21 September 2010

Competitiveness for All

I saw a poster in Brussels recently with this slogan - Competitiveness, co-operation and cohesion for all regions.
I think the idea behind the slogan is that regions should be more successful in competition, not that they should be more aggressive in their attitude towards outdoing other regions.
Even that softer interpretation of the slogan makes little sense. Imagine a football league where every team was more successful in the competition. Would more goals be scored? No, the defence would also be more competitive.
Like all cliches, "competitiveness" has been drained of any meaning and so can be used inappropriately and illogically.