“Why are we honoring this woman, have we run out of people who aren’t war criminals?”
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As I head to APSA’s annual conference in Boston, I note that the organization has not exactly covered itself in glory:
Condoleezza Rice and I are both from Birmingham, Alabama and both have PhDs in Political Science. Unlike her, I've never defended torture programs, so I guess I don't have a chance at the Humphrey Award anytime soon. https://t.co/dy5E21tWI5
— Emily M. Farris (@emayfarris) August 29, 2018
The American Political Science Association giving Condoleezza Rice an award "in recognition of notable public service" is a striking reminder that no one has suffered any actual long-term reputational consequences for the disaster that was the Iraq War https://t.co/Pzb3Isv6ki
— Steven White (@notstevenwhite) August 29, 2018
One would like to think that prominent association with the Trump administration would discredit people going forward. Alas, history suggests that our overcompensated and underachieving elites will always remain in good standing.
The raspberry road that led to Abu Ghraib was paved with bland assumptions that people who had repeatedly proved their untrustworthiness, could be trusted. There is much made by people who long for the days of their fourth form debating society about the fallacy of “argumentum ad hominem”. There is, as I have mentioned in the past, no fancy Latin term for the fallacy of “giving known liars the benefit of the doubt”, but it is in my view a much greater source of avoidable error in the world. Audit is meant to protect us from this, which is why audit is so important.