Well, technically one of the birds only deflagrates, but I’m usually not one to quibble over semantics.
My bosses do this all the time. I fucking hate it.
I mostly figured it out from reading corporate CYA press statements after they do something weasely.
For variants:
Comic book superheroes will do much the same thing, only with more sanctimony.
Message board moderators ditto, but with a brusque, supercilious attitude instead—and I mean mods in every message board. I suspect it’s a standardized practice from an O’Reilly manual, somewhere. 