All narratives are biased, as the Benghazi report coverage reveals

All narratives are biased, as the Benghazi report coverage reveals

Four Americans died in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Yesterday’s “final” 800-page report about it from the U.S. House Select Committee is biased. So are the response from House Democrats, the coverage from Fox News, the coverage from CNN, and every other article. Why? Because all stories are inherently biased. It’s the nature of the form. Here’s…

Why students shouldn’t write on a smartphone

Why students shouldn’t write on a smartphone

If you believe the Boston Globe or the Wall Street Journal, students are increasingly writing papers on their phones. While there are some benefits, teachers ought to discourage it, since it interferes with reflection and promotes a pernicious first-draft writing habit. The articles on this topic are anecdotal Like most trend pieces, both of these articles are…

Rewriting the news with stupendous verbiage in place of simple words
|

Rewriting the news with stupendous verbiage in place of simple words

California middle school teacher Leilen Shelton wants her writing students to eschew simple words like “good,” “said,” and “fun,” according to the Wall Street Journal. To demonstrate the problems with this dumb idea, I rewrote a news article about terrorism, replacing all the mundane words with longer ones. Misguided writing teachers are responsible for much of the bullshit…

Greatest hits: I hate bullshit, why bullshit, Inovalon, Ellen Pao, & more

Greatest hits: I hate bullshit, why bullshit, Inovalon, Ellen Pao, & more

I root out bullshit where you tell me to. So far you’ve seem to enjoy watching me do what I love doing. Based on the research in this blog, a book is forming in my brain. I’ve opened up threads of research on mission statements and the causes of bullshit. If you’ve got new ideas or…

VMware / Deloitte “native advertising” makes delicious waffles
|

VMware / Deloitte “native advertising” makes delicious waffles

If you like sausages, don’t ask how they’re made. But I’m happy to explain how waffles are made, including this piece about CIOs from the Wall Street Journal, titled “CIOs Redefining Role to Fuel Integration, Innovation.” VMware, the technology company,  wants to impress CIOs. CIOs read articles in the Wall Street Journal‘s “CIO Journal” section. But…

Your regular, daily bullshit: financial markets news

Your regular, daily bullshit: financial markets news

Every single day, the Wall Street Journal and other financial news outlets publish a financial wrapup. And you can count on it including a healthy helping of bullshit every day, too. Here’s the problem: the numbers are facts, but news requires a “story” to wrap around the facts. Creating a story from the fluctuations of…

The fluff in the WSJ article about the Pao sex-discrimination suit

The fluff in the WSJ article about the Pao sex-discrimination suit

Today I’ll dismantle the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the Ellen Pao-Kleiner sex-discrimination suit. I don’t analyze facts, I analyze writing. You may think the lawsuit is bullshit or the verdict is bullshit, but that’s not my concern. What I will show you is that this article, like much of the news in mainstream publications, is padded…