Today I share the final five "top quotes" from 2022, as chosen by those in charge of a supplement to the New Yale Book of Quotations, with personal commentary.
6. “Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie?” — U.S. President Joe Biden, calling out for deceased Congresswoman Jackie Walorski, White House conference on ending hunger, Sept. 28.
Catching the rich and powerful making errors is always fun (schadenfreude) and this one adds the concern that our now-80-year-old president may be a bit foggy from time to time. But so am I and I am eight years younger. If I were a Republican operative in the coming election cycle, this quote would be irresistible.
As is usually the case, the quote itself doesn't make much sense without added context, a good reminder to our reporters to include enough context for readers who weren't there (which is almost all of them) can follow along.
7. “FTX is fine. Assets are fine.” — Sam Bankman-Fried, a Twitter post shortly before his cryptocurrency exchange FTX declared bankruptcy, Nov. 7.
I enjoy irony, though I worry about the "new normal" for the rich and powerful to simply lie outright about decisions and even facts. Trump did not begin this deluge of blatantly lying, but he certainly expanded on the practice since he has never really suffered from his twisting of truth.
From a rhetorical standpoint, those two three-word sentences are quite powerful. They remind us that when we want to make a strong claim, going with a shorter sentence is usually our best choice.
8. “If you’re the President of the United States, you can declassify just by saying ‘It’s declassified,’ even by thinking about it.” — Trump, Fox News interview, Sept. 21.
This quote makes the list partially due to its sheer looniness and partially as a marker of a precise moment when the ex-president may have crossed into some serious mental illness. I was reminded of the Maya Angelou quote: "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
The teaching point is not to stubbornly print whatever weird quote comes from a source but to evaluate just how "media-savvy" a source is. If a freshman makes some wacky claim just to get attention or shock, we can certainly choose NOT to share that with the world. We are not out to embarrass our community. But if the principal makes a wacky statement, that seems like fair game.
9. “The U.S. News rankings are profoundly flawed ... As a result, we will no longer participate.” — Heather Gerken, Yale Law School statement on U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, Nov. 16.
This quote might function as the gateway to more in-depth coverage of how students are making college choices and whether they are affected by these ratings. We could also discuss more deeply the fact that people LOVE rankings and if the "U.S. News" feature goes away, something else will replace it.
10. “African American voters are voting at just as high a percentage as Americans.” — U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, remarks at news conference, Jan. 19.
One last shot of schadenfreude here, with McConnell clearly leaving out the word "other" before "Americans." If he were that freshman boy I referenced earlier, we should give him a chance to amend his initial statement. But the guy is the minority leader of the U.S. Senate and showing members of the Angry White People Party denigrating Black voters is too on-the-nose to ignore.
I would never claim that an entire year could be captured through ten carefully chosen quotes, but this list could become something for our students to compile for themselves, on a more local level.
What would be the top ten key moments from this past year for your students?
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