Notes on KK

Katherine Kersten's biweekly columns are an important staple for the Star Trib. Strategically positioned on the right side of the right page of the OpEx section, it's clear what role she plays in the editorial dialogue. I'm sure she gets more response letters per capita than any other writer there--this is good for the newspaper. She also generates internet traffic for them--again, a great arrangement for both parties. I say "both" because KK's writing is so formulaic that it would not be accepted for a platform that was not gaining financially from it. It's so formulaic, in fact, that I've written a formula for it.

Using the one column I seemed to have missed from the past couple of years, here are the components:

1. A "hot-button" issue as brought up by one recent poll. Here, it's a survey about the religious landscape in the U.S.

2. Precious little original thought. Kathy dearest will use one source, typically a book from a friend or discredited/outdated pundit, to paraphrase for 3/4ths of the column. The rest is rhetorical questions and cobbled-together quotes. The book in this case is "The Triumph of the Therapeutic" by Philip Rieff.

3. A false inequality that catalyzes the remainder of the column. Here, religion = Christianity.

4. Carefully lobbed barbs at science. (Debating the scientific validity of psychology is another issue :P)

5. Misrepresentation of the words or ideas of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, or a founding father. Katherine quotes James Madison to show that for a successful democracy, there must be virtue in the people. (Note the implicit argument that morals & virtue result only from religion, nay, Christianity.) However, she cuts off the quote at a crucial point (emphases mine):

Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.

6. Some form of generally degrading or ignoring the existence of women, minority groups, etc. This may be minor in this column, but I still count 11 uses of "man" or "men" compared to 1 "women".

Please feel free to use this handy 6-point list as a reference whenever perusing KK.
Or, do something useful and interesting with your time instead. (Seriously. What's wrong with me.)