Meritocracy = myth
For the 23 years I've been in newspaper journalism, I've tried very hard to be accurate, and not just in reporting. Following my late father's advice, I've tried to avoid prediction completely. When that wasn't possible, I tried to base any predictions on incontrovertible facts and as rational an interpretation of those facts as possible. And when that wasn't possible, I predicted as conservatively as possible, so that if I was going to be wrong, at least it wouldn't be by much.
Dad's advice has worked for me. I sleep well, I can look at myself in the mirror without flinching about anything but my complexion, and I am able to live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.
Unfortunately, however, I'm going to have to un-inurn my dad and beat him over the ashes that used to be his head with this article. Because following his advice turns out to have been precisely the wrong approach.
Somebody had probably better tell JR, too. But break it to him gently, OK?
COROLLARY: (courtesy Athenae): "Everything important in the last six years has been discussed entirely by crazy people."
