"Rumsfeld"

"Reports that say something hasn't happened are interesting to me, because as we know, there are known unknowns; there things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." -- Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld (quoted at a press briefing)

I've re-read this several times, and the bad news is that I think I understand what he was saying. Of course this understanding is from someone who grew up in the streets of New York, is an engineer, and can't spell.

"we know, there are known unknowns"

True. We know that we don't know where Sadaam is. So that's a known unknown,

"..things we know we know"

True. We know that we invaded Iraq. We know that we know that.

"We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know."

True, however this is strikingly similar to the first "known unknowns," therefore no further explanation is needed.

"But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

True as well, Romans didn't know how to drive a car, and worse yet, they had no clue that they didn't know that they didn't know. Simple isn't it? On the Grand Concourse we knew that, but sadly we didn't know we knew that

I think that Rumsfeld is very, very smart. But at the same time he's very, very dangerous. Smart is not always the best for a nation, or for that matter, a company. Caring matters, compassion matters, justice matters kindness matters, and a few other trivial things like that. I didn't learn all of that in the Bronx, but I expect that playing stickball, ringaleavio, and Johnny on the pony helped.

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