Let's see now. Today's
New York Times says Loan-Agency Woes Swell From a Trickle to a Torrent
In the beginning was the word:
The word began spreading...
inches go by, lined with journalistic cliches offering what is most accurately described as a phantasm -
"tumult" "plunging," the cliched trickle
"has suddenly become a torrent" ...
All by way of
exordium. That's the
part of the oration that is designed to capture attention.
Finally, a few inches down, the hooha - the nut graf - the
narratio the place where we learn what's at the root of all this viral panic:
What set off this storm, and what happens next?
The cause of this week’s huge declines remains somewhat unclear.
Having been treated to a personification of Rumor, we learn that
Charles Duhigg does not know its basis. Mr. Duhigg is the
Times employee typing the vivid portrait. He has a
Harvard MBA. He proceeds to the
confirmatio - the advancement of proofs. "The appeal to
logos is emphasized here," says
Quintilian. Mr. Duhigg weaves concatenations of
mights and
coulds and
woulds:
In one graf, he niftily manages one
should, three
coulds and a
would:
Should that happen again, Fannie and Freddie could suspend buying some loans — which could bring much of the American housing economy to a standstill. Or the companies could continue doing business, but losing money on many of their deals, which would continue to undermine investors’ confidence in the stocks.
Mr. Duhigg doesn't offer much in the way of
reprehensio - the bit where you knock down opposition to your figment:
Opposition:
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for their parts, say such talk is dangerous. Both companies say they have capital on hand that exceeds what is required by their regulator.
Mr. Duhigg's
reprehensio:But people are still worried.
His case - of
journaljism - is strong. He buggers off with a quick
peroratio, quoting a fearful Florida legislator (Mel Martinez) rather than offering some authorial statement:
“All we can do sometimes is grab on and hope we don’t get thrown off the ride.”
Labels: anxiety, argument, gathering darkness of all USian culture, journaljism, planet terror, qunitilian, rhetoric, The New York Times
