Consider the question begged

Moliere, begging the question earlier today

There are many misused phrases in modern journalism. Journalists of all stripes really should know better. If you work with words, you should respect the protocols that come with the creative use of language. Don't mix metaphors. Don't split infinitives. Avoid, or at the very least embellish, cliche. And for heaven's sake understand what a phrase or literary device means before you use it, grasp its function and make sure it is playing its correct part in your sentence or paragraph. One misuse is driving me up the fuzzy tree just at the moment.

'Begging the question', is the trope in question, and modern journalists have lost sight of its original meaning. Examples.

'A charity cannot account for one million pounds. This begs the question, what happened to the money?'

No, it doesn't. It suggests or prompts the question. 'Begging the question' means to restate the question in lieu of an answer. A classic example is provided by one of the characters in Moliere, the great French playwright, when a doctor is asked why a particular potion causes the drinker to go to sleep. 'It has', pronounces the doctor, 'dormative qualities'. The doctor has done nothing but reiterate the question using synonymic language. That is begging the question.

But a begged question is moving centre-stage. Adults are suddenly dying, for no apparent reason, and this phenomenon is being referred to as 'Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS)'. This bland, anodyne, meaningless and question-begging invention is doubtless intended to give a name to something the authorities would rather not be named. An alternative diagnosis, for example, might be 'Post-Vaccine Death Syndrome'. This would be presumptuous, as is the title of SADS. A syndrome has more than one causal factor. What frightens the authorities, so much so that they have unleashed the attack dogs of big tech, is that the vaccine might be the single cause of death.

For many months now, perfectly fit young athletes have been dropping dead all over the globe. Deaths with no apparent cause have spiked since the start of this year, Birth rates have tumbled too, incidentally, that decline starting almost exactly nine months after the first wave of vaccines.

Vaccines are supposed to be tested for years and it feels like the various ones on show were trialled for about 20 minutes. In the UK, the first compensation has been paid out to people who have lost loved ones after vaccination, so there is an admission that could open international floodgates.

Of course, although governments will say that this compensation will be paid from 'government money', as though it really was their gift and not taxpayer money of which government is, or should be, merely the steward. The drug companies must be forced to pay this compensation. They made extreme and obscene profits from the misery of others during the pandemic. This suggests - never begs - the question as to whether they have even the scraps and tatters of humanity.