You don¿t say!
Darius Nakhoonwala
Last week I had written that "there are several reasons why there has been an overall deterioration in the quality of edits. For one thing, the dumbing down of language has meant that style has been sacrificed. The need for brevity has also been a major culprit. There is no longer any room for flourish. This functional approach has reduced the pleasureable aspect of reading edits."
Someone pointed out that there was yet another reason why fewer people read edits today than two decades ago, and even fewer asked their children to read them in order not just to improve their English but also to acquire a superior perspective on current affairs. The dumbing down, said this friend, is not just in form, but also in intellectual content. I fully agree with him.
There is, I think, a general belief now that there is simply no need to place things not only in their historical context but also provide a background of the intellectual provenance that underlies many of the things that attract comment. Amazingly, some of the editors through whose hands the drafts pass are amongst the most intellectually gifted in the country. Not, perhaps, in every discipline but in a sufficient number of them to be able to serve up a fare that could please not just those who fancy some good reading but also those who like to go away feeling that they have learned something by way of a new way of looking at an issue.
I can almost hear the editors who read this column asking me to give some examples. I would, believe me, by the dozen, but really this is not the place for it. But since to keep your doggie quiet, just one biscuit is enough, I will give one example. It is randomly picked.
Thus, the issue of affirmative action has been hotly and hugely debated by the media. Its history has been written about, as has its political context, namely, the need to win votes. But to date I have yet to see a debate on the need to balance justice with equity. The two are separate but in
This is the sort of intellectual debate that is missing from edits. There is, I think, no point in writing edits which hang in thin air. To be sure, not all edits can be adorned by intellectual bells and knobs. But enough of them can be to make a real difference.
The length of the edit is a problem, I can hear someone grumble. I will return to that aspect next week. For the moment suffice it to say that if a class 12 student is expected to express himself in 500 words, why can¿t college graduates do the same?