“Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou applaud the deed.” (Macbeth act 3, sc. 2)
Tips for Use. How short the collective memory is! Do you remember when members of the Reagan Administration financed, organized and supplied arms to the Nicaraguan Contras? Leading to the recurrent ‘cruel and usual’ carnage of sundry village people in the name of democracy? Amazingly, at the time there seemed to still exist a shadow of respect for constitutional formalities. Today the same organizers would probably be shielded by the Patriot Act or other similar Orwellian cover to “protect our democracy from those who hate our liberties”. The gang (none of whom suffered any consequences), was still brought before a congressional panel. Asked why they did not tell the President, their reply was (sic), “To ensure deniability.” Of course Reagan knew, but it was then still thought proper to save the face. Today even that is no longer necessary.
As for your personal use, you may so answer a colleague who wants to extract confidential information from you, e.g. “Be innocent of the knowledge, dear Caruthers, till you applaud the deed.” It works whatever the deed may or may not be.
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And I promise, no sales calls, trade leads, venomous schemes, hidden plots, Machiavellian conspiracies, commercial ploys, psychological tricks, leads exchanges, barter proposals, suggestions or offers of any kind imaginable (and unimaginable).
Of course, if you acquire the book “Your Daily Shakespeare” (click on “The book” in the menu), you will not only enjoy it but you will find it very useful. The quote in this post and more than ten thousand others will lead you to find the words that perfectly strengthen your argument(s). After all Shakespeare wrote them, I simply extracted, structured and compiled them so as to make Shakespeare both useful in your life endeavors and very “user friendly” as they say. And if you wish I will even sign the book. But this is the extreme extent of any “sales” effort, call or solicitation.
In the play. Macbeth has killed Banquo but will postpone telling his (Macbeth’s) wife until further developments, including the soon-to-be thwarted hope to become king.
Image source: http://sophlylaughing.blogspot.com/2011/10/plausible-deniability-in-jokes.html