Perception Management

 I picked up that term from a book that I read a long time ago.  It means managing the perception of a problem rather than the problem itself.  In other words, we don't care how bad it is as long as it looks good.  Common sense should tell you that, if you take care of the original problem, the perception of the problem will take care of itself, but that's not how a lot of people look at it.  They seem to believe that, if they can control appearances, the reality will take care of itself.  I think that's what happened in DC the other day.  Also, there didn't seem to be a linear chain of command, more like people from several agencies scratching their heads trying to decide which agency had primary responsibility.  

The DC thing, unlike the COVID thing, was a true emergency.  COVID might have been classified as an emergency for the first month or two but, after that, it became an ongoing problem that required long term solutions.  For frame of reference, the attack on Pearl Harbor was an emergency, but the entirety of World War II was not an emergency.  

Speaking of war, by some definitions, the attack on the Capitol might be considered an act of war.  Some people have been calling it an insurrection, which is basically an act of war perpetrated by a nation state's own citizens instead of by another nation state.  That sounds about right.  In that case, Trump and all his little helpers should be charged with treason.