How the Passive Voice Allowed Flint’s Water Crisis to Persist
Local government’s resistance to placing blame is entirely intentional
Flint still doesn’t have clean water.
This statement has become a rallying cry, from city streets to social media. Yet it’s bothered me ever since I first heard it. Yes, it’s true that Flint’s water remains tainted and unsafe after five years. But the fact that we use the passive tense to talk about this travesty is the real outrage. Flint’s lack of safe, potable water isn’t the result of faulty infrastructure or a catastrophic accident at the water treatment plant. Government officials knowingly allowed poisons into the city’s water supply to cut costs. Active, evocative language that gets right to the ugly heart of things is necessary to tell the story and sound the clarion call.
“This was a crime committed against a city of 96,400 people to save $140 a day.”
When state and local officials decided to switch the source of Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron to the heavily polluted Flint River, they did not put in place a proper water treatment plan. Bacteria accumulated, and the disinfectants corroded the pipes, causing lead and other contaminants to leach into the water. When, almost…
