(Greg Kuperberg) wrote in
:

In article ,
Jorge R. Frank wrote:
In other statements, O'Keefe has stressed that NASA will fully comply
(or exceed) all the recommendations of the CAIB report, and cautioned
NASA workers not to get defensive or argumentative about the report's
findings, saying that any time spent fighting the CAIB is time wasted
that could better be spent getting ready for return-to-flight.

He did say that too, but when he referred to the report as a "nasty
piece of writing", he was confirming resentment more than he was
quelling it. He's biasing NASA employees against the report before
they even see it.

I can see how someone would get that impression, especially if they read
that quote absent from any context and made absolutely no effort to learn
what the context was.

I have a hard time seeing how someone would get that impression from
reading all the press accounts of O'Keefe's speaking tour (he's speaking at
all the NASA centers, and each one usually draws at least two articles in
the press). The "nasty" comments got quite a lot of press, but so did his
other comments that I mentioned my previous reply.

I do not see how any honest person would get that impression from watching
the speeches in their entirety (you *did* know each one was broadcast on
NASA TV, right?) I watched the entire JSC speech and listened to most of
the GSFC speech. O'Keefe has a speaking style many consider odd: he repeats
himself quite a bit. To a student of oratory he can come off as rambling,
but to a student of instructional techniques his intent is clear - if he
wants you to remember something, he'll repeat it, and if he thinks
something is very important, he'll repeat it over and over. The impression
I came away with (and, I think, anyone who attended the speeches would have
gotten), was this:

"The tone of the report will be nasty, as will the press coverage that will
follow. How we conduct ourselves in the face of that is crucial to the
future of the agency. The recommendations in the report are important
regardless of the tone in which they are presented. It is important to have
a positive attitude and not get defensive. We will not just follow the
letter and spirit of the recommendations, but exceed them. If we do so, we
will come out of this a stronger and better agency than we were before."

Of course, the press articles on the speeches don't convey quite the same
message as the above, but that's because (surprise! surprise!) they quoted
O'Keefe selectively, and did not mention when he repeated points for
emphasis.

And of course, your interpretation of the speeches doesn't convey quite the
same message as the press articles, because (surprise! surprise!) you
quoted them selectively and based your interpretation on that.

--
JRF

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