Varieties of blameworthy collective error?

Collective Mea Culpa? You Must be Joking! (Part #2)

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It is useful to review a variety of errors and mistakes as recognized in different domains in order to highlight the degree to which these tend to be framed as the responsibility of a key individual (or a leadership group) or the fault of no one in particular. Especially relevant is the extent to which these are primarily recognized from an historical perspective, and typically by "outsiders" whose judgement (and interpretation of "facts") may be considered questionable and a focus of rebuttal, if not simply ignored as ill-informed onion. Of related interest is the extent to which the "errors" are to be recognized as "problems", namely a subset of the variety of problems profiled in a section of the online Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential.

The sources quoted, and the manner of their clustering, is intended to be indicative only, rather than comprehensive. Omissions, whether apparent or otherwise, may be equally instructive.

• Errors from an historical perspective (including errors of historical interpretation) :
  • Stephen Weir:
    • History's Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them (2009)
    • History's Greatest Lies: the startling truths behind world events our history books got wrong (2009)
  • Ian Whitelaw: History's Biggest Blunders -- and the people who made them (2012)
  • Geoffrey Regan: Historical Blunders (2002)
    
    
• Errors in terms of legal principles and human rights:
  • hard cases make bad law: This is a legal maxim by which it is implied that extreme cases are a poor basis for a general law that would cover a wider range of less extreme cases. In other words, a general law is better drafted for the average circumstance as this will be more common.
  • miscarriage of justice: Namely the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. This is recognized as especially problematic in the case of capital punishment, necessarily irreversible
  • unjust law: an unjust law would be one that takes away an individual's or a group's freedom, causes harm or basically just causes chaos. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust
  • illegality: Not authorized by law; Illicit ; unlawful; contrary to law. Sometimes this term means merely that which lacks authority of or support from law;but more frequently it imports a violation.
  • just war theory: through which particular acts of war are framed as morally justifiable, irrespective of the number of resulting deaths and the extent of collateral damage.

  Error may be recognized in terms of: arbitrary arrest, detention and execution; forms of enslavement and bondage; enforced resettlement (notably of indigenous peoples); inhumane forms of punishment (death penalty, amputation, etc); and illegal experimentation of humans. Concern may focus on action "above the law". An especially subtle form of error may be recognized as encroachment (Varieties of Encroachment, 2004)

Of relevance to this argument are references to indictments and convictions having been politically motivated -- possibly recognized as vindictive justice. Of particular interest is the ongoing debate regarding the legality of processes undertaken by the USA (most notably through the CIA, and with the degree of complicity of various allies) held to be justified by security preoccupations. Concerns have focused on rendition, torture, incarceration without charges or trial, and targetted assassination. The debate has extended to include the legality of surveillance.

• Errors deriving from colonial policies (especially in relation to indigenous peoples): There is of course a considerable body of literature on the problematic processes historically associated with colonialism (and imperialism) and now extended into processes recognized as neo-colonialism or neo-imperialism. Less well-recognized are the past and continuing processes relating to indigenous peoples concerning which there is a distinct body of literature, notably indicative (as in the case of the colonialism) of the unfortunate complicity of religious authorities.
  
  
• Massacres as instances of major error: There is extensive literature on the range of massacres perpetrated throughout history, whether or not these are acknowledged to be genocidal massacres or instances of ethnic cleansing (List of events named massacres). Such events are an extension of those associated with the previous points. Of relevance with respect to ethnic cleansing are collective policies of involuntary euthanasia. Recognition of "massacre" may extend to that of non-human species as being erroneous.
  
  
• Contradictions within socio-political initiatives understood as erroneous:
  • communism
    • Contradictions of Communism. (Report by the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws to the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Eighty-sixth Congress, first session. 1959).
    • Richard Sakwa: The Soviet collapse: contradictions and neo-modernisation Journal of Eurasian Studies, 4, 2013, 1, pp. 65-77
    • Nina Khrushcheva: Cultural Contradictions of Post-Communism: Why Liberal Reforms Did Not Succeed in Russia (Council on Foreign Relations):
  • capitalism
    • David Harvey: Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism. Profile Books, 2014
    • Richard Kossally: Contradictions in Capitalism Workers World, 13 February 2012
    • Richard Peet: Contradictions of Finance Capitalism Monthly Review, 1 December 2011
    • Gary Young: The Fundamental Contradiction of Capitalist Production Philosophy and Public Affairs 5, 1976, 2, pp. 196-234
    • Daniel Bell: The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism Journal of Aesthetic Education, 6, 1972, 1/2,
    • István Mészáros: The Contradictions of Capitalism Pink Scare, 9 June 2012
  • liberalism:
    • John Hawkins: 20 Hypocrisies of Liberalism TrueNews
    • James Hitchcock: The Contradictions of Multi-Generational Liberalism Crisis Magazine, 21 October 2014
    • Pedro Schwartz: Overcoming the Contradictions of Liberal Democracy: Sociobiology and Social Engineering Library of Economics and Liberty, 4 November 2013
    • Brandon Vallorani: Top 10 Liberal Hypocrisies Patriot Update, 3 December 2011
  • conservatism
    • R. G. Price: The Contradictions Inherent in American Conservatism RationalRevolution.net, 24 February 2004
    • Lawrence Wittner: Conservative Contradictions Counterpunch, 7 January 2015
    • George F. Will: The Cultural Contradictions of Conservatism National Affairs, Spring 1996
    • Brian R. Farmer: Contradictions in Conservatism 2006
    • James Alexander: The Contradictions of Conservatism Government and Opposition, October 2013;
  • socialism
    • Michael A. Lebowitz: The Contradictions of "Real Socialism": the Conductor and the Conducted Monthly Review, 13 July 2015
    • Mao Tse-tung: Contradictions Under Socialism People's Daily 5 April 1956
  • colonialism and imperialism:
    • Abha Sur: Contradictions of Colonialism. Science as Culture 14, 2005, 93-96
    • Anthony Mustacich: Imperialism, The Cold War, and the Contradictions of Decolonization, Global Research, 12 May 2013
    • Sara Flounders: The Contradictions of U.S. Imperialism Workers World, 2 December 2008
    • Victor G. Kiernan: Imperialism and Its Contradictions Routledge, 1995
  • environmentalism
    • Daniel Somers Smith: Place-based Environmentalism and Global Warming: conceptual contradictions of american environmentalism Ethics and International Affairs, 15, 2001, 2, pp. 117-134
    • Paul Suff: Full of Contradictions: once you"ve hit your target, should you stop there or go further? The Environmentalist, 2 July 2015
  • green revolution
    • Harry Cleaver: The Contradictions of the Green Revolution
  • development
    • Philip McMichael: Contemporary Contradictions of the Global Development Project: geopolitics, global ecology and the 'development climate" Third World Quarterly, 30, 2009, 1,pp. 247-262
      
      
• Errors of science: The approach of science may be considered fundamentally in error, most notably with respect to the evolution/creationism debate and varieties of experimentation (vivisection, stem cell research, genetic engineering etc). The social irresponsibility of science may be seen as fundamentally problematic, as with the complicity in weapons research. Although scientists may want their research to be valuable to society, there is disagreement about what is valuable (Andreas Abildlund, Mapping Social Responsibility in Science, ScienceNordic, 16 April 2014)
  • Clara Moskowitz: Oops! The 5 Greatest Scientific Blunders. LiveScience, 16 May 2013
  • Judith Newman: 20 of the Greatest Blunders in Science in the Last 20 Years: what were they thinking? Discover, 1 October 2000
    
    
• Perception of error between disciplines: Typically these take the form of deprecation of the methods and preoccupations of one discipline by another (or by those with a practical focus), thereby undermining progress in integrative interdisciplinary initiatives (Alan D. Sokal and Jean Bricmont, Fashionable Nonsense: postmodern intellectuals' abuse of science, 1998). The extent and nature of such error has been highlighted by the Sokal Affair and the associated debate. However they may define themselves as disciplines, it includes consideration of complementary therapies and religion as inherently erroneous, if not deluded (Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006). The mutual deprecation between modes of knowing highlights the absence of an adequate systematic approach to knowledge as may be variously explored (Knowledge Processes Neglected by Science: insights from the crisis of science and belief, 2012; Requisite Meta-reflection on Engagement in Systemic Change? 2015).
  
  
• Errors within a religious framework (including contradictions): Typically these take the form of critical analysis of one religion by another, thereby undermining progress in interfaith dialogue.
  • Abrahamic religions
    • Contradictions in the Bible Unam Sanctam Catholicam
    • The Errors Found in Various Church Denominations (various Protestant, Catholic, etc). Bible.explore
  • Christianity
    • Contradictions in Roman Catholicism Jude 1:3, 2 September 2011
    • Hans Küng: Crisis in the Catholic Church: the Pope's contradictions Spiegel Online, 26 March 2005
    • Simon Basketter: The Contradictions of Catholicism laid bare Socialist Worker, 21 March 2013
    • Keith Piper: Errors of the Roman Catholic Church.
    • Top 10 Shameful Moments in Catholic History. Listverse, 8 June 2011
    • Bob Stanley: 33 Multifarious Errors of Protestantism. The Catholic Treasure Chest, 20 August 2002
    • The Errors of Protestantism. Protestant.errors.com.
    • Catholic Errors from A to Z. The Ex-Catholic Journal
    • John Wijngaards: Mistakes by the Teaching Authority in Rome. Womenpriests.org
    • Maureen Fiedler and Linda Rabben (Eds.): Rome Has Spoken: a guide to forgotten papal statements, and how they have changed through the centuries. 1998.
  • Judaism:
    • Contradictions within the Torah, Torah Philosophy, 21 January 2007
    • Torah Authorship and Contradictions, JewishAnswers,org
    • Ben Russell and Spencer Grussing: An internal critique of Modern Judaism, Answers of Hope, 22 March 2014
  • Islam
    • Contradictions in the Qur'an (WikiIslam); Ahmed Eldakroury, Wiki-Islam Debunked
    • Contradictions in the Qur'an (Answering-Islam.org)
    • Historical Errors of the Qur'an (Answering-Islam.org)
    • Detailed rebuttals to the so called "Errors" in the Noble Quran (Answering-Christianity.org)
    • Syed Kamran Mirza: Samples of Quranic Contradictions and Flaws Islam Watch, 12 March 2007

    In a WikiIslam profile on Scientific Errors in the Qur'an, it is argued that since Muslims believe that the Qur'an contains a message from an all-powerful, all-knowing, infallible being. If this is true then it should not contain any errors, mistakes, or information that contradicts known facts about the universe. If even one error exists in the text of Islam's holy book then the claims of divine authorship and infallibility are not true. The arguments made have been rebutted (Rebuttal to Answering-Islams: "Scientific Errors of the Qur"an", Answering-Christianity.org). Similar arguments are made with respect to papal teachings, especially those with the authority of papal infallibility

• Errors of governance: There is no lack of reference to errors of this kind, as indicated by the following:
  • Ellis Carter: Top 10 Non-profit Governance Mistakes (From a Lawyer"s Perspective).
  • Bill Fawcett: 10 of the Greatest Leadership Mistakes in History. The Blog, 2 November 2012
  • Richard D. Lieberman and Jason D. Morgan: The 100 Worst Mistakes in Government Contracting. NCMA, 2008
  • Dan Marchese: 15 Worst Political Decisions in American History. RantPolitical, 4 April 2015

They may be usefully distinguished in terms of their implications as:

• misleadership:
  • Nilimesh Mukharjee: 10 Cringeworthy Mistakes of American Presidents ListVerse, 1 January 2013
  • Gordon Gora: 10 Deadly Mistakes Made By US Presidents ListVerse, 5 June 2015
  • What's the biggest mistake a president has ever made? Quora, 4 December 2014
  • What's the biggest mistake that a U.S. President has ever made? Quora, 6 December 2014
• ineffectual regulatory oversight
• policy errors and mistakes
• mismanagement and incompetence
• systemic neglect: Of greater relevance to this argument are those errors which can be understood as systemic, informed by a mindset engendering the policies of individual agencies and the practices of their agents.
  

Specific examples are offered by the governance of international agencies and "systems":

• agency "scandals", for example :
  • United Nations: Corruption at the heart of the United Nations, The Economist, 9 August 2005; The U.N. sex-for-food scandal, The Washington Times, 9 May 2006
  • UNICEF: How UNICEF Harms Third World Children And Misleads About Their Deaths, 21 January 2013; Unicef staff "misappropriate" more than $1m, The Independent, 27 May 1995
  • Statistical Office of the European Communities: Eurostat scandal
    
    
• public indebtedness: It is appropriate to recognize the level of government debt as evidence of a massive error in governance (Global Debt Now $200 Trillion! GoldCore, 14 May 2015; John W. Schoen, Global debt up by $57 trillion since crisis, CNBC, 6 February 2015). The strategy for alleviating the phenomenon, quantitative easing, "printing money", has previously been seen to be an erroneous characteristic of economies in dire financial straits (Eugenie Foster, Printing Money: a misleading metaphor for solving the global economic crisis, Currency News, March 2009).
  
  
• financial system: Errors tend to be recognized in references containing the phrase "we messed up". Other examples include:
  • Greek crisis: As summarized by Jeffrey D. Sachs (Down and Out in Athens and Brussels. Project Syndicate, 11 July 2015):

  The Greek catastrophe commands the world"s attention for two reasons. First, we are deeply distressed to watch an economy collapse before our eyes, with bread lines and bank queues not seen since the Great Depression. Second, we are appalled by the failure of countless leaders and institutions - national politicians, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank - to avert a slow-motion train wreck that has played out over many years....The fact that the Greek debt overhang was acknowledged only after negotiations had collapsed exposes the deep systemic failures that have brought Greece and Europe to this point. We see a European system of crisis management that is fraught with ineptitude, extreme politicization, gamesmanship, and unprofessionalism. I certainly do not mean to excuse Greek clientelism, corruption, and mismanagement as ultimate causes of the country"s predicament. Yet the failure of the European institutions is more alarming. Unless the EU can now save Greece, it will not be able to save itself.

  • financial markets: As summarized by Andrew Sheng (The Regulatory Reform of Global Financial Markets: an Asian regulator"s perspective, Global Policy, 1, 2010, 2):

    All financial crises are failures of markets and governance. The current global financial crisis is no exception. In the emerging markets, where financial markets are generally heavily regulated with government ownership, the crisis can be blamed largely on mistakes of governance at the corporate, regulatory and policy levels. In the developed financial markets, which are more mature, the regulatory philosophy hitherto has been that the market knows best, but the current crisis demonstrated that the existing policy and regulatory framework failed to prevent market excesses which brought massive damage not only to the financial sector, but also to the real economy. This crisis shattered many myths and preconceptions that well-regulated markets could be shielded from financial instability and that the fast-growing Asian economies could be decoupled from the developed western markets.

  • banking system: As reviewed by a former editor of the Financial Times, Richard Lambert (Held to account: will the banks survive these charges? The Telegraph, 28 July 2002):

    First it was the investment analysts. Then it was the accountants. And now it is the turn of the bankers to wriggle in the spotlight as the US seeks to identify the villains behind Wall Street's sensational corporate heists... The outcome could change the architecture of global finance...And will the banks avoid the pitfalls in the next frenzied bull market? Probably not. I am reminded of a meeting I had with a Goldman Sachs senior partner after its involvement in the Robert Maxwell debacle came to light. Asked why Goldman had dealings with a rogue like Maxwell, he paused, drew breath and said: "Because we fucked up".
    
    According to David Smith (The Age of Instability: the global financial crisis and what comes next, 2010):
    
    People will have different views on where to attach most of the blame. It would be hard, however, not to pin the lion's share on bankers, regulators and the rating agencies. Some, however, were willing to accept their share. It was our fault; we messed up a senior central banker said to me about a year after the Lehman collapse. It was our job to set the rules for global capitalism and we did not set them properly (p. 221).

• Errors of foreign policy, diplomacy, and security: These may be framed as "diplomatic errors" and "foreign policy mistakes", as increasingly recognized in the USA and UK with respect to the disastrous intervention in Iraq, and now subject to investigations as with the Iraq Inquiry. Historically this can be recognized in the practices of imperialism and colonialism, now reframed in terms of neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism.
  • Robert W. Merry: Mistakes Were Made: America's five biggest foreign-policy fiascoes. The National Interest, 2 September 2014
  • Adam Hudson: The Iraq war was not a mistake: it was a crime Free Your Mind, 19 March 2013
  • Michael Kinsley: Nostra Culpa: Pundits and politicians have admitted to being wrong about Iraq. Shouldn't the American public do the same? Time, 2 August 2007
  • Iran nuclear deal "a bad mistake" - Israel's Netanyahu, BBC News, 14 July 2015; Iran Deal Denounced by Netanyahu as "Historic Mistake", The New York Times, 14 July 2015
  • The IMF Says The Greek Deal Is Not Viable, Forbes, 17 July 2015; IMF's Lagarde: Greek plan not viable, Financial Times, 17 July 2015
    
    
• Military errors: (What Have We Learned: lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq; Pick Your Battles: ending America's era of permanent war?, Foreign Affairs, November/December 2014; Transforming the Unsustainable Cost of General Education: strategic insights from Afghanistan, 2009). In commenting on the views of a panel of experts (What Have We Learned: lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq; Pick Your Battles: ending America's era of permanent war?, Foreign Affairs, November/December 2014), Marc Jampole notes that Foreign Affairs writers all learn the same thing from recent wars -- unfortunately, it's how to fight future wars (OpEdge, 4 November 2014). This judgement applies to other commentaries (Paul D. Wolfowitz, Lessons Learned: The Iraq Invasion, World Affairs, May/June 2013; Stephen M. Walt, Top 10 Lessons of the Iraq War, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2012; Patrick Devenny, Legal Advice from the Taliban, Foreign Policy, 29 May 2009).
  • Luther Avery: Top 10 Worst Military Blunders in History. Akorra.com, 3 March 2010
  • George Dvorsky: ?The 8 Worst Mistakes Made by the Allies During World War II. io9, 27 November 2013
  • Stephan Wilkinson: The Worst Battlefield Blunders: five battles that ended badly. HistoryNet, 27 September 2007
  • Geoffrey Regan:
    • Great Military Blunders: history's worst battlefield decisions from ancient times to the present day. Andre Deutsch, 2012
    • Great Naval Blunders: history's worst sea battle decisions from ancient times to the present day. Andre Deutsch, 2012
    • Great Military Disasters: a historical survey of military incompetence. M Evans, 1988
      
      
• Errors of collective strategy: Distinct from those of government, these include those of corporate initiatives, whether for-profit or non-profit:
  • Sam Becker: 7 biggest business blunders ever committed. USA Today, 20 December 2014
  • Melanie Lindner: The Top 10 Business Blunders. Forbes, 10 March 2010
  • Carrie Kirby: 11 of History"s Biggest Corporate Blunders. LearnVest, 25 March 2013
  • Peter Roesler: 8 of the Biggest Business Mistakes in History. Inc, 20 April 2015
    
    
• Errors of technological and engineering design engendering disaster: These flaws are most evident in the case of mining, dam, bridge and factory disasters
  • Jennifer L. DeLeo: The 20 Biggest Tech Disasters. PC Mag, 20 October 2008
  • Christopher Null: The Worst: Stupid Engineering Mistakes. Wired, June 2006
  • Darren Orf: 9 of the Biggest Mess Ups in Tech History. Gizmodo, 26 October 2014
  • David Pegg: 25 Biggest And Most Embarrassing Mistakes Ever Made. List25.com, 2014
  • Thomas Claburn: 11 Epic Technology Disasters. Network Computing, 28 October 2010
  • Eric Scigliano: 10 Technology Disasters. MIT Technology Review, 1 June 2002
  • Listverse: Top 10 Worst Engineering Disasters. Listverse, 4 December 2007
  • Nick Mokey: Epic Fail: The Top 10 Most Terrifying Technology Disasters. Digital Trends, 27 October 2009
  • Rafay Farooq: Top 15 Worst Dam Disasters Ever. Chillopedia, 28 Jun 2013
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: All Mining Disasters: 1839 to Present
  • Bridget Johnson: World's Worst Mining Disasters. About,news,
    
    
• Corruption as a form of error:
  • systemic corruption
  • corruption of the judiciary
  • corruption in business
  • political corruption -- systemic vs individual politicians
    
    
• Errors recognized as engendered by inherent evil

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