What could possibly bring Stephen King, Bono, and wage equality into one incoherent piece of writing? This one, of course.
The broad point I probably should have addressed in the original post was how my out-of-context quote mirrored a common news media technique for describing problems. It works like this - first, take conditions from this very moment, then calculate some metrics far into the future by assuming trends observed over the last few years (or even months) will remain perfectly fixed long into the future. If anyone think this is a poor method, ignore them and their contention that no previous trend in human history ever held up for so long. This is how the piece I found could make a prediction about wage conditions in the year 2234. Sure, there is nothing plainly wrong about the method but forgive me for rolling my eyes. What guarantees we'll even have wages (or jobs!) in the year 2234?
And yet it seems like we have no better predictive methods than making some basic logical extension of current conditions. Perhaps the more important point to ponder is why people insist on making predictions in the first place. The consequences of reckless predictions are often a main theme of dystopian work - Minority Report depicts a future where people are arrested for crimes 'predicted' by three psychics. We aren't there yet in that world yet - all I know is, right now if I accelerate up to the speed limit, no one pulls me over for 'projected speeding' - but I have my fears.
But of course, getting into the details of statistical methodology, the philosophy of news media, and the absurdity of hypothetical Minority Report style traffic violations all distract us from the main point - today’s efforts regarding gender equality are not enough. And although I appreciate the spirit of the 2234 prediction because it makes the point in a roundabout way, I think the best way to make a point about today's problems is to keep the future out of it.
Footnotes / imagined complaints
0. Encore? Sure, Bono's around right?
Here's an outline I found for a post that I've decided belongs in the trash bin - I'll present it here in the 'loose skeleton' way I sometimes sketch out promising but unclear writing ideas:
Idea: Bono winning ‘woman of the year’ seems to make it likely a woman will someday win the magazine’s ‘man of the year’ award.
Research: Does it still seem very unlikely when the magazine doesn’t have a ‘man of the year’ award?
Post: Why does it have a ‘woman of the year’ and ‘person of the year’ award, hmmm...?
Proofreading: Can it.
