Too Much Uncertainty? The World Has Always Been Like This
What’s changed is that many of the self-delusions we use to cope have broken down.
His guess is as good as anybody’s.
Photographer: Orlando/Hulton ArchiveEuphemisms allow us to avoid confronting the cold, hard truth. Their ambiguity makes the terrible seem merely bad and the bad seem almost OK. It is a softening of subjective reality that allows us to happily live in deluded denial. This isn't a great strategy for relationships, for careers and, especially, for investors.
Consider that we no longer have car crashes that kill more than 40,000 Americans a year. Instead, we have “accidents” caused by inattentive, reckless or -- to use a euphemism --impaired drivers. Companies don’t fire thousands of employees at a time, driving the unemployment rate higher; they downsize or, even worse, right-size. Even the word euphemism is itself a euphemism. It is a lie designed to hide an ugly truth from ourselves.