the weapon of mass deception

Where, oh where would right-wing pundits be without their favorite weapon: the glittering generality.

It’s the journalist in my, I’m sure, but I despise this singular rhetorical device. I cringe whenever I read it and seeing it used in the lead to a newspaper story sends me into fits of despair. I personally endorse the use of thumbscrews on any journalist who uses the words “Everbody knows …” anywhere in their lead (in newspeak, it’s called a lede to distinguish it from the working part of a pencil).

It’s not just that it’s a crutch. It’s not just that it’s sloppy, lazy writing and displays virtually no knowledge of or expertise in the writing craft. It’s that every writer who uses this weak device knows better.

And that includes the Right Wing Shills who pass as political pundits. And they’ve taken the glittering generality to new heights. Or depths, depending on your perspective.

Aside from the fact that it’s poor writing, the problem with a glittering generality is that it is almost always false.

Life comes with very few glittering generalities, and the ones that are actually true are so boring that you insult the reader by reciting them. And when you try to add to the short list of truisms, they fall like a proverbial house of cards.

Try this exercise:

Boldly pronounce that all dogs have four legs. Sure enough, someone in your audience is going to have a three-legged dog. It’s a corollary to one of Murphy’s Laws. I call it “Wurdsmith’s Law of Rhetorical Karma.”

Good editors understand this law and most love teaching young journalists this particular lesson. You write a lede that includes the words “Everyone knows …” and they will look at you with particular disdain and say “I didn’t. Go rewrite this piece of …”

Too bad there are none of these editors working with the right-wing punditocracy.

Take away the glittering generality (combined with even a cursory fact check) and you can reduce the collected works of Ann Coulter to a modest stack of post-it notes and a love letter to “Tailgunner Joe” McCarthy.

But still, you see missives like this one from Michelle Malkin:

“While [Rep. Cynthia] McKinney and her ilk sling wild charges of racism and conspiracy at the police, national Dems have yet to utter one clear word in defense of the men and women who protect their privileged backsides day in and day out in Washington.”

Personally, I have no respect for so-called journalists who believe I’m stupid enough to actually believe a statement like that.

Even though there are handfuls out there who do.

More soon.