Give small point-size headlines

How TOI can help end wars and deflate egos

Could mainstream media – including TOI that couldn’t get more main or stream if it wanted to – stop the US-Iran war overnight? In fact, could media stop all wars, and cut down to size the inflated egos that cause them? 

This was the assertion made by an advertising industry designer who claimed that if the extra-large 96-point type size used for banner headlines in newspapers and on TV news shows did not exist, there would be no more wars. 

Weird? Or is it? If a tree falls in a forest where there is no one to hear it, would it make a sound? If wars, and other man-made calamities, happened and weren’t amplified by high-volume headlines in print or on TV screens, would they soundlessly disappear from public awareness, and lose the mass audience such misadventures thrive on?

News becomes NEWS when it is displayed in capital letters. Size matters. And the larger the size the more it matters. Routine headlines – dog bites man, Pakistani sabre rattling – make do with 18- to 20-point headlines. Banner headlines – war, change of govt, Team India beating Team Pakistan in the World Cup – command 72- to 96-point letters. On the other hand, a 96-point headline NOTHING AT ALL HAPPENED YESTERDAY! would have everyone abuzz with wonder and speculation.

In speech, point size gets translated into decibels. The louder you speak, or shout, the more important you sound. That’s why practitioners of certain professions – politics, TV anchorage, etc – should get their lung power tested before making career choices. 

Verbal capitalisation in print or speech creates its own self-importance. Words like URGENT, EMERGENCY, and HELP! are often capitalised and, for extra measure, sometimes exclaimised. 

Similarly, the first person singular in English is a capital I, which is why we can’t see I-to-I with people who are so full of themselves as to disagree with us. 

If we stopped capitalising ourselves, as The Speaking Tree column does by using the small i instead of the big I, we might be less inclined to ego-logical mismanagement. 

Someone who famously uses huge capitals in ALL HIS POSTS, might do well to sign himself off as donald trump.