4 ms·
Why Speculate? (2005)
- netcan 8y agoThis is an interesting read, if you have time for a long-ish ome. "over the years the punditic thrust has shifted away from discussing what has happened, to discussing what may happen. And here the pundits have no benefit of expertise at all. Worse, they may, like the Sunday politicians, attempt to advance one or another agenda by predicting its imminent arrival or demise. This is politicking, not predicting." I think the last point (politics) is most poignant. I think a lot of what punditry is, is telling us what stuff means, often symbolically. Is this hurricane the first climate change disaster. Is this shooting a sign the the war on crime is failing. Is this document government document evidence that of middle class decline, working class political awakening. Did Trump win the mid terms. What politics is, largely, is competing narratives. Punditry (as well as speculation) acts directly on the narrative. In times when political emotions run high, more types of punditry become political punditry.