Targets- a political “get out of jail free” card.

Targets- a political “get out of jail free” card.

Targets have replaced “continuous review”

A target is an artificial construct, a media and political device to avoid the complex reality of any and every part of existence. Neither politicians nor media hacks will admit that anything is way too complex and consists of so many constantly changing variables, for them to control. Such constantly changing variables mean that having rigid plans is a recipe for disaster, rather than admit this they invent Targets. Then claim anything and everything is subject to this simplistic artificial construct, with responsibility for reaching these abstract ambitions, down to the general population. Taxes levied, freedoms eroded, choices limited all in the name of reaching a target that is a guess based on a theory, at best and a figment of someone's imagination at worst.

The biggest danger, to the welfare of the public, is that having set a target, no one in any sort of authority position, continues to check the basic concepts, the real-life actual conditions surrounding the “target”. Most people understand that life is full of variables, change is the only constant in the universe, and all change has a consequence, if you like, a cost, in time, effort or money. Take a simplistic example. As a young person you set yourself a target of saving a fixed amount of money by the time you are 30 years old. All goes well for first year then you become a parent, or your car needs a new engine, or a gale force wind cause damage to your home that the insurance does not fully cover; what do you do? Do you stick to saving money and walk everywhere while your roof leaks and ruins your furniture? or do you meet the changed demands and accept you are never fully in control of life?

Political, economic, and environmental targets are generated based on accepted opinions of what will be desirable. The people doing the accepting are naturally of “like minds” to those proving the opinions. But opinions are not verifiable repeatable facts. Every politician and every government bureaucrat around the world should have a notice on their desk which reads—Even a well-informed opinion is NOT a fact. Also remember that a prediction is an estimate not a fact. Facts can only be established after the event, however carefully made a prediction is NOT a fact

Every prediction makes assumptions, usually that the knowledge the predictor has, is accurate and “conditions” will not change. Life, and history, inform us that “conditions” are always changing, new inventions, new discoveries, new ways of understanding; new motivation that changes opinions, these are always adding or subtracting from the basis for predictions.

The dictionary definition of a target is; an object or area at which a marksman aims. Any point or area aimed at. Note aimed at, not a vital necessity, not a cause for coercion and control. No archer would position a target out of sight, targets as a guide to ambition, must be not only realisable, but clear to all those whose money, time, energy are expected to help achieve it. An archer setting up a target does so within the conditions existing when setting up, if fog blocks visibility the target gets moved. The military have a saying that a plan only lasts till the bullets start flying. WW1 was a human disaster because generals (on both sides) set targets to be reached regardless of real conditions. So many lives were lost because no one stopped to question the validity of the generals targets.

Targets that are “set in law” totally disregard the reality of existence. Targets that are set up as ambitions, a guide to establish that actions are aimed in a known direction, are fine if the target is altered when the conditions surrounding it change.

It is time the media and the politicians realised this. Fixing targets as some controlling law is a recipe for disaster and ignores just about every consideration of reality.

Ambitions clearly stated, are one thing but a strict law demanding obedience and coercion to reach an arbitrary target is just about as stupid as humankind can get.