The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines Diatribe as follows: “diatribe (against
somebody/something) – a long and angry speech or piece of writing attacking and criticizing somebody /
something”
2024 was the year of the USA presidential elections and almost every person around the world would
have at least heard some of president-elect Donald Trump’s diatribes about somebody or something. In
the process of spewing vitriol, he was also quite happy to be blatantly dishonest, not letting facts get in
the way of character assassination or an unwarranted ad hominem insult.
Donald Trump, for instance, consistently attacked Kamala Harris, calling her “Comrade Kamala” with
inference to her being a communist spy in their midst, despite there being no evidence to support this
accusation. His diatribes were disgraceful and demeaning and completely out of line from what you
would expect from President of the United States of America.
I guess that dishonesty is also part and parcel of a diatribe. Donald Trump’s lies included promising to
end the Russo-Ukrainian war before he was sworn into office – that did not happen – while another was
when he declared that Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio were eating dogs, cats and geese. The
rather perplexed municipal manager denied any knowledge of widespread carnage against domestic
pets but Trump did not back down.
It seems that when he commences a diatribe, he believes that it is perfectly acceptable to be blatantly
dishonest and say anything that comes to mind. This is the first election, that I have heard, where the
big television networks used “Fact Checkers.” I can’t remember how many times these fact checkers
pointed out that the majority of his assertions were indeed completely incorrect.
Discussing with my wife how people get personal, both negative and positive (but not in Donald Trump’s
case) and then make up any facts to bolster their position, she came up with the apt phrase, namely DT
Diatribe.
The more I thought about it the more I realised how often we become the target of a DT Diatribe in our
daily lives. Think about those unsolicited emails that we all get from recruitment agents; the agents
loudly declare that they are representing a young candidate who will be an excellent candidate and who
will fit in well with your company culture. But how do they know your company culture? These agents
have never set foot in your company, they have no idea how management deals with the staff and the
effective culture of the company. – DT Diatribe.
Recently I received an unsolicited email from a person – I will keep them anonymous – who proudly
declared that there are buyers ready to make a huge offer for my accounting practice. The threat was
clear that if I don’t use this company, I may have seller’s regret. In fact, the email made the following
veiled threat “Don’t join the club that say afterwards, “if only I have….”” Then further on in the DT
Diatribe they go on to threaten “Yes, we are the specialists in selling accounting firms. Let us help you.
Don’t make the wrong deal!”
I was furious. It had been a tough day, and I lambasted the sender of the email and told him directly that
he had absolutely no clue about accounting practices and their operations.
He responded, “We have assisted many people to grow their practices from R10m – R100m”
Now that, I know conclusively, is absolute nonsense. I have been practicing for about 25 years and know
that there are two critical issues with growing a firm from R10m – R100m in fee income. Obviously, you
need to find enough clients who are prepared to pay you an additional R90m in fees and then – far more
difficult and intricate – you need to service these clients. Currently CTF Services has four Chartered
Accountants, and we are far off R100m fee income and at times we are stretched to service our current
client base. In which parallel universe is there a queue of Chartered Accountants begging to be
employed by CTF? It is a well-known fact that one of South Africa’s biggest challenges is a lack of skills.
So where are we going to just find enough skills to service such a demand on our current resources?
I have no doubt that such a growth will only be achieved by merging firms, so that their combined fee
income will exceed R100m. The synergy obtained by combining of skills and reducing staff that have
become redundant due to staff not being duplicated, is the attraction and the carrot dangled in front of
the partners. However, such a merger presents huge challenges in as far as firm cultures, logistics and
personalities. The firm that I articled in went through a merger and I saw first-hand the challenges posed
to the firm. Quite frankly, once you merge your R10m fee income firm with nine similar firms you now
become an “employee” in the firm that you created.
The point here being that my emailer was not honest at all. His dishonesty was designed to lure me to
transact with his company under the pretext that I would be in line to earn / realise huge gains, which
was just not true. We did not even get to speak to them about their fees as my responses were clear
that I was very annoyed with the DT Diatribe.
What can we learn from the DT Diatribe? Learn to recognise when a vendor is trying to sell you a
product or service. Are they trying to threaten you with buyers’ remorse in that had you contracted with
this vendor life would have been so much better or you would be so much richer. To properly identify a
DT diatribe, ask the following:
– Does the marketing material contain veiled threats? If yes, then it’s probably a DT Diatribe
– Question the assertions made. Use your knowledge and experience
– Consider if the assertions are honest or dishonest. If there is dishonesty, then it’s a DT Diatribe.
– Does this advert get personal about someone or something? Again, probably a DT Diatribe.
More importantly go through your own marketing documents and adverts. Do they contain DT Diatribe?
This type of condescending marketing material should not represent your values or the value proposition
you portray to your clients and potential clients.
Good luck with your entrepreneurial endeavours and may you always strive to keep learning.
Peter Carlisle CA (SA)
January 2025
