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Wednesday, December 21, 2005
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TWO PHRASES TO WATCH 1. Naïve Purity Standard A quick Google search confirms UD’s sense that a phrase used by a defender of writers like Doug Bandow and Peter Ferrara, who sell their opinions to the highest bidder, is making its way into general speech. People who attack the practice of op/ed columnists prostituting themselves to lobbyists, this person complained, are applying a "naive purity standard" to what those in the know understand to be the dirty business of editorial opinion placement. The moment UD read this neat little phrase she thought “A million Mogadishus!” Just as that alliterative beaut, coined by a Columbia University professor, neatly encapsulated lethal hatred of the American military, so “naïve purity standard” encapsulates the wink-wink cynicism of the Washington operative. UD predicts it will have a long shelf life. 2. Committee on Cultural Competence Syracuse is the first university to take the Orwellian phrase “cultural competence” and turn it into the name of a committee which will almost certainly censor student news content on campus. The authorities at Syracuse insist that the just-formed Committee on Cultural Competence will "assist the [student news] organization with matters of content, perspective and tone." But see the thing is, as one campus observer points out, "Those sorts of boards can quickly become censorship boards….That's a terrific danger, particularly on a college campus where the administration feels entitled to interfere with student media." “Committee on Cultural Competence” has a French Revolution ring to it, like Robespierre’s “Committee on Public Safety.” This titillating provenance, plus its alluring alliteration, will, I predict, inspire other colleges and universities to appoint Committees on Cultural Competence of their own. |