Interview with Jonathan Potter celebrating the release of Tulips for Elsie, new from Korrektiv Press

You are here: Home / marginalia / Is the question mark the journalist’s greatest asset?

Is the question mark the journalist’s greatest asset?

June 10, 2015 by at 8:18 am

Screen Shot 2015-06-10 at 8.15.56 AM

8 Comments Filed Under: marginalia, reportage and/or commentary, Things to discuss with Walker Percy over drinks, writing

Comments

  1. JOB says
    June 10, 2015 at 8:36 am

    I thought it was the rhetorical device often compared to the handheld ordinance specifically designed for spanning through its trajectory any vertical dividing structure for detonation on the opposite exterior plane of said structure, thereby maximizing destruction and ruin in the area roughly circumscribing said opposite exterior plane and simultaneously maximizing safety and apparent diffidence of individual wielding said device.

    Reply
  2. Quin Finnegan says
    June 10, 2015 at 10:55 am

    Ha! Clever, putting that as a question—which is about the only way left for that sorry trope to function. It’s become so transparent that the reader (this reader) reflexively forms an opinion opposite that which seems to be the writer’s, based on what is being assumed in the question. And only then begins to question those assumptions.

    Reply
    • JOB says
      June 10, 2015 at 1:16 pm

      In other words:

      Is Lisa Miller putting that as a question to become so transparent that the reader reflexively forms an opinion opposite that which seems to be the writer’s or is she trying to bias our understanding of the issue at hand by assuming an affirmative in the very way she states the question?

      Or:

      Is Lisa being disingenuous or does she really have a great concern for understanding how a progressive pope might not be commensurate with a 2000+ year old institution?

      To paraphrase that lady on the stamp: If it’s not a pilgrim Church on earth, to hell with it!

      Reply
      • JOB says
        June 10, 2015 at 1:22 pm

        “Rigid, patriarchal” – yes, that’s exactly how I would describe the post-conciliar Church.

        Rigid – that means no liturgical abuses, right?

        Patriarchical – that means no feminization of the liturgy, right?

        Also, “rigid/patriarchal” and “humility” are not mutually exclusive terms.

        In fact, one can argue that Francis’ namesake embodied these same traits: rigid when it came to the rule of his fraters, patriarchal when it came to the rule of St. Clare and her sorority, and humble in carrying out the rule in both cases.

        But who am I to – well, never mind…

        JOB

        Reply
  3. IC says
    June 10, 2015 at 7:57 pm

    She interviewed me once (yes, I was shocked too). I think it was about the close of Benedict’s papacy, legacy, etc. The questions were just a tad leading. I was not led. Amazingly, I didn’t get into Newsweek either. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Louise Orrock says
    June 12, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    I’m sorry to hear that.

    Reply

Speak Your Mind

*