| Crossing It Off |
18 August 2003
|
Lists -- Boring, Boring, Boring
Perhaps David Letterman is responsible, but there were rumors of it before he got his late night show. There was the Book of Lists in the 1970s, and surely, the evil existed before. Indeed, there are the 7 Deadly Sins, and the 10 Commandments. The creation and dissemination of lists (The Top Ten . . . ) has grown into an abomination. The trouble with them is threefold. Or perhaps several fold; after all, this is a criticism, not a list.
First, the one's that are meant to be funny fail to be funny all the way down the line. Oh, sure, the first 6 of any top ten are often quite amusing. The rest are there for filler. For some reason, though, the filler is needed because lists are mainly for the officious and pedantic.
Second, the ones that are meant to be useful rarely are. MSNBC recently posted 8 things a student absolutely had to have for college this autumn. A burning desire to learn was not on the list -- making everything else rather a waste of cash.
Third, lists reduce the subject matter to mere bullet-points -- ideal for PowerPoint presentations, which often take the place of thought. The 10 Best Places to Live, the 100 Richest People, the 1000 Most Important Events in History all of them beg the question, "According to what criteria?" How does one judge? If the standards are changed, the results will be different. Yet, list mavens never concern themselves with the underlying assumptions. Then again, who does?
Home