5 ms·
One way to create controversy is to say something that's true, but many people don't accept and will therefore argue with. Such journalism can push the world fo
by tlb 10y ago
One way to create controversy is to say something that's true, but many people don't accept and will therefore argue with. Such journalism can push the world forward by calling attention to mistaken ideas.
This article, like many by the same author, might be dubbed 'wrongtroversial'. That is, it creates controversy by saying something wrong.
Wrongtroversy is far more scalable. It's very hard to discover something that is: (a) true (b) not widely accepted (c) not recently mentioned by other journalists. But if you drop condition (a), you'll never run out of ideas.
The most effective wrongtroversial articles assert something that's wrong for several different reasons. People will then proceed to argue with each other about which reason is more important, generating follow-on controversy.
Credit to @pg for coining this term.
- HillaryBriss 10y agowrongtroversial. great term. great explanation of it. thanks. But -- I don't seem to be able to find Paul Graham's creation of this word thru a google search. Any pointers?
- chvid 10y agoGreat term. But I really wonder how can you have an academic career and then write stuff like this?
- cJ0th 10y agoeven academics do have to eat occasionally.
- crdoconnor 10y agoIf a business journalist or economist writes about robots it's usually breathlessly optimistic, technologically illiterate, wrong and usually sneaks in a whinge about unions and entitled workers. This article isn't an exception.
- rglovejoy 10y agoBut why is it wrong?
- legulere 10y agoThis article works even better because it plays with the fear that China will outpace the US.