Stephen Downes

Mike Caulfield makes the useful point that framing matters in critical analysis. He offers an example where the framing suggests that a killing was political even though none of the facts support that suggestion. Using framing creatively is a good way to catch an opponent off-guard. "Have you stopped beating your dog?" I ask my opponent. "I have never beaten my dog!" he replies, outraged. The newspaper headline the next day: "Opponent denies beating his dog." The sidebar could read "Sceptics not so sure." Caulfield is getting better at this media analysis gig, which is good to see.