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The title unnecessarily uses inflammatory language. Stating that the richest 1 percent "took" some percent of new wealth implies thievery or malfeasance. Why n
by cs702 9y ago
The title unnecessarily uses inflammatory language. Stating that the richest 1 percent "took" some percent of new wealth implies thievery or malfeasance. Why not say that they earned that percent, or that most of the new wealth came in the form of returns to capital, or other language that is less judgmental and more descriptive?
The first paragraph is also very poorly written: "Growing inequality resulted in 82 per cent of new global wealth going to the richest 1 per cent last year..." Growing inequality is a consequence of this, not a cause!
While extreme inequality likely is not sustainable and throughout history has led to social upheaval (e.g., the French Revolution), the poor choice of language in the headline and at the beginning this article really turned me off. I stopped reading at that point.
- wasx 9y agoI don't think the word "took" implies what you said, and I think your offence at the title is unwarranted
- burke 9y ago“Earned” conveys an even stronger opinion in the other direction. I can’t think of a less loaded word than “took” for this context, though it could have just been phrased differently.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- pllbnk 9y agoEnglish is not my native language but as far as I understand, the paragraph after which you stopped reading, clearly stated that inequality is the consequence by saying "Growing inequality resulted in 82 per cent of new global wealth going to the richest 1 per cent last year..." as opposed to using the word "caused". Why not finish reading the article after this major gripe is cleared up then?
- cs702 9y agoThanks. Your understanding is incorrect. The words "resulted in" mean caused something to happen: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/result%20in https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/result%20in To specify causality in the other direction, the article should have used words like "resulted from," "was caused by," or "was a consequence of," for instance.