If, in a brief conversation with you, l was to use the words “quite frankly” several times, would I be
a. a carpenter
b. a doctor
c. a politician
d. a farmer
The answer, of course, is c. In fact, politicians must be the frankest people in the whole wide world. They are, quite frankly, obsessed with the need to be frank. However, if you observe closely, the one who announces he is about to be frank with you, is most likely about to be anything but. And the one who goes all out and promises to be quite frank, is actually planning on giving you nothing that even resembles an honest answer.
Quite frankly would be: “You know what? I’m sick and tired of hearing from these blankety blank whiners who keep berating me week after week for no good reason. I wish they all would just jump in the lake.”
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But this is what serves for quite frankly in the average politician’s lingo instead: “Quite frankly, I am having some difficulty fully comprehending from which direction the members of this group are coming. I would be happy to hear more about their proposals, even if they seem critical of our policies and past practices.”
It’s all a matter of knowing how to interpret the language.
Be very careful, for example, of “in all honesty.” If a person has to announce that what they are about to say, they are going to say in all honesty, are they confessing that sometimes they do not talk honestly? That sometimes, what they say is in all dishonesty, or even totally untrue? What else can be taken from that?
When a politician leans in towards you, lowers his voice and says with a smile, “Between you and me,” get up off that chair and run straight away without looking back. Ask yourself why this person is confiding in you, practically a total stranger. Why would he draw you to his bosom and offer to tell you something he won’t tell anyone else? At the risk of sounding super cynical, I believe (in all honesty) it’s because he wants you to tell him something back, something he can use.
It is not that politicians are evil or more devious than the rest of us or anything else. Despite all this, I actually have a fairly high opinion of those who step forward to serve the community, given the abuse they open themselves up to in the process. It is simply the nature of the beast.
Were they to be quite frank and say things in all honesty, truly sharing things with people they hardly know, they probably would be ex-politicians the day after the next election. I just wish they’d stop saying things frankly, quite frankly.
But what do I know? The only time I ever ran for anything was in university, when I threw my name in for student council. A stunning speech that poured like honey from my lips had no effect on the eager electorate: I came in last.
At that same college was a young woman by the name of Sheila Copps who even then, was throwing around quite franklies like the Easter Bunny flinging coloured eggs on a Sunday morning in Spring. She went on to become Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and now retired, has a pension that runs into the millions.
But, frankly Scarlett, in all honesty, between you and me, I don’t give a darn.
©2005 Jim Hagarty
