
Why Speculate? (2005) - rfreytag
http://larvatus.com/michael-crichton-why-speculate/
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netcan
This is an interesting read, if you have time for a long-ish ome.

" _over the years the punditic thrust has shifted away from discussing what
has happened, to discussing what may happen. And here the pundits have no
benefit of expertise at all. Worse, they may, like the Sunday politicians,
attempt to advance one or another agenda by predicting its imminent arrival or
demise. This is politicking, not predicting._ "

I think the last point (politics) is most poignant.

I think a lot of what punditry is, is telling us what stuff _means_ , often
symbolically. Is this hurricane the first climate change disaster. Is this
shooting a sign the the war on crime is failing. Is this document government
document evidence that of middle class decline, working class political
awakening. Did Trump win the mid terms.

What politics is, largely, is competing narratives. Punditry (as well as
speculation) acts directly on the narrative. In times when political emotions
run high, more types of punditry become political punditry.

