Murphy's Law runs up against Murphy's Law

[George Thompson]

Poor Murphy thought that he had come up with a clear and rigorously defined Law, but see what's happened to it. . . .

David Carr's media column in today's NYTimes Business section enumerates all the mistakes Oprah Winfrey has not made in her career, as opposed to various other celebrities and/or businessmen who have blundered.  Having run through the list, he quotes a savant:
"Murphy's Law did not have an effect on her. . . .  She never rose past her level of competence.  We see a lot of people in media who don't know what they don't know, but Oprah Winfrey always seemed to have a clear idea of what she was good at."

If I mistake not, the savant has in mind the Peter Principle, that trouble ensues when people are promoted beyond their level of competence.  A book with this title was a best-seller and much chatted about in the 70s (?) but since forgotten, at least by this particular savant.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

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