I launch my new campaign against SELECTIVE READING

Selective reading is a practice that’s taken off since the Internet went public.

A person doesn’t actually read an article. He LOOKS IT OVER.

He checks the headline, then moves his eyes down the page and picks out what he wants to absorb. How he makes these decisions is unclear. He probably inserts his own preconceived notions—formed long before he ever opened the article. Perhaps in childhood. Who knows?

He most certainly does NOT follow the path the writer sets out.

For instance, I recently made the distinction between an ELECTION—which is when people vote—and an ELECTION CAMPAIGN SEASON—which is when the candidates bloviate and promise and spray generalities like pesticides on the population.

I went on to assert that the ELECTION CAMPAIGN SEASON gives us an opportunity to demand candidates answer thorny questions with SPECIFIC DETAIL. Questions they would prefer to ignore.

Yet I received a communication from a selective reader insisting that ELECTIONS are rigged.

Of course, that was not the point of the article at all.

That was the point in his selective mind.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my client is innocent. He did not steal that car.”

Judge: “Sir, your client is on trial for setting fire to three buildings and killing four people.”

THAT KIND OF THING.