1. You write, "it's like trying to convince everyone to adopt a new language while they're in the middle of important conversations."
As a retired lit prof, I'd say it's like trying to convince everyone to use a larger vocabulary! I recall hearing the poet Jorie Graham say that when her child was dealing with an emotion she'd ask him (I think) to describe how he was feeling. He'd use label. She'd reply, "And what else?" It expanded is vocabulary AND his self-awareness.
2. It's useful to recall how many things you identify as traditional (I'm not being critical here) aren't all that old. Unsurprisingly, of course.
3. It didn't happen, bur I read the piece thinking that it was heading toward a critique of the newsmedia's need to find a better way to describe the present moment in our politics.
A couple of thoughts:
1. You write, "it's like trying to convince everyone to adopt a new language while they're in the middle of important conversations."
As a retired lit prof, I'd say it's like trying to convince everyone to use a larger vocabulary! I recall hearing the poet Jorie Graham say that when her child was dealing with an emotion she'd ask him (I think) to describe how he was feeling. He'd use label. She'd reply, "And what else?" It expanded is vocabulary AND his self-awareness.
2. It's useful to recall how many things you identify as traditional (I'm not being critical here) aren't all that old. Unsurprisingly, of course.
3. It didn't happen, bur I read the piece thinking that it was heading toward a critique of the newsmedia's need to find a better way to describe the present moment in our politics.