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I’m sure that Spanair would like Winter’s take on this. Don’t blame us, shit happens. We’re already hearing a lot about troubles at the airline and uncertainty before takeoff. Perhaps someone is to blame. I don’t know how things work in Spain but if it were the UK it would no doubt be concluded after an investigation that no one person was responsible, that the failure was shared at all levels. A blame culture’s inevitable adaptation for the absorption of blame.
I saw Keith Vaz being interviewed on the news earlier about the loss of the personal data of thousands of criminals. He was making the distinction between the responsibility of the private contractor, who apparently failed to adhere to their contractual obligations, and the ‘political responsibility’ held by the Home Office. The neoliberal delegation of governmental responsibility for the execution of public services is another adaptation for the absorption of blame, resultant of the fact that managing an increasingly complex data-dependent society is a difficult task. Especially for those with a proclivity to de-encrypt sensitive data onto a memory stick. And lose it.
Human error is a fact of life. Data systems are simply an extension of this fact, being only as good as the humans that put them together and those that use them. A failure of such systems occurred in Edinburgh recently when a new computerised box office was implemented for the first time with little success. Fringe Festival goers were unable to buy tickets due to the problems, leaving seats empty and comedy pilgrims unamused. For the previous 60 years an entirely human operated system worked without a hitch. Computers weren’t to blame for this year’s failings however, but humans who blindly placed their faith in them.
Shit happens. Sometimes it’s due to the fact that we live in a complex and ultimately chaotic world filled with infinite variations of chance and happenstance. But sometimes it’s because some twat pulls his kegs down and drops his kids off in your pool. In which case point your finger at said shitty pants and say “now then shitty pants, whose pool do you think you’re pooing in?”