House of Eratosthenes

The sixty-fifth Best Sentence I’ve Heard Or Read Lately (BSIHORL) award goes to Sissy Willis of SISU for a comment posted on Ann Althouse’s blog. Subject: The Chosen One’s desultory and milquetoast prose about Iranian elections. For the uninitiated, after much criticism for His not saying anything, He stepped down from His cloud and offered…

“I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community that have taken place in the past,” [President] Obama said at the White House, in a clear reference to [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, who has clashed forcefully with world leaders over Iran’s nuclear program.

While saying it was “not productive” for the U.S. president to be seen as meddling in Iranian affairs, Obama expressed “deep concerns about the election.”

“When I see violence directed at peaceful protesters, when I see peaceful dissent being suppressed, wherever that takes place, it is of concern to me, and it’s of concern to the American people,” he said. “That is not how governments should interact with their people.”

Which inspired Althouse’s rhetorical question: “Do you think he could be blander?” This is our modern Messiah, our digital-age dragon slayer. He who was elected with all this hope, whose magical sword would sever the ties that bind us, and release us from our dungeon of eternal darkness and lead us into the light…it is of “concern” to Him? What items in the vast catalog of human despair were to be made part of His mandate, if this is not among them? Does an executive have to receive a bonus before the Replacement Jesus can begin to be energized, vexed, or inspired? Where’s all the hope, the charisma, the umpshun-in-the-gumpshun, the adrenalized quest for the holy grail of “change”? What a disappointment of unprecedented dimensions. Bland doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Enter Sissy with the Best Sentence. It’s actually two sentences:

Muscular prose reflects muscular thinking (Churchill, Reagan, GW). Flabby prose reflects flabby thinking (Chamberlain, Carter, Obama). Never use one metaphorically-charged noun or active verb when a string of colorless nouns and passive verbs will do.

Hat tip to Maggie’s Farm.

If there ever was a time I wanted to be wrong about Obama this was it. Considering the potential significance of the occurrence in Iran I so wanted Obama to represent America and what we stand for with words and a message to the brave protesters that we could be proud of, that would inspire their struggle in any small way.

Instead, I’m left with the characterization that I knew of him, small and weak. So much for the “great speaker”, what will his supporters point to now, how well he dresses? Great, the fashion world will be inspired while Iranian blood spills in the street.
- tim | 06/22/2009 @ 12:53
Wow. That is a good sentence.

And this is the dead end to which political correctness leads. ~~Never generalize~~ Make a ~~strong~~good faith effort to avoid generalization. Use ~~milquetoast language~~ abstract nouns and lofty adjectives and soaring adverbs to describe ~~actions to be taken~~ ~~consequences~~ how we will feel if our ~~conditions~~ ~~requests aren’t met~~ ~~concerns~~ hopes are not ~~addressed~~ taken into consideration by the parties involved on the part not of our party.

Hope and Change. Knocking on your door.
- philmon | 06/22/2009 @ 17:28
Well, thank you, sir. I thought it was pretty good myself. 🙂 Have linked your post at my blog.
- Sissy Willis | 06/22/2009 @ 22:22

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Best Sentence LXVMonday, June 22nd, 2009

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Monday, June 22nd, 2009