Twitteretter

I’m concerned by the disappearance of normality. Not the actual quality. That is, indeed, disappearing. If you need convincing, take a look at the range of characters in costumes that assaulted the Capitol the other day, or review, say, the video of a rampant, clumsy Boris Johnson aggressively running through five year olds in what was meant to be a mock rugby game. But today’s post is concerned with the disappearance of normality, the word. A perfectly good word, in perfectly common, dare I say, normal, use. And then, a few months ago, it disappeared from American reporting, suddenly and unexpectedly replaced, everywhere, by the much less common ‘normalcy’. Those of us who have been speaking English with normality for years, suddenly had to guess what we might be returning to when returning to normalcy as promised after the coronavirus pandemic or Trump’s presidency, and checking dictionaries to confirm the word is not the figment of a febrile, COVID afflicted, journalist’s imaginatio...

I‘ve lately had several interesting experiences with traditional media, including the BBC and Spanish papers. The routine is well honed. They ask for an interview and contact you with a few questions. Your answers are then edited, taken out of context, mixed in a perverse ratatouille with information, not always true, they’ve gathered elsewhere (in what they call investigative journalism, basically writing a few sentences in Google and clicking on a random selection of clicks presented) and printed as an article or interview where truth, inaccuracy and misrepresentation fight in equal terms for space. Headlines are concocted with the sole objective of generating clicks and complete disregard for veracity or coherence with the body of the piece. You are only safe from misrepresentation when between quote marks. The final result is reminiscent of Frankenstein, not the beautiful and insightful Mary Shelley romantic novel, but its main character, the conflicted, well meaning, ugly monster...