Flagging intelligence

“Once the false flag around the Sydney siege disintegrates,” writes journalism academic Jenna Price, “we will know two things.”

Well, Ms. Price might be looking forward to knowing two things, which some might take to represent a great mental expansion on her part, but the rest of us will have come to understand a bit more than that.

The third thing would be that Price doesn’t understand the meaning of “false flag”, which the Sydney siege would have been if, say, a Methodist had gussied himself as a devotee of Allah in order to bring the religion of peace into disrepute. As it happens, there was no need for a Methodist to do this.

The fourth thing — and parents should bear this is in mind — is that if your kid announces plans to enroll in a university journalism course, he or she really is every bit as precociously dim as you might secretly fear.

And the fifth thing? If your pride and joy lingers long enough to graduate, he or she will be even dimmer — quite possibly to the abysmal extent of no longer understanding commonly used metaphors.

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