You're right. Don't ever give up your own power, you are immense in Big Energy. And you definitely shouldn't let anyone get between you and a taco. That's a personal thing for me.

Word

My former college advisor taught me that saying. Unfortunately, sometimes not giving power is easier said than done.

Words matter.

1/ The headline frames the message, and often it’s written not by the reporter, but by someone else in the production process. Sometimes the publication (ex.: NYT) immediately gets shamed by their readers into changing an initially-misleading misleading hed, perhaps within hours of its posting.

2/ But the damage is done, and those who skim headlines and skip the article often leave with a false impression. The power accorded to Tr*mp, for ex., can be inadvertently exaggerated by the hapless hed writer, who has limited space in which to convey the gist of a story.

3/ “Trump fires” is short and punchy; “Trump threatens to illegally fire” is accurate, but too wordy. This is why people conflate an Executive Order with a brand-new law, as if it’s a done deal.

4/ Or they may think that by simply having an online temper tantrum, he’s fired someone when he has no legal authority to do so. This has been a mini-seminar in News Writing 101/Intro to Headline Writing. (Sorry for the long-windedness, Danny, I got carried away.)

5/ Also, I wish Bluesky had an edit button.