A subscriber points to an item in WSJ’s James Taranto’s OpinionJournal earlier this week.
It’s fairly common for commentators to adopt a breathless tone as they report entirely unremarkable facts. Rarely, however, do they actually say they’re breathless, as the Washington Post’s Colbert King does:
Guess how many reports of violence against women were made to the D.C. police in 2000. I’m talking about domestic violence, sexual assaults, desperate calls for civil protection orders. Ready? More than 22,500. That’s right. Violence against women made up about 50 percent of all reported violent crimes to the D.C. police in that year. If those numbers take your breath away, they should.
Well, if about 50% of all reported violent crimes are against women, guess what percentage are against men? That’s right, about 50%! Help, we can’t breathe!
Well, Taranto’s being more than a little disingenuous, methinks. The other 50% of violent crimes don’t necessarily compute to crimes against men, for example, car-jackings, convenience store robberies, drug-related violence, etc. And you could probably add violence against children into the mix. So I’d agree with King.