Lost in Translation

Have you ever heard that phrase about “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable”? Journalists have adopted it as a sort of unofficial motto, proof positive that either they’ve never read the original source material, they have no senses of humor, or both.

Here’s the original quote in context, from the mouth of the Sage of Bridgeport, Mr. Dooley himself:

Th newspaper does ivrything f’r us. It runs th’ polis foorce an’ th’ banks, commands th’ milishy, controls th’ ligislachure, baptizes th’ young, marries th’ foolish, comforts th’ afflicted, afflicts th’ comfortable, buries th’ dead an’ roasts thim aftherward.

from Observations by Mr. Dooley (1902) p. 250.

In other words Finley Peter Dunne is mocking the vanity and self-importance of journalists. Some things never change.

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