A Royal Question

I recently got a question about what I think of monarchy. The short answer is: "nothing."

That brief answer constitutes a good short blog entry, which everyone will appreciate, as time is such a precious thing in our busy time. It is also in line with my agnostic view of the world. However, it does not keep me occupied for long, and I have a few minutes to fill out this evening, so let me expand "nothing" to... well... "something". But not much.

There is no good definition of "monarchy". There have been kings and queens with crowns and without. There have been kings and queens that were elected, and some who inherited their job, a little like Kim Jong-il (김정일, 金正日) in North Korea. I do not know Kim's exact title, but the common epithet "Dear Leader" (chinaehan jidoja, 친애한 지도자) could probably be replaced by "King" without changing much in practice.

What is important for any country is that the leader does not make a mess of things, like killing millions of people or declaring silly unnecessary wars at the other side of the globe. Kings have done some really silly things, but so have presidents, Reichskanzlers and general secretaries of the ruling party. The important thing is neither the title nor the way the title was given. The important thing is the result.

"It does not matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice", as Dèng Xiǎopíng (邓小平) said. (Bùguǎn báimāo hēimāo, dàizhù láoshǔ jiùshì hǎomāo. 不管白貓黑貓，逮住老鼠就是好貓。) He was talking about something else, but the proverb works on titles of rulers as well. Ironically, he himself was regarded as China's real leader, even when his only official title was honorary chairman (róngyù zhǔxí, 荣誉主席) of the China Bridge Association (Zhōngguó qiáopái xiéhuì, 中国桥牌协会).

In other words, if a country has a king or a queen or a president or a dear leader as head of state does not really matter, as long as the person behaves in a decent way.

The lazy ones will save us

In my sister's company, management has discovered the importance of procedures. The problem is, of course, that some people do not want to apply them. Management realised that the one big group who were unlikely to follow procedures, were people who were smart enough to think about when to apply them. The solution was simple. No new employees with imagination and intelligence will be hired. Existing employees that show tendencies to use their own initiative will be terminated immediately.

The internal web site for employees gives the messages: "Follow our agreed procedures." "Don't think, unless someone ask you to." "It is good to be too lazy to think." "If you feel an urge to question our procedures, take some time to do some internet shopping instead. At least, that's good for the country's economy."