Blueprints derive rhetorical power precisely from their simplifying assumptions

Evidence

The intention, though, is not to argue that these blueprints and programs count for nothing or that they offer a simplistic picture of the performance of the army. For, as was said in the previous chapter, these programs and blueprints assume that what is out there is programmable and hence they carry within themselves an impressive element of power; the picture they offer is impressive, in spite of their simplicity, indeed, because of their simplicity. Rather, the intention is to explain the nature of the discrepancy between the plan and its execution, and elaborate on the gap that separated the officer’s view of the battle from the soldier’s manner of actually fighting it. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 909

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A compact epistemological claim that plans persuade through, not despite, their simplicity — a reusable framework for reading any bureaucratic program.