The Oz Principle and The War on Terror

Recently, my employer required me to read "The Oz Principle", a book about personal accountability in life and on the job which used, of all things, The Wizard of Oz as its metaphor. The characters in that story , after all their travels and tribulations, end up discovering that they had the power to rise above their circumstances all along, if they were just willing to see their part in perpetuating their plight.

At first I was taken aback by the language of the introduction which railed against the "victim mentality" that the authors boldy presumed to have become nothing less than a "crisis in America". They cited, among other popular conservative targets, litigious victims who've turned our court system into their personal entitlement dispenser. The book's language sounded like it was going to be yet another corporate cheerleading sessioin to increase worker productivity through pop psychology. I nearly dismissed it as just more conservative clap-trap in an era rife with it.

But soon, the authors cited examples of corporate and government victimhood and malfeasance, such as the savings and loan scandal, the Iran Contra affair and other examples where when caught in the act, the players began pointing fingers at everyone and everything except themselves. They weren't willing to own any of the responsibility of the outcome. Big surprise. "The Oz Principle" was written in the early nineties, but I bet the authors would have had a field day with the Enron, Tyco and Worldcom scandals and our government agencies reastions to 9/11. Hell, even Martha Stewart would get a lashing for her flippance in refusing, despite her conviction, to be in the least bit accountable for her predicament.

But liberal victims, like myself on occassion, aren't let off the hook either, which is as it should be. Seeing my own thoughts and actions in that light helps me own some accountability for my particular circumstances, as least those parts that I can control, and it makes me a better person I think.

Anyway, the book made me realize that, in part being a victim is a choice. Sure, bad things will happen to you that you have no control over, but you can choose to whine about it, or you can ask yourself, "What else can I do to rise above my circumstances to get the results I desire?" I know, it sounds like one of those annoying affirmations that are pinned up in somebody's cubicle to motivate them when they just want to crawl under their desk, curl up into a fetal ball, and refuse to acknowledge that, yes, this is their life. But I was really attracted to the book's core message which is to acquire Above The Line™ thinking. To See It™, Own It™, Solve It™, and Do It™. So forget what I think or who's at fault, rather, what can I do to get the results I want? As obvious as it sounds, it rarely occurs to me when things are looking bleak in my personal life or the world around me.

So I have a new paradigm, a filter through which I can get a fresh look at the world. And when I point that lens at my President, I feel somewhat vindicated for my criticisms. This is an administration that refuses to be accountable for any of its failures. I'll give them credit for their victories, like the recent electioni in Iraq. After all, they earned them the hard way, by taking high-risk actions for possibly huge political rewards. But I'd think much more of them, and be less apt to protest or rebel, if they would own their failures - at least partially. But all I've seen from this administration is the staunch refusal to accept ANY blame for ANY part of this entire "War On Terror" debacle. According to "The Oz Principle", that's Below The Line thinking.

I understand that the administration can't control the actions of radical Islamists or their horribly misguided religious ideals, but refusing to own any responsibility for our country's predicament in the world, or our position as a political and collateral target, is "below the line" thinking that can only lead to more finger-pointing and a "victim mentality."

The most recent example of "below the line thinking" are the attempt by a certain university to expel one of its professors for acknowledging in a speech that the victims of 9/11, in particular those victims who worked for and ran the corporations who deal in world trade and banking and whose interests shape our foreign policy, were at least partially responsible for their fate. It was a bold and brave statement, but one that, predictably, upset the "victim mentallity" of the U.S. populace who are still licking their wounds after being so viciously blind-sided by the events of that fateful day.

Some of the question that were repeatedly asked after 9/11 were, "How could this happen to us?" and "Why did this happen to us?" and finally "Why do they hate us so much?" I propose that we, as a country, will never really know the answer to that unless we're willing to acknowledge our part in creating the circumstance. Unless, as "The Oz Principle" states, we See It™ and Own It™ (i.e. accountability), well never Solve It™ and do what we need to do to make sure it never happens again. This is why history repeats itself. But we're not doomed to repeat it if we honestly and transparently ask ourselves, "What can we do as a country, as a world community, to rise above our circumstances and get the results we desire?"

Perhaps first we should ask ourselves, what do we really desire for our country? Do we desire perpetual war and a perpetual parade of finger-pointing "victims" and "perpetrators"? Or can we really create something better? That question hasn't been earnestly explored since the 1960's. Perhaps it's time to take another shot at it.