Who Can Really Say?

There's no good way to introduce you to this, other than quoting my introduction to it:

Gene Weingarten is a WaPo writer, and one of the funniest writers alive. Unsung outside the Beltway, it seems, but there are worse things than being celebrated and beloved in Washington alone. But he?s much more than just a Quip Master, as Lou Grant might say to Ted Baxter; he?s just a fine, fine writer. This piece should be taught in J-schools. This is Pulitizerian. Stick with it, and you?ll see what I mean.

What he said.

Posted by Peter at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Megan McArdle wants to have her cake, and eat it to.

I want abortion to be legal, but I am in favour of stigmatising it.

. . . .

And when you vituperate and foam, when you call me names instead of engaging in civilized debate, when you argue with my social class, or my moral values, or my putatively limited intellectual gifts, rather than my points . . . well, it may make you feel good. It may impress your fellow travelers. And it undoubtedly protects you from ever having to consider that your position might be the slightest little bit wrong. But it does not persuade me, or any of the other mushy moderates that you need on your side if you want to actually make policy. Pro-choice folks: you're losing the Court. Pro-life folks: you've already lost the public. But you might have a chance of getting something done if you stopped shouting at us and talked to us instead.

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It's the dead of winter. It's also the 25th Anniversary of the day the Iranian hostages were released. So it's just the right moment to look back and look forward, and perhaps in that spirit, the Washington Post today recounts the story of the hostages' return and the very unique gift they received from Major League Baseball -- a lifetime pass.

Posted by Peter at 5:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Workplace Prof Blog is looking for trenchant quips. How about "Stupid is as stupid does"?

Via Instapundit.

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I'm not holding my breath, but I'll sign this.

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There are two contrasting bits in the news over the last few days. Yesterday, via James Joyner, I found this:

Also, I can?t let the Boston Herald?s awful (and in retrospect, horribly inappropriate) headline go without comment. Now that we know the twelve miners were killed, does this mean America?s prayers weren?t answered? Just like gambling addicts remember their big wins but not their losses, the fate of the twelve miners has transformed from a faith-inspiring act of God to another horrible tragedy in which it?s impolite to mention religion at all. Cute little sayings like ?the Lord works in mysterious ways? are cop-outs for the logical conclusions that many of us draw from experiences like this. If something fantastic and improbable can be used as proof that there?s a benevolent god, doesn?t the reverse point toward the conclusion that a higher power is indifferent at best? If you believe in a god that could have saved these men?s lives (which I don?t, btw), why didn?t he? People are quick to throw around the word ?miracle? when something wonderful happens, so what the hell do we call this?

So, what we've got are folks desperate for good news, getting it, and "praising the Lord" for the result, only to have their hopes dashed at which point the Lord doesn't figure in I guess.

Today's news brings the obverse, reverse, inverse, or some verse. Via Eugene Volokh:

Pat Robertson seems to be telling us that Sharon's stroke -- and Rabin's assassination -- is God's punishment for "dividing God's land" (since it earned him God's "enmity"). Now if this is God's standard operating procedure, then I take it that the absence of divine punishment is something of an endorsement. God didn't send Stalin a stroke during the purges or the Ukraine famine, so Stalin must not have really earned God's enmity. God didn't get rid of Arafat for a very long time. Sharon must have been a much worse fellow than those worthies, in God's eyes.

So to recap, on the one hand when good things happen it's the Lord's work. Until good things don't happen in which case it isn't. But then, on the other hand, when bad things happen it's God's hand in action. Unless it isn't.

I need to go back to Sunday School.

[Linked to the Beltway Traffic Jam.]

Posted by Peter at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Was there yet another big media failure overnight when the 12 WV coal miners were reported to have been found alive, setting off jubilation among the families and friends of those miners? Well, I suppose so.

In one of the most disturbing media performances of its kind in recent years, TV news and many newspapers carried the tragically wrong news late Tuesday and early Wednesday that 12 of 13 trapped coal miners in West Virginia had been found alive and safe. Hours later they had to reverse course.

But.

In this case I'm much less concerned that for three hours overnight newspapers and tv/cable networks repeated the story without "getting it right" than I am with the folks in control of the operation, the mining company and state/local officials in charge of the rescue effort. They knew 20 minutes after word of a successful rescue began to spread that the reports were wrong, and they did nothing to correct the misimpression for over 2 and a half hours. Their excuse reason?

Some editors blamed officials, including the governor, for misleading reporters. In reality, rescuers had only confirmed finding 12 miners--and were checking their vital signs. But what leaked out to anxious family members was that 12 were found alive. The coal company, it later admitted, knew that the early reports were false 20 minutes after they started circulating, but did not quickly correct them.

A coal company spokesman explained, ''Let's put this in perspective. Who do I tell not to celebrate? I didn't know if there were 12 or 1 [who were alive].''

I think the answer to that question is astonishingly easy -- if you don't know who to tell not to celebrate, you tell them ALL not to celebrate. Yeah, the media got it wrong because they engaged in group-think. The coal company got it wrong because they engaged in no-think.

My heart goes out to the survivors of those miners. As for the coal company, my brain goes out to them -- they certainly need it.

[Linked to the Beltway Traffic Jam.]

Posted by Peter at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)