Word: meaninglessness
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...last spring. And Janet’s bare breast will certainly be forgotten by the American consciousness soon enough. But our national obsession with these frivolous sexual encounters is doing more harm than we realize. And while we continue to focus our attention on the trivial and the meaningless, we conveniently distract ourselves from things that might really matter...
They stamped him “unelectable”—an essentially meaningless adjective in the earliest months of an election year, but a self-fulfilling prophecy when many people believe whatever their TV anchor tells them. In one glaring example of an obituary published before death, the CBS affiliate in Jacksonville, Fla. posted on its website a Knight-Ridder wire story announcing Dean’s Wisconsin loss, comparing his campaign to a “plummeting comet,” at 8:42 in the morning on Feb. 17, just hours after the Wisconsin polls...
Dean’s fate was similarly meaningless. There are no principles of politics to be deduced from his experience except that nothing is sure. Of course, political analysts and consultants will forever try to draw lessons from Dean’s campaign, warning future candidates not to be too angry, not to put all their eggs in the anti-war basket, not to be endorsed by the establishment too early, not to squander funds. But we should remember that these are the same analysts who just a few months ago anointed Dean the Democratic nominee, lauding his fiery rhetoric...
...while we expect to weather the occasional storm in all of our loving relationships, we don’t expect those storms to be the very foundation of the relationship. “I love yous” rooted in such harsh moral judgments are copouts, condescending and meaningless. They are the ideological soulmates of the racist’s defense that he has lots of black friends: they might sound nice, but ultimately they mean nothing without more fundamental change. How can we make sure “love” is more than a slogan? We each have...
...These meaningless accolades may make everyone feel good, but they prove absolutely nothing—least of all that the class is balanced or sane. With characteristic understatement the CUE Guide’s caveat reveals all, noting “the absence of contrasting viewpoints to the liberal bias of the course.” Students should pull up their pants and look for more serious amusements...