![]() ![]() Bush, interviewed for a PBS special about his 2000 face-offs with Al Gore, credited Ronald Reagan with elevating the zinger’s importance. But by 1970, as political discourse became less civil and more confrontational, it turned into a catchy synonym for a barbed quip.įormer President George W. ![]() ![]() The Online Etymology Dictionary says that in 1957, it was baseball slang for a pitcher’s fastball that caught unsuspecting hitters off guard. “Zinger” is one of many political words originating in the sports world. Zinger: A supposedly spontaneous clever one-liner that has become a leading measuring stick – to some, the only measuring stick – for success in a debate. That is an awesome responsibility and a revolutionary opportunity. Even when the world is unkind, we can be unmoved in our determination to love, to build, to seek credible hope. Never to excuse or ignore cruelty or crime, but to recognize that how we view the world shapes the world. What is the media’s responsibility?Author and anti-apartheid activist Alan Paton once said of the Monitor, “It gives no shrift to any belief in the irredeemable wickedness of man, nor in the futility of human endeavor.”In addition to reporting acts of kindness, perhaps a next step is to see the world through a lens of kindness. But can this elevation only happen with stories of kindness? Must the rest of the news abandon us to despair?The world is asking us to consider that question deeply. She defined kindness and heroism as “moral beauty,” which “triggers ‘elevation’ – a positive and uplifting feeling” that “acts as an emotional reset button, replacing feelings of cynicism with hope, love and optimism.”The study suggested this happens when one watches a news story about kindness after watching ones about bombings, cruelty, and violence. They support “the belief that the world and people in it are good.” And they provide “relief to the pain we experience when we see others suffering.”It was her fourth point that stuck with me. Since the late 20th century in labor law, quid pro quo is widely used as a name for a type of workplace sexual harassment in which an employer holds an employee’s job hostage in return for sexual favors.A week ago, a British researcher published an article titled “Stories of kindness may counteract the negative effects of looking at bad news.” As you might imagine, I was intrigued.Kathryn Buchanan of the University of Essex shared four main takeaways from her research: Stories of kindness remind us of our shared values. Quid pro quo especially made its way into legal, political, and commerical texts by the 19th century, a useful shorthand for all sorts of reciprocal exchanges. ![]() The phrase was added to a 1535 English translation of Dutch humanist Erasmus, who apparently questioned the questionable quid-pro-quoing of these quacks.īy the late 1500s, quid pro quo spread from medicine into general contexts for a “tit for tat.” A 17th century history on the reign of King Charles, for instance, described Christianity as a quid pro quo in that people must repent for redemption. The expression was notably used in the Middle Ages by apothecaries who were figuring out what substances may be substituted for another ( quid pro quo) in medicines. In Latin, quid pro quo literally means “something for something” or “one thing for another.” ![]()
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