

A genius boy shot himself in the head after calculating the benefits of life - ceekays
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/brilliant-pupils-logical-suicide-1188778.html

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nerdfiles
My condolences to the family, but something seems horribly wrong here, and it
starts with those scare quotes around the "logical" in the headline. Actually,
it starts with that headline.

"...mathematics he has used are indisputable." I don't care to argue with the
boy's ethics, and by saying this, I hope it is clear I'm not arguing with his
form of realism or his utilitarianism. What IS interesting is that the child
may have worked under such sophisticated concepts. But my point is that logic
=/= mathematics, which is suggested by the scare quotes.

I think the author is a cynical asshole or British culture should have
something to say about such blatant mockery of a suicide victim's views. It's
surprising to me that any two editors who looked at the headline of this and
failed to question it.

But seriously, I'll go down as the person who nit-picks about language if it
means expression of opinion about THIS particular linguistic atrocity is all I
have to my name.

~~~
danellis
Imagine the headline without the quotes. It would essentially say, "he
committed suicide, just as he should have". The quotes indicate that it was
the boy's opinion that his suicide was logical, not the article's.

~~~
nerdfiles
The assumption that "logic" and "mathematics" can be used interchangeably is
what suggests to me that the author is couching in an additional point. This
is why I attack the headline all together, and not just the use of quotation.
This is why I used to term "scare quotes"
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes>)...twice.

Did you read my post at all?

I'm attacking the article for exactly the point you're trying to educate me
about. I'm saying it is wrong to do this sort of writing under some
circumstances. I'm saying trash the whole headline. I'm saying "should we use
these quotation marks?" should have been noted as "bad form." I'm saying I'd
take the OP's long-ass headline before I come off sounding insensitive.

"Brilliant pupil's 'logical' suicide." It makes me wrench just reading it out
loud. Read it. Read the "distance" the author strongarms into the headline.
It's forced. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth just reading it out loud. You
know that one point people often try to make that goes something like,
"Couldn't you have said it a better way?" Or "Maybe we just shouldn't talk
about that here and now?" Or the whole motivation behind PC-speech? I'm saying
this article's headline comes off as crass because of the use of exactly that
which you are now trying to describe to me.

