Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Criminalizing Nature

The trend I first observed on The Weather Channel of anthropomorphizing the forces of nature ("vicious" tornadoes, "ruthless" tsunamis) has now been matched with reportage on astronomical events on the largest scale. The black hole in question is alleged to have exhibited "-- an act of galactic violence that astronomers said yesterday they have never seen before-" Despite all the fruity, overblown rhetoric, larded with extreme adjectives, natural forces are not capable of intent (which is certainly implied by the use of "act" and its modifier "violence") and therefore there can be no teleological component to the event.

The journalists are running out of language; what's going to happen if we get paved over by Douglas Adams' aliens to make that hyperspace bypass? What will we say? "You....you....you...!!"

Save an adjective for a rainy day (or one of horrid, relentless vulcanism).

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