A Time for Delusions

When the odds are stacked against you...delusion sets in.

In his book, The Fall of Berlin, 1945, Anthony Beevor, recounts how the Nazi high command reacted when the Soviet hordes were about to strike Berlin. They thought that U.S. Forces would fight alongside the Germans to fend off the Soviets. The idea of being defeated by the Soviets was beyond their comprehension and that Washington would see the Red Menace for what it was worth.

Frank Snepp recalls a similar sense of disbelief in Saigon in 1975. In Decent Interval, Snepp, a CIA analyst based in Vietnam, noted that both the Ambassador and the CIA Station Chief thought that the North Vietnamese would stop short of their attack on the south and settle for a negotiated settlement. It was only on the day before they took over did both men see how wrong they were.

Such is the case with the rank and file of the Boston Globe. According to one report, the situation is beyond bleak -- it's absolutely abysmal. There are projections that the paper could lose up to $85 million this year alone. This news, predictably has caused delusions to set in. In fact there is speculation that a white knight may ride into Beantown and save the broadsheet.

There are those who think this current economic downturn is something that merely has to be "weathered." I think not. Paradigms will change -- perhaps for the better but more likely for the worse. The Boston Globe is no exception; no matter how many delusions it believes in.