New York Times Alert: Small Words with a Big Impact
Words matter. In the Dec. 8, 2002 “Week in Review” section of the New York Times, a deceptive, opinion-laden adjective was included in a news-brief written by reporter Michael Wines: “After 26 months of Palestinian suicide bombings and pitiless Israeli retaliation, is there light at the end of the tunnel?”Pitiless is a word for those who blow up Israeli toddlers, school children and grandmothers going about their daily lives. Why is it applied to Israelis who are acting in self-defense against the savagery directed against them?