Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Does the title of a post matter?

What the crap is this?
Have you ever been in a Doctor's office? Have you ever read a magazine article? Do you have a magazine subscription of your very own? Have you ever noticed that sometimes articles have a title which is phrased as a question? Have you ever read an article with a question for a title that didn't end up asking more questions than it answered? Would you believe that I haven't? Can you guess how I feel about these kinds of articles?

Does Obama eat fried pork skins in private? Is computer AI on the verge of enslaving humanity? Is the moon a giant space creature's skull? Does eating granulated flax unguent increase one's lifespan? Does it? Do you have to read the article to know that when you're finished reading, you still won't know the truth?

Can anyone point me to an article of this kind that does anything but manipulate its readers into a certain point of view? Or that consists of any amount of substance? What is the point of reading an article with a question for a title? Am I the only one who prefers enlightenment to fear, uncertainty and doubt?