Curing the 'disease' of flattery

Everyone generally wants to be praised. Praise, when given at the right time, in the right place, to the right person, and in the right way, can be very encouraging and motivating. However, if praise is given easily, without substance, or without sincerity, it becomes flattery. There are many heartbreakingly funny stories stemming from this kind of flattery.

The story of flattery that makes you laugh until you cry.

Once, while visiting the home of a high-ranking official, when his wife offered us a drink, one of our delegation members took a sip and asked: "Where did you buy that water? It's so delicious!"

The wife of this official repliedi: "That's tap water, I boiled it and let it cool, I didn't buy it anywhere."

After hearing that, the whole group looked at each other and laughed, and the flatterer's face turned bright red.

On another occasion, at a seminar on "Innovating the work of emulation and commendation," an official presented a paper on the topic of "Preventing and combating corruption in the work of emulation and commendation," but the paper contained no mention of corruption or negative practices, only praise for the seminar's chair, such as "the head always yielded the emulation title to others," "the head is a model of ethics and conduct," "the head is a shining example for us to learn from"...

At the celebration party for the "success of the seminar," an older official praised the speaker, saying: "You're so clever! You've changed the name of the seminar to 'Innovating the Art of Flattery'."

The art of flattery today takes on countless forms and variations.

In the past, it was usually subordinates who flattered their superiors, but nowadays, there is also the phenomenon of superiors flattering subordinates, especially during confidence votes, cadre evaluations, preparations for congresses, and personnel elections at all levels and in all sectors...

It's not just direct subordinates flattering their superiors; it's also done indirectly through the superior's wife and children. It's not just flattery through sweet words; it's done through various channels, means, material resources, mechanisms, and policies—what we call bribery and corruption.

There are even cases where people flatter those in power by offering their own bodies or the bodies of their wives and children.

Those who flatter others have devised countless "creative" methods, one might say reaching an "artistic" level. Even in criticism and review meetings, there are still people who flatter their superiors: “The department head has a major flaw: he disregards his own health and works without regard for time”; “The boss’s flaw is a lack of concern for his family, spending all day and night at the office and visiting various locations…”

Unforeseen consequences

The habit of flattery is not a new phenomenon; it has existed for thousands of years, causing immeasurable consequences for society.

In Vietnam, historical records show that King Tran Du Tong (1336-1369) was incompetent, flattered by some court officials, and did not listen to loyal ministers, leading to widespread famine and national decline.

In China during the Warring States period, King Fuchai of Wu, refusing to heed the honest advice of his loyal minister Wu Yuan and instead listening to the sycophantic Grand Tutor Bo Xi, lost his kingdom to King Goujian of Yue.

During the Qing Dynasty, there was a notorious sycophant named He Shen. Because of his flattering skills and the trust placed in him by Emperor Qianlong, He Shen became a tyrannical ruler, manipulating the empire and harming talented and loyal officials. Legend has it that on one occasion, Qianlong asked He Shen: "Is Khanh a loyal minister or a treacherous minister?" Hòa Thân replied: "I am neither a loyal minister nor a treacherous minister. I am a sycophant."When Emperor Qianlong asked why, He Shen continued to reply: "Loyal officials will eventually be killed. Treacherous officials will be killed even more. Only sycophants live the longest!"

Flattery, in general, has brought many benefits to both the flatterer and the flattered. But these benefits are illegitimate and often small. The harm caused by flattery is much greater. Because the purpose of flattery is self-interest and personal gain. Flatterers and those who are flattered can distort the truth, turn black into white, turn public property into private property, and portray bad as good… Their character and dignity are gone. Their moral principles and sense of loyalty disappear. From honesty, they become traitors. They corrupt morality.

In reality, flattery is a precursor to corruption and is often associated with it, causing immeasurable consequences for society. Those who are flattered believe it's genuine praise, leading to complacency and delusion. Genuine officials and party members around them become discouraged, lose their motivation to strive, and become less enthusiastic about contributing.

Organizations and units with sycophants often lead to parochialism, factionalism, group interests, disunity, or blind unity, thereby reducing the leadership capacity and fighting strength of the Party committee and organization, and lowering the quality of task performance.

Solutions to combat flattery.

Flattery is one of the manifestations of ideological, political, moral, and lifestyle degradation, "self-evolution," and "self-transformation" that our Party has pointed out.

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh repeatedly addressed and rectified the "disease" of flattery in the working and social relationships of cadres, Party members, and the general public. In 1947, when calling on the entire nation to build a "New Life," he cautioned, "Do not flatter those who are better than you."

Regarding cadres, President Ho Chi Minh repeatedly reminded them of the ailment of "liking flattery" or "being fond of those who flatter you, while disliking those who are upright." When writing about the necessary qualities of a "general," President Ho Chi Minh emphasized that one of the eight bad things to avoid is "being too receptive to flattery"...

In reality, virtuous and talented people rarely flatter. Those with integrity and self-respect also dislike flattery. When the competence and self-respect of officials are enhanced, it creates "resistance" against the "disease" of flattery. Therefore, the most important solution to combat flattery is to educate and train officials and Party members to possess good moral character and strong self-respect. When officials and Party members have good character and self-respect, they will always know how to uphold their honor, be honest, simple, level-headed, and discerning, and will not be "enchanted" by excessive flattery and praise.

If leaders and managers have integrity, a strong team spirit, value the implementation of democratic regulations within their agencies and units, and utilize the "eyes and ears" of the people and public opinion within their agencies and units to assess and evaluate individuals in personnel matters, then flattery will have no place to thrive. Therefore, to cure the "disease" of flattery, agencies and units need to create a healthy environment for communication and interaction so that everyone in the group can express their own correct opinions and stances.

To establish a basis for identifying sycophantic individuals in cadre evaluation, each Party organization and socio-political organization should promptly research and develop specific criteria for assessing and identifying manifestations of sycophancy; considering this as an important criterion in the current cadre evaluation system.

Based on the evaluation results, if an individual is found by a large number of members to exhibit sycophantic behavior, the organization and relevant authorities must rigorously investigate, monitor, and correct the situation promptly, taking appropriate measures, including disciplinary action if necessary. Under no circumstances should any manifestation, however small, of "sycophantic behavior" be taken lightly, overlooked, or ignored.

In particular, during cadre evaluations, emulation reviews, and elections for leading and key positions, the review and assessment of cadres regarding signs of flattery must be conducted seriously and decisively, with increasingly systematic and scientific methods. When cadres and Party members are found to exhibit flattery, they must be resolutely fought against and dismissed; under no circumstances should they be allowed to infiltrate the organization or climb the ranks of those who flatter and engage in lobbying. Those exhibiting obsequious or flattering behavior must be resolutely excluded from planning.

More than five years ago, the Prime Minister signed Decision No. 1847/QD-TTg, dated December 27, 2018, approving the public service culture project; which clearly stipulates that civil servants and public employees must not flatter or curry favor with superiors for ulterior motives. However, the penalties for flattering behavior are not yet clear. Therefore, it is essential to incorporate some provisions of the aforementioned project into the draft Laws on Civil Servants and Public Employees, specifically legalizing the prohibition against flattering superiors.