November 03, 2010
Bring out the scientists, we have uncovered evidence that Freudian slips are contagious. BTP readers will recall NYT columnist David Brooks’ wonderful Freudian slip from last week in which he noted that President Obama took office in the middle of a “fiscal crisis.” Of course, Brooks meant to say “financial crisis,” although in his columns he has certainly helped build up the notion that the country faces a fiscal crisis.
Today, the Washington Post committed a similar mistake. In an article headlined “economic concerns overshadow all others,” the Post told readers that:
“But one issue is on their minds like no other this year: the economy. Nearly 40 percent of voters in a recent Washington Post poll rated the nation’s fiscal situation as their top concern in the days leading to the election, a far higher proportion than those concerned about immigration, health care, Afghanistan, taxes, the deficit or dysfunction in Washington. (emphasis added)”
There is no doubt that the Post meant to say “economic situation” as indicated by the inclusion of the deficit as an issue that mattered less. The Post has worked tirelessly in the last two years to hype concerns about the deficit in both its opinion and news pages. It constantly raises the concern and rarely provides readers with any context that would allow them to meaningfully assess the size and nature of the problem.
In this case, we get to see the obsession in plain view. Both the reporter and the copy-editor somehow could not recognize this obviously wrong assertion.
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