[23skidoo]

> Further down the social hierarchies, there are plenty of "Santa Claus fans" - really Wanting To Believe that their FBI / CIA / police / etc. are paragons of morality and competence - who react poorly to messengers bearing bad news.

I'll take this opportunity to plug the Iron Law of Bureaucracy which states that in any organization there are two kinds of people: those loyal to the goals of the org, and those loyal to the org itself. Organizations tend to get captured by those loyal to the org itself, even though the people loyal to its goals are the ones you actually want running the show. Eventually you end up with a top-heavy organization that's divorced from its stated goals and exists only to further its own influence and existence. You'll find it in schools, cancer charities, government, etc.

[bell-cot]

Sort-of yes...but looking at (say) the CIA's long indifference to a series of employees who effectively turned traitor against the CIA (by selling its hottest cold-war secrets to the U.S.S.R.), I don't think "loyal to the org itself" is a good description of the rot.

[banannaise]

I had never heard this, and I'm immediately adding it to the big list of things that explain more about present reality than I'm necessarily comfortable with.