The 10 commandments: The original Listicle.
Eldon Kao
Photo taken by me. Napoleon's Tomb Paris, France. 2014
Countless afternoons and late nights are wasted clicking down the rabbit hole of Listicles that feed on our short attention spans, bouncing from one ultimately irrelevant topic to another. No one could better attest to this than the people at BuzzFeed which supply never ending lists of things you never knew you wanted to know about - like this and this.
Curiously, a by-product of list popularity is that legitimate news purveyors now feel the need to adopt this format in order to appeal to the masses. Enter news articles like:
5 Reasons why Twitter’s CEO needed to fire himself, 6 Charts that explain the week in business, and 4 Steps to deal with the senate crisis.
Who can blame them really? Lists were made to go viral. The most revered and prototypical model being the 10 commandments:
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
While the bite-sized wording of listicles make them as easy to swallow and likewise regurgitate at the water cooler, the resolute nature in which they are written can often mislead and confound readers. There are many topics that cannot be distilled into a list and many more lists (no matter how long) that are not comprehensive.
Take for example, the 10 commandments above. Why are there 10 and not 9 or 11? Every number has its day. Round numbers like 10’s and 100’s are always popular. Back in the 90’s I remember every book cover touting “101 facts” as the end all and be all for any occasion. But now if the number is <10 it’s almost like they didn’t try hard enough and if the number is exactly 10 it’s equally likely there is superfluous information given to make the mark. Commandments #1 and 2 can be consolidated. What about the merits of #5 if your parents participated in #6 through 10? That’s what happens when you dumb things down. Just remember that the next time you see a list.