Memo to the blogosphere

If you write quotably, please proofread your prose before you click “publish.” Case in point, from John C. Wright:

Thirty years ago, I was in the newspaper business, and I saw then that the news was utterly corrupt and utterly dishonest, and was willing to loose money rather than cover stories that told the truth and gave both sides of any debate. It was like living in the Matrix. The news was fake, and I knew it, and could prove it, and could recite chapter and verse of the lies, propaganda and distortion — and no one believed me, no one cared, no one could be bothered to listen.

If I were to quote that for its content, I would either insert a “(sic)” after “loose,” or put “lose” in its place in brackets, indicating a substitution. Either course is ugly and clunky and weakens the impact of the statement.

One thought on “Memo to the blogosphere”

  1. Not that I am very quotable (especially not now, when my life has contracted to such a tiny radius) but I can tell that my tendency to use wrong words/commit typos/get borderline dyslexic has gotten vastly worse of late. I don’t know whether it’s stress or actual cognitive decline but it is one of the things that keeps me up some nights.

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