Saw a marketing piece today from a local outfit offering “editing” services.
It featured a quote from former U.S. war secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whom they labeled “U.S. Secretary of Confusion.” They said Rumsfeld needed an editor.
Here’s the quote:
“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don’t know.”
I could spell this out — but why? It’s clear as a bell. Rumsfeld was many things, but he wasn’t confused, nor was he in need of a Georgia hick dressed up as an editor.
Rumsfeld consistently spoke clearly and concisely, and this quote is an example. His audience understood him perfectly, even if some less informed people didn’t. Rumsfeld’s milieu knows that unknown unknowns are what sink ships, navies, governments.
If “editors” can’t recognize clarity when it bites them on the you-know, how exactly will they provide it for a customer?
(We leave aside the fact that Rumfeld’s remark was spoken, not written. How would these “editors” propose to “edit” it? Do they live in a bygone era, before YouTube?)
