Good morning.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 5. Sunrise is 7:20 and sunset is 4:51 for 9 hours 31 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1937, Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in seven hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
So, if there are Steps for Blogging on a Policy or Proposal, and if a blogger assesses What Ails, What Heals, then writing requires an approach of supporting or opposing, doesn’t it? Almost.
There are three possible postures: supporting, opposing, and yet a third, refraining.
A supportive approach is easy to understand: the relevant policy or proposal is sound and beneficial. A response is required.
An opposing approach is also as easy to understand: the relevant policy or proposal is unsound and harmful. A response is required.
And yet, and yet, there is a third possible approach: when a policy or proposal, whether sound or unsound, is likely to fail and so have no consequence either beneficial or harmful. In that situation, it is often enough to refrain from comment.
If the proposal (even a well-meaning one) has no chance of any success, influence, or lasting effect, then there are reasons simply to let that proposal wither without comment. This is true even in cases where the proposal has a beneficial goal. Sometimes, even the most positive goal is beyond reach.1
And so, and so, it’s not support or oppose. It’s support, oppose, or refrain.
_____
- People choose freely, sometimes well, sometimes poorly. Some choices, some actions, cause irreparable damage to an effort. Afterward, however regrettable, there’s nothing anyone else can do. ↩︎
Industrial crane collapses in Russia’s Tatarstan region: