Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

This bothers me—this bothers me often and deeply. We abbreviate or shorten descriptions of individual persons. We “lump them together” so as not to name individuals or describe them. Such removes accountability. This bothers me.

Here is a news story about the Congress of the United States. There are hundreds of such stories everyday. Someone is informing Congress about spending this or spending that or whatever.

How about instead of writing “Congress,” we write “persons elected to represent voters in their home districts and states.” Hmmm. That provides a different perspective, huh?

Simple response, “Well, that is too many words and everyone knows what Congress is and we sort of shortened that to one word and it has the same meaning and you know. Right?”

Well, this bothers me. I prefer writing the long version at the top of the news story and maybe using the shorter or abbreviated version in the rest of the news story. That way we are all reminded of whom we speak, how they appear, their homes, and their primary duties.

“Congress” is vague. I prefer precise, concrete, specific, and clear over vague.

And then we come to accountability. How about naming the specific elected representatives who were addressed by the group in this news story? How about we inform the reader about the origin of these individuals and something of their personal interest in the topic of discussion. Now we can hold these individuals responsible for their actions in this news story.

Well, that is all too long, too many words, too much space on the page, too expensive, too tiring, and all sorts of good excuses. Despite the goodness of the reasons, they are still excuses.

How about some clarity and accountability instead? Please.