We must do something; this is something; therefore we must do this.
From Yes Minister, 1980s, and it entered serious policy commentary intact. Its diagnostic use is checking whether a proposal was chosen for its merits or for satisfying the demand to act.
In practice
- A school responds to one incident by banning phones at lunch, because it is something, and the incident had nothing to do with phones.
- A board facing a crisis approves the one intervention that was already drafted, because it satisfies the demand to act rather than the analysis.
- Standing
- A satirical coinage that entered serious policy commentary intact.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Law & Politics
- Essay
- What can be proved and measured about power