Chapter 23
English Justice and Absurd Wars

This chapter reveals a chilling pattern: how institutions use public punishment as performance art to maintain their own credibility. When the English Admiral fails to achieve military objectives, the system doesn't examine strategy, resources, or realistic expectations. Instead, it stages a ceremonial execution to demonstrate accountability while changing nothing fundamental about how wars are fought or decisions are made. The mechanism operates through misdirection and scapegoating. Rather than addressing systemic failures—like fighting expensive wars over worthless territory—institutions identify individual sacrificial victims. The ritual punishment serves multiple functions: it satisfies public demand for accountability, protects higher-level decision-makers from scrutiny, and creates the illusion that justice has been served. The crowd's approval shows how easily people accept theater as substance when it's wrapped in ceremony and tradition. This exact pattern dominates modern institutions. In healthcare, when systemic understaffing leads to patient deaths, hospitals fire individual nurses rather than address corporate cost-cutting. In corporate scandals, companies terminate mid-level managers while executives who created toxic policies receive bonuses. Schools suspend teachers for low test scores instead of examining inadequate resources or unrealistic standards. Political systems blame individual officials for policy failures while the underlying power structures remain untouched. When you recognize institutional theater, protect yourself strategically. Document your work thoroughly—you don't want to become the convenient scapegoat. Ask probing questions about systemic issues during meetings, creating a paper trail that shows you identified problems before they exploded. Most importantly, like Candide refusing to set foot on English soil, know when to extract yourself from institutions that prioritize performance over genuine accountability. Your moral boundaries aren't negotiable, even when everyone else is applauding the show. When you can name the pattern of institutional theater, predict where it leads, and navigate it successfully—that's amplified intelligence.