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Mon 1 Dec, 2003 12:07 pm
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A comment last year by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was awarded the "Foot in Mouth" prize Monday by Britain's Plain English Campaign.
Rumsfeld, renowned for his uncompromising tough talking, received the prize for the most baffling comment by a public figure.
"Reports that say something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know," Rumsfeld told a news briefing.
"We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."
John Lister, spokesman for the campaign, which strives to have public information delivered in clear, straightforward English, said: "We think we know what he means. But we don't know if we really know."
That was part of EST -- Werner Erhard's seminars in the seventies and eighties.
All knowledge is separated into what we know, what we know we don't know, and that which we don't know that we don't know -- the largest segment of information.
For example, I know that I don't know anything about how to perform brain surgery.
Data contained within "don't know/don't know" instantly moves into "know/don't know" upon realization of that fact.
Also commonly called a "wow" moment.
Does someone coach Rumsfeld in this stuff or does he come up with it all by himself?
I have a hard time believing that Rummy did EST.
Maybe someone he knew tried to recruit him or something...
Just plain funny. I don't that I don't know. But, you'd think I'd know that.
It appears as if he is taking lessons from Bush or is it the other way around?
i lov bush, he's so entertaining
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