"Mistakes were made".. a phrase I would love to see retired forever

[SoCalDem]

Why do we just accept those lame explanations?

In NO other situation is that an acceptable excuse. What if they were accepted?

scenario: cop stops car..driver says "speeding? Oh well, mistakes were made"..cop says.."Go forth my son, and speed no more

scenario: Mom & dad return to find a house trashed by teenage kid..Kid says" this mess. well there was a oparty, and mistakes were made"..parents say.."Oh well kids will be kids..here's a $20-".

scenario: Kid refuses to study, flunks a test, asks teacher to change his grade..says that mistakes were made, and he should have studied..teacher says..Okay, Here's an open-book test..turn it in whenever you like

scenario: wife catches husband (husband catches wife) in bed with best friend..offending spouse says "Hey mistakes were made".. Offended spouse says.."That's ok, it's probably my fault.. let's go out to dinner..and your friend can come along too"

scenario: Boss assigns you an important task with a deadline. you take a 3 hr lunch and do not get the job done on time. When the boss calls you into his/her office, you say "Mistakes were made"..boss says.. "Well you've got a life to live too..you're getting a promotion"

.................................

Our governmental types NEVER ever accept responsibility.. When was the last time you ever heard one say "I SCREWED UP..IT'S MY FAULT..I FAILED" (Richard Clarke did, but he was no longer IN an official capacity, and he needed some positive vibes for a book he was writing, so that doesn;t count)

[lectrobyte]

1. Always hated that bit of NLP. "mistakes were made" intead of

"I made mistakes" or "My administration broke the law" or "we traded arms for hostages", you get the idea...

[Richard Steele]

2. The entire life of G W B*sh, summarized in a single Jpeg....

[Junkdrawer]

7. LOL..I was going to go looking for that...

:thumbsup:

[lectrobyte]

8. Groenig (sp?) rules. That's a keeper from way back. nt

[orpupilofnature57]

3. Working the Human highway ,playing on fears ,prejudices , using

ambiguous reasoning is a way of life for a great majority of their ilk.

[Der Blaue Engel]

4. Passive voice

absolves the speaker of all responsibility. It's a Pontius Pilate stunt.

[sui generis]

5. you beat me to it

it's also typically the set-spike of a passive aggressive stunt.

Funny how a "mode" of speaking almost literally sets off alarms in my head when I hear it.

[Berry Cool]

6. Yes, you're taught to use passive voice in the world of public relations

when forced to announce any decision likely to be unpopular. That way, the decision need not be publicly attributed to anyone.

"A decision was made to..."

"An agreement has been reached to..."

"A plan has been enacted to..."

Whenever you see those phrases, be afraid. Be very afraid.

[TahitiNut]

9. It's very common in corporations when discussing FUBAR operations.

It's the plague of internal auditors ... and when they succumb to it they're no longer worth shit.