Copy Editors. Who Needs 'em?

“Slightly Open Clam Shell” by Georgia O’Keeffe, 1926

Sigh.

Some time ago, The Washington Post Opinions section laid off all of its copy editors. We railed about it here. Copy editors have many important functions; one of them is writing headlines.

Here is a headline in today’s Wapo Opinions Section:

The gaping hole in the transgender sports case

Avoiding the definition of a woman is hurting the trans rights movement.

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Sigh.

Welcome to the Weekend Gene Pool, where we seek your Observations and Anecdotes in return for brief, cheesy entertainment, such as above.

Today, we ask you to remember awkward / embarrassing errors in communication, similar to the Post’s pratfall. These can be things you saw — headlines, chyrons, etc. — or smaller things from your own experiences. The key is innocently stupid. (The Post was not trying for a vulgar, adolescent gender joke; it just blundered into it.)

As usual, please send your stuff here:

Speaking of copy editors, I just came up with a great idea. The MSM has been ridiculously timid in calling out Trump for what he is; they’ll let others do it, but they won’t go out on a limb because, in the philosophy behind their he-said, she-said noncommittal sane-washing, it would seem … biased.

So. Fair enough. If I were editing a newspaper, I would institute a new rule: Whenever a reporter is writing about some new horror Trump perpetrates, he or she is required to seek out at least one responsible person they can quote saying that this is further evidence he is barking mad. We would call it the “nut graf.”

“Where’s the nut graf?” editors would bellow across the newsroom at a reporter who failed to provide one.

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Today’s Mail Bag:

Q: On Scott Adams: I agree that Dilbert, especially the early stuff, was great. It’s also clear that Adams fell deep into a morass of hatred. (People debate whether you should utter a truth when it causes pain. He seemed to think that if a statement caused pain, it must be true.)

But he left us one great joke. In his final message, written to be released after his death, he wrote, “..many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I’m not a believer, but I have to admit the risk-reward calculation for doing so looks attractive. So, here I go: I accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior...”

And the punchline, from the Catholic News Agency: “On his dying day, renowned cartoonist’s faith in Christ made public.”

A: Spectacular.

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This is Gene. Speaking of cartoons, I cannot resist adding this, by. the always excellent Nick Anderson.

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We’re done here. Except for my tedious but heartfelt plea.