You are glad the Brett Favre saga is over. Good riddance, you say. He is a narcissistic drama queen, and you’re glad he’s gone.
No. You believe Favre was the victim of a conspiracy led by general manager Ted Thompson, whose inflated ego drove No. 4 from our midst.
In listening to friends, co-workers, readers, business executives and family members try to make sense of the Brett Favre soap opera over the past few weeks, it is incredible how so many intelligent, thoughtful people can have such divergent viewpoints. People in the same workplace, in the same family, even in the same households are 180 degrees apart on this one.
How can that be?
In an attempt to understand these dual realities, I’m going to make some massive generalizations here. These are based on nothing more than my years of experience observing the human condition. Consider this to be the Brett Favre Rorschach Test for Green Bay Packers fans. However, the plus-or-minus margin of error is 100 percent.
If you believe Favre is to blame, and the Green Bay Packers are right to let him go to the New York Jets….
You believe that rules are rules.
You believe in law and order.
You believe in the system. The system has worked for you. The system is good. The system needs to be adhered to and preserved.
You are not a boat-rocker, and you’re not fond of boat-rockers.
When making a decision, you have a higher regard for realistic, calculated cost/benefit analysis than sentimentality or loyalty.
You do not believe in entitlements.
You do not believe in special privileges. (The exception is when you happen to receive some of them.)
You’re less likely to see shades of gray. You see the world as black and white. What’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong.
You believe quarterbacks should be more disciplined, conventional and precise than Favre ever could be.
Your desk or other work station, as well as your vehicle, are probably clean and highly organized.
You believe America’s greatness lies in its shared national identity.
If you believe the Packers are to blame, and Favre is the good guy, the victim …
You are a romantic.
You let sentimentality and a sense of loyalty cloud your otherwise empirical judgment.
You believe rules can be bent, maybe even broken, if the ends justify the means.
You have been known to color outside the lines yourself once in a while, and you were perfectly willing to live with Favre’s improvisational play, which produced both brilliant and disastrous results, often in the same game.
You believe the system can sometimes be unfair.
You’re attune to shades of gray and the complexities of the world.
You find it very suspicious that the Packers decided they needed to hire former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, of all people, to give them advice on what to say to the public.
Your desk or other work station, as well as your vehicle, are cluttered.
You believe America’s greatness lies in the collective character of its individual citizens.
Steve Jagler is executive editor of Small Business Times.
