I’ve gotten a bunch of media calls, and a bunch of reader e-mail, about the Schiavo matter. I’m staying out of it, but I thought it might be interesting to briefly note the questions that at least some academic legal bloggers ask themselves to decide which controversies to jump into and which to stay out of:
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How much factual and procedural detail do I have to learn to speak competently about this? Do I need to read one or two newspaper articles, or do I have to spend time acquiring a huge amount of knowledge about the facts and the procedural history of this case — knowledge that won’t be reusable for future controversies, since it’s specific to this incident?
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How close is this to my core area of academic expertise? If it’s really close, it’ll be (1) easy for me to figure out the right legal answer without learning much more about the law, (2) unlikely that I’ll make a stupid mistake, and (3) important for me to know this for my future academic work. If it’s far, then it means more work, more risk of error, and less long-term benefit from knowing about the subject.
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How many other experts are talking about this already? If there are plenty, then I’m less likely to be able to say much that’s new and valuable.
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How controversial is this particular incident? If it’s highly controversial, that’s a plus (at least for many academic bloggers), because it means that people are listening and there’s more of a chance to do some good by providing useful analysis. But on the other hand, the more controversial it is, the more demands there’ll be for responses to counterarguments, follow-up posts, refinements in light of new developments, corrections of alleged errors, and so on — which means still more of a time commitment.
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How interested am I in this subject? It’s one thing to invest time and effort in a subject that fascinates one, another to invest time and effort just because it’s mildly interesting and people are knocking on your door asking for opinions.
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How busy am I with other things?
I asked myself these questions about the Schiavo matter, and the answer was simple.
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