered old woman, an evil-looking old woman, or a hag.
I can work with that. Besides, I'm only four years younger than my mother when she ceased being fertile, so who knows? Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I'm resurrecting this thread because I think that this is a live issue that deserves thought.
Once we except that some cronyism is morally permissable. For example, I don't have a problem at all with how Olivet got her editing job. How do we square that with the American Rhetoric of equality and meritocracy.
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The one and only thing I blame President Bush on with regards to Katrina is not that the worst storm in US history hit, or that his response was not as swift as it could have been, or that he didn't take it seriously at first.
It was that the person he put in charge of FEMA was an unqualified crony. That is the fault the he shoulders, but has yet to acknowledge.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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She had the qualifications and ability (which are at times two different things ) to do the job, and that makes all the difference.
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