The Great Journalist Speaks Again

A Little Bit Of McArdle: A Report of Her Lecture at Skidmore

“I am not a failure – I am someone who has failed”. These words capped off journalist Megan McArdle’s delivery of this spring’s Carr Distinguished Interdisciplinary Lecture – a semi-annual lecture series with the purpose of “more intentionally preparing Skidmore students for the transition from college to the working world or to further studies”. [sic] 

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In addition to talking about her book, McArdle also shared some journalistic wisdom with the crowd. One particularly relevant piece of advice had to do with the Internet’s impact on journalism and adapting to the widespread availability of information. She described situations in which (perhaps biased) journalists would post information to the Internet that wasn’t quite true. As a result, more informed citizens would comment on this false information, calling out the author on their failure to post the facts. She stated that the journalists that failed well were the ones who checked those facts and posted corrections or apologies. Those journalists who failed less than well would stubbornly defend their work despite the fact that their information wasn’t correct.

I talk a lot about denial, self-delusion and unconscious motivation, but let's not forget McArdle"s first and foremost trait. She's a liar who knows she is lying and does it anyway to get rich.


And she thinks that aping the words of honest people will fool everyone into thinking she is honest.