There’s such a thing as too obedient, says Oliver Burkeman, as the Simple Sabotage Field Manual shows
The thing most people find hardest to believe about the Simple Sabotage Field Manual is that it isn’t a joke. It really was a top-secret document, created in 1944 by the predecessor to the CIA, and it really was distributed to agents working behind enemy lines in the second world war. (It was made public in 2008 and now gets rediscovered online every year or two.) The manual is a guide to the art of “purposeful stupidity” – easy ways in which the citizens of occupied Europe might be encouraged to lower morale and wreak havoc in their workplaces, thereby helping bring down the Axis powers. What’s amazing is that it reads like a description of every modern jobsworth you’ve ever encountered.
“Insist on doing everything through ‘channels’,” one section advises. “Never permit shortcuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.” When possible, “refer all matters to committees, for ‘further study and consideration’. Attempt to make the committee as large as possible – never less than five.” Misfile papers. Give out wrong phone numbers. Haggle over the wording of documents. And if there’s truly critical work to be done? Hold a conference instead.
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