When did you last read a newspaper editorial? No, seriously – tell me.
I am not sure you remember because I certainly don’t. In fact, I doubt if I have ever read them end to end.
Since the invention of the printing press, millions of trees have been felled to print these editorials. And seemingly, all in vain.
Then why do we keep doing it? This should bother us not just for sake of the trees but because similar waste might be permeating even our daily lives.
Here are some reasons we don’t read the newspaper editorials:
1. The writing is solemn drudgery, seemingly written for the dead (or soon to be dead). There is not a shred of conversational tone anywhere.
2. Most editorials refine the art of saying a lot without saying anything. Quite often, it is ‘on the one hand’ vs. ‘on the other hand.’ How often do you see the writers take a bold stand?
3. To make it sound academic and weighty, they use big words, a preachy tone, and leave us hanging, with no clear conclusion. And by the way, what they say in 1,000 words could often be said in 200.
The result is that we glance through the first and last few pages of a newspaper. The editorial is mostly used to pack ‘vada pav’ by roadside vendors.
But if it is so wasteful, then why does this continue? Because it is a holy cow and we are not supposed to question them.
And does this not happen even in our offices and workplace, where wasteful things remain unquestioned?
Waste is a crime. And therefore, there should be no holy cows.
Question everything. Challenge the status quo (including the senior guys in suits). Speak and write in simple language, without hedging what you want to say.
It is better to be precisely wrong than to be ambiguously right.
– Rajan