The Binary Seduction in Safety
I have written about the binary attraction before: https://safetyrisk.net/?s=Binary and yet so often it continues to be the attraction in safety. Just look at the fascination in HOP with no blame as if there is only one option: blame of no blame.
In reality, the complexities of blame, the psychology of blame and all of the associated socio-psychological complexities of human responsibility, accountability and ethical thinking are glossed over as if it’s a simple choice of one or the other. The same seduction applies to the propaganda of HOP slogans. The same binary option is offered in the simplistic slogan as if that is how any moral dilemma is sorted out. The opposite is the case.
Most decision making in risk is not simple just as most investigations are not simple. More often than not, risk and safety is a wicked problem (https://safetyrisk.net/?s=Wicked) infused with moral dilemmas.
The reality is, if you are being fed a binary presentation (always accompanied by entertaining stories and slick marketing), you are being fed a con.
Some cortical questions should be asked: In whose best interests does this presentation favour? What money is the presenter getting for this entertainment? What ethical considerations are being silenced by the presentation? Is there a hidden philosophy in the presentation? What does this philosophy say about personhood? What underlying moral value is being hidden? What is the trajectory of the message? Is there any way that the presentation does more than entertain? Is there a method to this? What are the implications for what I DO tomorrow?
So often we see these safety conferences, presentations and marketing propaganda and the only outcome is entertainment. After being entertained with slick stories, everyone returns to traditional safety systems on Monday having paid the price for hearing a few slogans dressed up as intelligence.
Just a skerrick of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (https://safetyrisk.net/the-dangerous-discourse-of-no-blame/) would expose the danger in all of what is being presented. This is never in the immediacy of the entertainment but in the long-term trajectory of what is hidden. What does ‘blame fixes nothing’ say for the judicial system? What does it offer for how we educate and learn?
If what you are being presented is simplistic and binary, its most probably propaganda, marketing and spin.
In SPoR, we use a simple tool to help deconstruct what is hidden in many of these presentations and propaganda dressed up as safety intelligence or leadership.
Just apply this simple tool next time to what is being sold and see what you end up with.
Prof. Robert Long
Latest posts by Prof. Robert Long (see all)
- Sloganeering, Indoctrination and Propaganda in Safety - October 17, 2026
- What No Blame Enculturates - October 17, 2026
- Book Launch: Following-Leading in Risk, A Supplement - October 16, 2026
- Fragility in Risk and Blame as a Wicked Problem - October 13, 2026
- Ultra-Safety is Un-Safety - October 12, 2026