December
15
Yep, this one's our fault: A perfect storm of perfect storms
As you might have noticed, the world is not going too well of late. Industries dying, evil men making off (really, could he have been better named?) with billions and, well, industries dying. In fact, so many are doing so badly that they have fallen prey to everyone's favorite hobgoblin of little minds: The shamelessly hoary cliche. Ryan Tate writes:
Oh God SHUT UP: Your company/industry/economy did not fail because of a "perfect storm," a chance, disastrous combination of outside events. It failed because you sucked!
It turns out the term "perfect storm" is barely 10 years old and is actually derived from the book of the same name, later made into a movie. In the short interim period the "perfect storm" has become the perfect bleat for whiny businessmen everywhere.
Among those who have taken shelter in "the perfect storm" are Sam Zell, GM CEO Rick Wagoner, Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo and countless "analysts" on cable news shows that should know better. And, um, this paper.
Of course, as cute as Sebastian Junger may be, there's no way that the title of his slim, albeit best-selling, nonfiction book would be vying for most annoying catchphrase of the 21st century if it weren't for the evil Hollywood henchmen -- in this case, Warner Bros., Wolfgang Petersen and those twin horsemen of the apocalypse, George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, who turned it into a would-be "Jaws," with the Atlantic Ocean standing in for Bruce and, you know, a not-so-happy ending.
Hear that? THEY ALL DROWNED. No one survived the perfect storm. So will everyone please stop trying to draw comparisons? It's almost like you're asking for it and really, we need all the help we can get.
Those were two more cliches. The difference is in this case, they're true. [Gawker]
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