The Path Forward

“There needs to be a reset, and we need to hold ourselves to an accountability standard where truth and facts matter because that’s the path forward for a healthy democracy.” 

—Randall Lane, Forbes chief content officer and editor, “Forbes Editor Warns Against Hiring Press Secretaries From Trump Administration,” NPR, Jan. 12, 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Hold down <command><option><esc> and pray.

 

 

 

PeezPIX

 

Joie Lynn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In February’s Senior News . . . All You Need Is Love.

FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 

Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

 

 

Dumb Questions

“Most reporters eventually figure out that the dumb question is a powerful tool of inquiry. Kind people know it, too, and still practice the art. In its disarming way, the dumb question produces answers that the subject isn’t tired of answering. It turns the interview into a conversation. It invites rather than antagonizes. What’s worse than an interviewer who tries to cram everything they already know into the question? (You’re all too nice to name a prime example, but I’m not: Chuck Todd.)”

—Hank Stuever, Style editor, “Larry King’s long run made the case that there’s no such thing as a dumb question,” The Washington Post, Jan. 24, 2021.

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Now, now . . . If you can't say anything nice.

 

 

 

PeezPIX

 

 Wood’s Edge

 

 

 

 

 

In February’s Senior News . . . All You Need Is Love.

FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 

Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

 

 

Art & Science

 

“There are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art.

 

“Neither is independent of the other or more important than the other. Without art, science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science, art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery. The truth of art keeps science from becoming inhuman, and the truth of science keeps art from becoming ridiculous.”

—Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), novelist and screenwriter, “The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler,” 1938. (Thanks to alert WORDster Tony Seton)

 

• Editorial Comment: What about ridiculous science?

 

 

 

PeezPIX

 

Sky Fluff

 

 

 

 

In February’s Senior News . . . All You Need Is Love.

FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 

Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

 

 

The Real Times

 

“I love the Times. I feel like it’s my child, or my parent. Do you know what the Times means to a liberal Jewish woman like me? On the census, when it asks for religion, I don’t put Jewish. I put the New York Times. Which I have delivered. The real Times. The newsprint Times. I know I’m old-fashioned, but reading the Times online is like having sex with a robot. I mean, it’s cleaner and it’s faster but you can tell the difference. OK, I’ll just say it. The New York Times online is the New York Times for the gentiles.” 

 

—Bette Midler’s character in Paul Rudnick’s HBO film, “Coastal Elites,” 2020.

 

• Editorial Comment: Online news ain’t kosher.

 

 

PeezPIX

 

Seagarden

 

 

 

 

 

 

In February’s Senior News . . . All You Need Is Love.

FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 

Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

 

 

Free Speech

“We live in a democracy. We have this extraordinary opportunity to use our mind and say what we think, speak as we think. Sometimes what we say is objectionable to other people. But that is part of a free society.” 

—Hal Holbrook (1925-2021), actor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: In a free society, we can also skip the “mind” and “think” parts.

 

 

PeezPIX

 

Klaus

 

 

 

 

In February’s Senior News . . . All You Need Is Love.

FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 

Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

 

 

Stooges

“[T]here is plenty of dumb to go around. A 2006 Zogby poll found that more Americans can identify the Three Stooges than the three branches of government. Another poll from that same year found that 77 percent of Americans could name two of Snow White’s dwarves, but only 24 percent could name two Supreme Court Justices.” 

 

—Sophia A. McClennen, professor of international affairs, Penn State, “Trolls and Hackers Find It Easy to Trick Americans Because We Are a Nation of Ignoramuses,” AlterNet (no longer posted), March 3, 2018.

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Bashful, Larry & Clarence.

 

 

PeezPIX

 

Fog Forest

 

 

 

 

 

In February’s Senior News . . . All You Need Is Love.

FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 

Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard