Seen at Substack, some facts I didn’t know before. Francis Fukuyama originally titled his book The end of history? with a question mark. It was published without the question mark, giving his thesis an entirely different meaning. Sidney Webb wrote Soviet Communism: a new civilization? then voluntarily omitted the question mark in a later edition. Changing one character changed the meaning of the whole book.
Reminds me of Rush’s favorite trick. He maintained that everything he said was a parody…. until it wasn’t. He was thus able to reverse a statement when convenient or necessary. If a caller reminded Rush that he had said the opposite yesterday, Rush simply postdated the obsolete statement as parody.
Room 101. What I’m saying right now is absolute fact. I didn’t say the opposite yesterday. If you mistakenly think I said the opposite, you’re misinterpreting my parody and your brain needs reprogramming.
The cure is clarity. Say what you mean fully and specifically. If you’re not sure, say you’re not sure. If you said something different before, SPECIFY that you’ve changed your mind, and SHOW the reader what you said before. Don’t force readers to make their own interpretations based on tone or punctuation. Don’t lead readers to expect parody or irony.
Polistra's Mill 