Word: stockmans
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...would it have been better to drop the horse and concentrate solely on mythology? At Michigan State University, Mr. Stockman switched majors from agriculture to history, and is no farm boy when it comes to the humanities. But the humanities can let you down too. He might have used the metaphor of Odysseus concealing himself under the rams in order to deceive the Cyclops, for example, but the purpose of that deception was escape, not gain. He might also have used the metaphor of Leda and the swan, Zeus taking the form of a swan in order to seduce Leda...
...none of these things would have served Mr. Stockman one whit better than the Trojan horse image, which, in spite of its essential flaw, still combines deception with dignity. So does Mr. Stockman. Chagrined now, he turns his figure of speech against himself, contending that it is he who has assumed the role of the "wooden beast without a brain." But the image is inappropriate again. Mr. Stockman is far from brainless, and hardly a beast. He has simply risked his kingdom for a metaphor...
What all this comes to, oddly, is that Mr. Stockman not only ought to have kept clear of metaphors, but would have saved himself a great deal of grief by using the familiar economists' talk that has effectively mesmerized the world for years. In the Atlantic, Mr. Stockman speaks of "mismanagement modality" and the "wrong atmospherics." Stick to that sort of language, and you cannot lose. In a way, Mr. Stockman is paying a penalty for wishing to sound more comprehensible, which seems unfair, but is, in his own words, how the world works. The danger of being comprehensible...
...wonder whether or not the Crimson editor who wrote the highly critical editorial (November 17) relating to the recent Atlantic Monthly article on David Stockman really took the time to read the 27-page article which has excited so many frustrated liberals...
Perhaps he did manage to skim through the article, selectively choosing a few of the passages which supported his preconceived notions about supply-side economics, while ignoring the more important, but less sensational aspects of "The Education of David Stockman." The most notable of these is his disillusionment with the power of interest groups and the nearly insurmountable political and practical problems associated with formulating a $700-billion budget. It seems more likely though and this is evidenced by the scarce references to the Stockman article in the Crimson editorial, that the Crimson editor simply read a few secondhand newspaper...