It Is In The Nature Of Tyranny

Do Not Be Taken In By 'insiderisms.' Fledgling Columnists, Eager To Impress Readers With Their Grasp Of Journalistic Jargon, Are Drawn To Such Arcane Spellings As 'lede.' Where They Lede, Do Not Follow.

Cast Aside Any Column About Two Subjects. It Means The Pundit Chickened Out On The Hard Decision About What To Write About That Day.

To Communicate, Put Your Words In Order; Give Them A Purpose; Use Them To Persuade, To Instruct, To Discover, To Seduce.

Never Look For The Story In The 'lede.' Reporters Are Required To Put What's Happened Up Top, But The Practiced Pundit Places A Nugget Of News, Even A Startling Insight, Halfway Down The Column, Directed At The Politiscenti. When Pressed For Time, The Savvy Reader Starts There.

We Are All Environmentalists Now, But We Are Not All Planetists. An Environmentalist Realizes That Nature Has Its Pleasures And Deserves Respect. A Planetist Puts The Earth Ahead Of The Earthlings.