Unknown Unknowns
The Bush administration has a way with words that borders on the playfully poetic, especially in such suitable contexts as war, massacres and weapons of mass destruction. We all remember when Donald Rumsfeld spontaneously (it seemed) produced the following gem of sophistery:
'...as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. 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.'
A few years later we need to consider even more combinations, such as the unknown knowns: things we didn't knew we knew (because we didn't communicate with the numberless agencies whose job it is to be in the know); the known unknowns that we don't know because we suppressed what others know; and most importantly the known knowns that we know because we made them up.
The Bush administration has a way with words that borders on the playfully poetic, especially in such suitable contexts as war, massacres and weapons of mass destruction. We all remember when Donald Rumsfeld spontaneously (it seemed) produced the following gem of sophistery:
'...as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. 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.'
A few years later we need to consider even more combinations, such as the unknown knowns: things we didn't knew we knew (because we didn't communicate with the numberless agencies whose job it is to be in the know); the known unknowns that we don't know because we suppressed what others know; and most importantly the known knowns that we know because we made them up.
