The Law of Holes
The deeper you go, the darker it invariably gets…
One of the very first rules I learned way back when I was just starting in business, was, “The Law of Holes.” I have no ideas who first coined the phrase, but it is easily one of the most useful laws I’ve encountered in both life and business. It states very clearly: When you find yourself in one, stop digging.
Seems simple, and it is. Until you witness how many times it’s ignored. This week there were two very sad instances of clear ignorance to the Law of Holes, both surprisingly brought to us from the State of Tennessee.
The first instance was from Tennessee Republican Chip Saltsman, a candidate for the Republican National Committee chairmanship. Good ol’ Chip was wise enough in his attempts to gain favor with the RNC committee members, that he sent all committee members a CD for Christmas, entitled, We Hate the USA” — which included a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro.”
Now, I won’t even comment here on the intelligence behind actually sending out something like that — something that also contains songs such as, “Ivory and Ebony” and “The Star Spanglish Banner.” My focus here is on how Chip - who is clearly exhibiting the type of moral and rational judgment that we would all look for in a national leader - is ignoring the Law of Holes in the aftermath. In reply to CNN, Chip states, “I think most people recognize political satire when they see it. I think RNC members understand that.”
I guess in Chip’s world, racial slurs and degrading cultural muses synonymous with politics. And if the wasn’t clear from the start, by ignoring our good friend The Law of Holes, Chip has just dug himself deeper into the dark world of political suicide. Instead of simply apologizing for his egregious lack of judgment, Chip stuck by his shovel and put some good ol’ intolerable elbow grease into his digging. Chip, stop digging now while you can still see the sky.
Our second example of digging ignorance comes from TVA — a federal corporation and the nation’s largest public power company. Apparently, a retention wall that held back billions of gallons of sludge, a byproduct of the ash from coal combustion from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s power plant in Kingston, about 40 miles east of Knoxville, breached sending the sludge into the nearby community. Again, a horrible situation on its own. TVA’s response to the situation will be critical in determining their public perception coming out the crisis.
After a similar situation eight years ago in Kentucky virtually destroyed all aquatic life in the area, when questioned about the piles of dead fish on the banks of the nearby Cinch River, a TVA spokesperson stated that the dead fish had nothing to do with the toxicity of the situation, “What happened — when you have a surge of ash, that created a wave to push the fish up and onto land,” Moulton said. “When the water receded, there were dead fish. They weren’t killed by any toxic chemicals, they were stranded by the wave.”
I am betting that TVA will keep digging here until the list of deceitful comments intended to save their reputation will actually be responsible for years of irreparable damage.
Once again, arrogance, underestimation of the general population, and a true ignorance to the Law of Holes define the path of choice for large scale public communications.
And they wonder why it gets darker and darker…