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May 27, 2005
Critical limbo...
What does President Bush mean when he makes certain remarks in press conferences? Judy Keen, of USA Today, thinks she knows.
What we have here is far more entertainment than enlightenment. The chart of remarks is interesting, but Keen falls into critical tautology in the "why he says it" section. She's making an attempt at explicating intention--a worthy goal. But she falls a bit short. For example:
What he says: "We're making progress."
When he says it: When he's pressed on difficult issues, such as overhauling Social Security or ending North Korea's nuclear program.
Why he says it: He's saying that he's working on it.
No kidding?
But wait a minute. This critical tautology isn't even an articulation of intention, which is what she suggests by "why he says it." Instead, Keen gives us a re-statement, or a "what he means."
I applaud any attempt at rhetorical analysis. The problem is that, IMHO, journalists are generally handicapped in this endeavor in a way the general public is not. Journalists think they know a lot about language merely because they write for a living--a dangerous fiction. Your average Joe, having been subjected to the typical English pedagogy of the public schools, has learned (sadly) to be afraid of language, writing, and public speaking. So he approaches it with the only critical technique left (assuming he's not a Rhetorica reader): good ol' common sense.
Okay, I better stop here. I can feel myself getting ready to type things I don't really believe. Let's just leave it at this: I would rather have seen USA Today do two things:
1. Interview an expert(s).
2. Set up some kind of citizen participation.
The analysis (lecture) Keen offers lands in a strange sort of critical limbo: not expert enough or connected enough to be very useful.
Posted by acline at May 27, 2005 8:28 AM | | Spotlight