Adding Insult to Injury? WSJ Headline: “Facebook’s Road to Redemption Runs Down Main Street”

[Note to Readers: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire.]

Call it, “sloppy late Sunday afternoon editing.”

While The Wall Street Journal’s full headline reads, “Facebook’s Road to Redemption Runs Straight Down Main Street,” unfortunately, the summary headline on The Journal’s home page omits the word “straight.”

Which leaves this: “Facebook’s Road to Redemption Runs Down Main Street” (see screen capture, above).

Given that “run down” has a secondary meaning — “disparage” or “speak slightingly about” — the effect is potentially very different than what the author undoubtedly intended.

“Serving Facebook Right?” I’ll Say

Scarcely five paragraphs into the body of the article, The Journal does it again — or more accurately, Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, does.

See if you can find the offending phrase in Sandberg’s comment below:

“I actually think that some of the mistakes we’ve made and the work we’ve done to try to fix those mistakes is serving us right now.”

–“Facebook’s Road to Redemption Run Straight Down Main Street”; The Wall Street Journal (4/5/2020).

Spot it?

According to Collins Dictionary, “If you say it ‘serves someone right’ when something unpleasant happens to them, you mean that it is their own fault and you have no sympathy for them.”

Privacy for Profit

Hmm . . .

To pick another expression, I wonder if — consciously or unconsciously — Facebook’s proverbial chickens are finally coming home to roost.

By “chickens,” of course, I mean the company’s business model of shamelessly auctioning off its users’ privacy to the highest bidders, no very few questions asked . . .

P.S.: My guess is that one or both WSJ slips get corrected in the next few hours.

See also, ““Peddling” Lies vs. “Pedaling” Lies“; and “NY Times Gaffe: “Energize” and its Phantonyms.”

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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