Use Unqualified People

an Oblique Strategy

I love the scare quotes that come up so often in the Oblique Strategies decks. They open terms up to such a wide range of possible meanings. What constitutes a qualification? Who is calling those qualifications into doubt? What does an artist say about the world, when they depict people who are seemingly — or actually — frauds?

Here is Stephanie Mankins’s note on today’s draw:

Does your narrative revolve around questions of power? You may ask, Who decides who is qualified, and why?

Or, perhaps the idea of ‘unqualified’ results in a surprise revelation, as when of your character knows something unexpected, something they shouldn’t.

Or, worse, how can being ‘qualified’ also be a short-coming? For example, in Jerry Saltz’s book, Art Is Life, he describes a meeting that took place in October of 2001, in which architects gathered to discuss the future of the World Trade Towers site:

“At a packed assembly of architect in Cooper Union’s Great Hall, professionals from around the world met and spoke about the tragedy in ways I hadn’t heard before or, thankfully, since. I love contemporary architecture, but I was appalled by the breathtaking opinion, expressed by many in attendance, that architects were the only ones who understood the site ‘in the deepest sense.’”

Good writing.

—Elizabeth Gaffney & The 24-Hour Room