http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110004334
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21
Best of the Web Today BY JAMES TARANTO
America-haters go Hollywood, as their movement "grows" by minus-80%
Growing Fast, but Not Bigger
Early estimates were that only some 50,000 people showed up for yesterday's freakfest in the streets of London, but Scotland Yard later gave an estimate of 70,000, and organizers are claiming 200,000, according to the left-wing Guardian newspaper."Yesterday was by far the biggest turnout since the million-plus march in February," the Guardian adds. The paper adds that the Stop the War coalition has "become the fastest growing political movement in Britain."
OK, for the sake of argument let's accept the organizers' 200,000 estimate, and for the sake of simplicity let's round off the "plus" and say the February march drew an even million. That means "the fastest growing political movement in Britain" is shrinking at a rate of 80% every nine months. Perhaps we need a new politically correct locution to describe this phenomenon: The movement isn't shrinking; it's "growing smaller."
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21
Best of the Web Today BY JAMES TARANTO
America-haters go Hollywood, as their movement "grows" by minus-80%
Growing Fast, but Not Bigger
Early estimates were that only some 50,000 people showed up for yesterday's freakfest in the streets of London, but Scotland Yard later gave an estimate of 70,000, and organizers are claiming 200,000, according to the left-wing Guardian newspaper."Yesterday was by far the biggest turnout since the million-plus march in February," the Guardian adds. The paper adds that the Stop the War coalition has "become the fastest growing political movement in Britain."
OK, for the sake of argument let's accept the organizers' 200,000 estimate, and for the sake of simplicity let's round off the "plus" and say the February march drew an even million. That means "the fastest growing political movement in Britain" is shrinking at a rate of 80% every nine months. Perhaps we need a new politically correct locution to describe this phenomenon: The movement isn't shrinking; it's "growing smaller."