What’s in a word?

What’s in a word?

Posted on November 26th, 2010 by Jeff McDonald

William Shakespeare once suggested that “beauty is bought by judgement of the eye.” With a deeply deferential bow to the Bard, I would go on and add my own scribble, that “sense is bought by judgement of the ear.”

Which brings me to a verbal gaffe by Sarah Palin, the uproar – or lack thereof – over said gaffe, and the ensuing backlash towards those who did choose to raise an uproar.

Apparently, in the course of a radio interview Sarah Palin told Glenn Beck that America “has got to stand with our North Korean allies” in the situation that has arisen after the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong was devastated by a North Korean artillery attack.

Okay, so she made a mistake … it happens to all of us at one time or another … Beck corrected her, she corrected herself, let’s move on with it, alright?

Heck, I didn’t even hear of it until well after the fact. I don’t care for Beck’s program, and there was little or no mention of Palin’s gaffe in the major news websites, in the papers, or on network television news broadcasts.

But the blogosphere? That was a different matter. The goof was added to a long list of “Palinisms” assembled by the bluer bloggers … and you’ve probably noticed that news searches on engines such as Google are continuing to give weblogs and social media a greater profile – all of which served to help the gaffe find its place on the major news sources.

Even then, though, the story (if we can justify calling this a “story”) might have withered, if Palin had not stoked the fire herself, “lashing out” at critics with jabs at others who have made mistakes of their own. Personally, I wish she would have just let the thing go. Like I said, it happens to all of us at one time or another … let’s move on with it, alright?

It’s happened to our current President (one of the targets of Palin’s jabs), and it happened to his predecessor, and to HIS predecessor. They all moved on, placed their gaffes in their proper perspective, emphasized what was truly important to the American people, and achieved success in their political ambitions.

As the son of a man who was one of “the Chosin Few,” I can’t help but think that our attention to developments on the Korean Peninsula are better devoted to other topics than Sarah’s slip … let’s move on.

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Jeff McDonald

There's a saying around here, something like, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could!" That's me. I'm a 'dang Yankee from back-east' who settled in the Lone Star State after some extended stays in the eastern U.S., and New Mexico. I worked as an archaeologist for a few years before dusting off my second major in English, and embarking on a 25-year career in journalism. Since then, I've embraced the dark side of the force, and now work in PR for a community college in Midland, Texas.