Only Misplaced

I was asked about the title of my blog. There are two main drivers, and maybe one less obvious one. Grammar The title mainly derives from the ‘misplaced modifier’ principle – one of the many banes of an editor’s life. In that respect, it is partly a tribute to my editorial mentor, Michael Rose. When I first began editorial work at CANS in the early 1980s, I thought that I wrote well and understood grammar. Michael knew better. One revelation among many was that ‘only’ should be placed as close as possible to the word it modified. So: ·         Only John hit Fred once (we didn’t even touch him) ·         John only hit Fred once (not sure who stabbed him but it wasn’t John) ·         John hit only Fred once (he didn’t hit Mike and Alan) ·         John hit Fred only once (not 72 times). Of course you might get ‘Only John hit Fre...

The terrorist killings of 9/11 were shown in real time on every national news outlet. They horrified all right-thinking people. They burned into the consciousness in a way that nothing else has since and changed attitudes. So why are we appalled by the idea that people might watch a terrorist gunman killing people in Christchurch? Why (astonishingly) has so much of the coverage of this odious action focused not on the callous act but on its live-streaming? I know that his actions were intended as propaganda and the killer wanted maximum exposure. But the 9/11 terrorists chose their targets with prominence in mind too and with a view to getting a simple message across. My tentative view is that the main news outlets should have shown the film of the killings. The vast majority of us would have been horrified. Of course, some would have gloried in it. But they are glorying in it anyway – accessing it in many different ways. They are not the problem, or at least not the sole probl...