“In a letter to clients, Mr. Bouton described the rogue trader as ‘an imprudent employee in the corporate and investment banking division.’”
Mr. Bouton is chairman of Société Générale, the French bank that announced yesterday that one employee — the one described above — had defrauded the bank of $7.1 billion. (I typed “million” the first time; even my fingers are disbelieving.)
If, like me, “imprudent” is not your first choice of adjective to describe such actions, what would be your first choice?
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6 comments:
When I was reading about this story last week, the term "batshitinsane" came to mind. Not sure if that's the direction you were thinking, but -
That's right, we swear on blogs now. On our professor's blogs.
Thanks, Anne, for your comment. I did a similar exercise in my 101 class yesterday, where I asked my students to think about what a book assumes, explicitly and implicitly. Most of them thought I was a bit nuts. But I think it worked! :)
I will definitely keep the ideas about teaching writing in mind. After all, that's why I'm here!
Although "imprudent" doesn't begin to fully describe this trader, the PR person in me thinks the term was used wisely. If Societe Generale came out with a statement that said, "Our employee is completely without reason or sense," well ... you hired him, didn't you?
The more severe the description SG gives of this guy, the more it seems that they should have been aware that he was an abberant and the more obvious it becomes that SG failed to notice.
Anne:
I took a look at the two images. I wish I had seen them earlier, since they'd provide a nice contrast to what I argued. However, if you agree with semiotics and/or psychoanalytic interpretation, the gun and "warlike" characteristics would have to signify masculinity. So, in order to be successful, women would have to "become" masculine. Rose glosses on this, as well as the concept of femininity as a mask.
I'm not saying I agree, necessarily, but you wondered how I would respond. There is, however, the flowery, bright colored aspect to the first photo, which may throw a wrench in my discussion. But I'm not sure.
Thanks! :)
Anne, your comment on my post about neutrality and Wikipedia made me want to assign students to write a wikipedia entry in English 102. Thanks! :)
It makes me wonder, too, about teaching research in general. I love doing it; I think it's the course I am best at teaching. But our whole conversation about knowledge structures has made me wonder about the uses to which we put our research.
Maybe I should design a writing course in which the main goal is for students to answer, and enact, the question, "What kind of world do you want to live in?"
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