Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Nov 11, 2024
Oct 20, 2024
Let's Be Clear
Anybody complaining about how they "Can't say things anymore" is not actually being prevented from saying those things.
What it means is that now, if they say those things, they're being perceived as the kind of person who says things like that - and they're being chastised for it.
So what they're whining about is what normal people call "being held accountable" - for what they say and what they do - and for who and what their use of the language reveals about them.
Not that long ago:
Things change. Stop being such a whiny-butt pussy about it.
And it's not so much that you're prohibited from saying those things, but we're trying to be marginally better people, and make this world a marginally better place to live, so when you say that kind of hateful ignorant shit, you can expect to get dinged for it. You need some new material.
What is it you find so fuckin' hard about that?
Sep 18, 2024
Word O' The Day
BTW:
Hypatia constructed astrolabes and hydrometers, but did not invent either of these, which were both in use long before she was born. She was tolerant toward Christians and taught many Christian students, including Synesius, the future bishop of Ptolemais. Ancient sources record that Hypatia was widely beloved by pagans and Christians alike and that she established great influence with the political elite in Alexandria. Toward the end of her life, Hypatia advised Orestes, the Roman prefect of Alexandria, who was in the midst of a political feud with Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria. Rumors spread accusing her of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril and, in March 415 AD, she was murdered by a mob of Christians led by a lector named Peter.
Hypatia's murder shocked the empire and transformed her into a "martyr for philosophy", leading future Neoplatonists such as the historian Damascius (c. 458 – c. 538) to become increasingly fervent in their opposition to Christianity. During the Middle Ages, Hypatia was co-opted as a symbol of Christian virtue and scholars believe she was part of the basis for the legend of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. During the Age of Enlightenment, she became a symbol of opposition to Catholicism. In the nineteenth century, European literature, especially Charles Kingsley's 1853 novel Hypatia, romanticized her as "the last of the Hellenes". In the twentieth century, Hypatia became seen as an icon for women's rights and a precursor to the feminist movement. Since the late twentieth century, some portrayals have associated Hypatia's death with the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, despite the historical fact that the library no longer existed during Hypatia's lifetime.
Sep 17, 2024
Apr 11, 2024
Oct 14, 2023
"... but ..."
It's a universal truth - as well as an immutable internet meme - that the opening phrase "I'm not a racist, but..." will always be followed by some scorchingly obvious racist shit. (obvious usually to everyone but the speaker, and to those who either share his beliefs or haven't quite thought it through)
Opinion by Alexandra Petri
The word ‘But’ asks that it not appear in these sentences
INTERNET, October 2023 — The word “But” has been stunned to find itself appearing in an increasing number of sentences that begin “The killing of children is never acceptable ... ”
After finding itself in yet another Instagram comment, preceded by the phrases “I am devastated to read about the loss of life” and “I deplore the killing of civilians, especially children,” the word “But” described itself as “horrified” to be included. Although it did not specify what sentiment came after it — possibilities included the phrases “should have had different parents,” and a reference to making omelets and breaking eggs — “But” took to social media to beseech other posters to avoid making this mistake.
The coordinating conjunction begged that those phrases be added to the list of sentences in which it would not appear under any circumstances, a list that already includes: “You never have to compliment Stalin for any reason”; “I don’t want to suggest that slavery wasn’t an unmitigated evil”; and “Genocide is always bad.” The words “Nevertheless,” “Still” and “However” jointly concurred in “But’s” statement, though “Nevertheless” looked visibly tired and strained.
“‘I am against the killing of children, regardless of who their parents are or where they live,’ is a set of words that never should be accompanied by any of us,” their statement read. “If you notice that you are putting us in, please, we beg you, reconsider.”
“But” also asked to be left out of sentences that start with “Of course, I condemn the deaths of innocent civilians,” and, especially, “I object to war crimes.”
“‘I believe in the inherent dignity of human life’ is a sentence that is getting along just fine without me,” “But” observed, a sentiment with which “Nevertheless” said it concurred “a thousand times.”
In a separate statement, the noun “Collateral Damage” and the adjective “Inevitable” asked to stop being forced to appear together.
“But” concluded its statement by saying it would return to anxiously watching someone compose a post that began “There is no excuse for antisemitism” and praying not to be called into service.
So think it through, dammit
Opinion by Alexandra Petri
The word ‘But’ asks that it not appear in these sentences
INTERNET, October 2023 — The word “But” has been stunned to find itself appearing in an increasing number of sentences that begin “The killing of children is never acceptable ... ”
After finding itself in yet another Instagram comment, preceded by the phrases “I am devastated to read about the loss of life” and “I deplore the killing of civilians, especially children,” the word “But” described itself as “horrified” to be included. Although it did not specify what sentiment came after it — possibilities included the phrases “should have had different parents,” and a reference to making omelets and breaking eggs — “But” took to social media to beseech other posters to avoid making this mistake.
The coordinating conjunction begged that those phrases be added to the list of sentences in which it would not appear under any circumstances, a list that already includes: “You never have to compliment Stalin for any reason”; “I don’t want to suggest that slavery wasn’t an unmitigated evil”; and “Genocide is always bad.” The words “Nevertheless,” “Still” and “However” jointly concurred in “But’s” statement, though “Nevertheless” looked visibly tired and strained.
“‘I am against the killing of children, regardless of who their parents are or where they live,’ is a set of words that never should be accompanied by any of us,” their statement read. “If you notice that you are putting us in, please, we beg you, reconsider.”
“But” also asked to be left out of sentences that start with “Of course, I condemn the deaths of innocent civilians,” and, especially, “I object to war crimes.”
“‘I believe in the inherent dignity of human life’ is a sentence that is getting along just fine without me,” “But” observed, a sentiment with which “Nevertheless” said it concurred “a thousand times.”
In a separate statement, the noun “Collateral Damage” and the adjective “Inevitable” asked to stop being forced to appear together.
“But” concluded its statement by saying it would return to anxiously watching someone compose a post that began “There is no excuse for antisemitism” and praying not to be called into service.
Jul 1, 2023
Jan 27, 2022
What's Wrong With Conservatives?
And of course the short answer can go a coupla different ways:
Things Conservatives Get Wrong About 1984
Conservatives love to miss the point of popular literature. I’ve lost count of the number of conservatives who didn’t get that the bad guys in Atlas Shrugged were crony capitalists, not the mean old government, and let’s not even get into the ones who think Jesus wanted people to be rich. A popular book to bring up to denounce leftism is George Orwell’s dystopian science fiction novel 1984, where Britain is placed under a permanent authoritarian surveillance state. Usually, they get things completely wrong.
Newspeak is Not About Adding New Words
In 1984, Newspeak is the evolving fictional language of the Oceania government meant to alter the way people think and thus limit subversion. Conservatives love to claim any new descriptor of a social phenomenon is Newspeak, especially if it involves trans people.
Newspeak didn’t work by giving people vocabulary to describe evolving understanding of the gender spectrum or any other concept. The purpose of Newspeak was to eliminate words. It’s literally described in the book as the only language that gets smaller every year rather than bigger, reducing the nuance of thought so that everything could be described only vaguely. The more conservatives try and shoehorn people into fewer boxes, the more like Newspeak they actually are because insisting “there are only two genders” is by definition eliminating the progress of scientific understanding.
The Big Brother Government Was Not Communist
Orwell went to his grave as an avowed socialist who believed that such a system was the only thing that could truly liberate a people. Anything else, communist or capitalist, he felt was destined to end up oppressive. The problem with the Big Brother government is not that it’s big, but that it is ruled from the inside by a tiny group of elites waging a class war.
Regulation is Not Equivalent to Big Brother Watching You
The phrase “Big Brother is watching you” appears frequently in the novel as a reminder that the state wishes total control over the people’s lives. It’s fitting for a story set in Britain, being that London is one of the most surveilled cities in the world. Conservatives tend to equate being watched at all with 1984.
Throughout the novel, we never get a glimpse of the Big Brother government engaged in actual beneficial regulation. Their entire focus is to squash any sort of unapproved artistic expression and to keep the proles on the edge of subsistence so that they are engaged only with surviving. There’s never a mention about, say, an equivalent of the FDA or enforcement of labor protections. There’s no welfare state either, apparently. At least, not for the average person. Forcing people to wear a mask during a pandemic is not something the Big Brother government would ever be likely to do because no matter how many people with eagles in their profile pics say it, that is not actually a matter of control. Authoritarian government do not do things that empower and protect their general populations as a rule.
Orwell believed with all his heart that what stopped brutal dictatorships was having the average worker in a position of power. He wanted people organized, voting, able to express themselves, and not controlled by either the government or corporations. He wanted a world of “free AND equal human beings.” Conservatives often conveniently miss the equal part in his writings.
- Who the fuck knows? But it's pretty fuckin' scary.
- How much time you got? This could take a while.
As is usually the case, it's complex, and we need to be constantly working at understanding the problem, so we can develop countermoves and workarounds.
Things Conservatives Get Wrong About 1984
Conservatives love to miss the point of popular literature. I’ve lost count of the number of conservatives who didn’t get that the bad guys in Atlas Shrugged were crony capitalists, not the mean old government, and let’s not even get into the ones who think Jesus wanted people to be rich. A popular book to bring up to denounce leftism is George Orwell’s dystopian science fiction novel 1984, where Britain is placed under a permanent authoritarian surveillance state. Usually, they get things completely wrong.
Newspeak is Not About Adding New Words
In 1984, Newspeak is the evolving fictional language of the Oceania government meant to alter the way people think and thus limit subversion. Conservatives love to claim any new descriptor of a social phenomenon is Newspeak, especially if it involves trans people.
Newspeak didn’t work by giving people vocabulary to describe evolving understanding of the gender spectrum or any other concept. The purpose of Newspeak was to eliminate words. It’s literally described in the book as the only language that gets smaller every year rather than bigger, reducing the nuance of thought so that everything could be described only vaguely. The more conservatives try and shoehorn people into fewer boxes, the more like Newspeak they actually are because insisting “there are only two genders” is by definition eliminating the progress of scientific understanding.
The Big Brother Government Was Not Communist
The fictional Big Brother government has become shorthand for any government that is totalitarian and brooks no challenge from the people. This has often been translated into communism by people who do not understand the concept or the person who wrote the book.
It should go without saying that George Orwell was virulently leftwing his entire life. He fought during the Spanish Civil War and went over there specifically to kill right-wing fascists. While he was deeply critical of authoritarian communist governments like the Soviet Union (Stalinists forced him to flee the war), his Big Brother government was neither communist nor capitalist, and drew heavily on the right-wing government in Nazi Germany. It was a condemnation of what happens when a government has no checks and balances, something modern American Republicans seem to be working toward with their voter suppression bills.
It should go without saying that George Orwell was virulently leftwing his entire life. He fought during the Spanish Civil War and went over there specifically to kill right-wing fascists. While he was deeply critical of authoritarian communist governments like the Soviet Union (Stalinists forced him to flee the war), his Big Brother government was neither communist nor capitalist, and drew heavily on the right-wing government in Nazi Germany. It was a condemnation of what happens when a government has no checks and balances, something modern American Republicans seem to be working toward with their voter suppression bills.
Orwell went to his grave as an avowed socialist who believed that such a system was the only thing that could truly liberate a people. Anything else, communist or capitalist, he felt was destined to end up oppressive. The problem with the Big Brother government is not that it’s big, but that it is ruled from the inside by a tiny group of elites waging a class war.
Regulation is Not Equivalent to Big Brother Watching You
The phrase “Big Brother is watching you” appears frequently in the novel as a reminder that the state wishes total control over the people’s lives. It’s fitting for a story set in Britain, being that London is one of the most surveilled cities in the world. Conservatives tend to equate being watched at all with 1984.
Throughout the novel, we never get a glimpse of the Big Brother government engaged in actual beneficial regulation. Their entire focus is to squash any sort of unapproved artistic expression and to keep the proles on the edge of subsistence so that they are engaged only with surviving. There’s never a mention about, say, an equivalent of the FDA or enforcement of labor protections. There’s no welfare state either, apparently. At least, not for the average person. Forcing people to wear a mask during a pandemic is not something the Big Brother government would ever be likely to do because no matter how many people with eagles in their profile pics say it, that is not actually a matter of control. Authoritarian government do not do things that empower and protect their general populations as a rule.
Orwell believed with all his heart that what stopped brutal dictatorships was having the average worker in a position of power. He wanted people organized, voting, able to express themselves, and not controlled by either the government or corporations. He wanted a world of “free AND equal human beings.” Conservatives often conveniently miss the equal part in his writings.
I think the main point is that the conservatives' approach continues to affirm my Daddy State Awareness Rules. (eg: they change history, and the meaning of words, and they deny reality in order to dictate an alternate reality to us)
In the case of 1984, they can rely on Americans being ignorant of the details, but somewhat familiar with the story's basic concept: that it's about an evil government. Which of course they think fits perfectly with their campaign to vilify all things governmental. And they don't have to worry that anyone will get hip to their trick of saying one thing now and the opposite of that thing later (just like what happens in the book), because outright contradiction is their stock-in-trade (just like it is for The Ministries in the book).
So, conservatives do that thing they do - they say 1984 is about something it's not really about, and then proceed to take everything bad that they're doing, liken it to what goes on in the story, and then project it all onto their opposition.
Basic Daddy State shit.
The Daddy State lies as a means of demonstrating their power.
The lies have practically nothing to do with the subject of the lies.
Lying about everything is a way to condition us - to make us accept their premise that they can do anything they want.
The lies have practically nothing to do with the subject of the lies.
Lying about everything is a way to condition us - to make us accept their premise that they can do anything they want.
THE GOAL IS
TO DICTATE REALITY TO US
Nov 3, 2021
May 12, 2021
Apr 20, 2021
Seeing Things
para ● doh ● lee ● uh
Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, or lunar pareidolia like the Man in the Moon or the Moon Rabbit. The concept of pareidolia may extend to include hidden messages in recorded music played in reverse or at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds, and hearing voices (mainly indistinct) or music, in random noise such as that produced by air conditioners or fans.
Pareidolia was at one time considered a symptom of psychosis, but it is now seen as a normal human tendency. Scientists have taught computers to use visual clues to "see" faces and other images.
Mar 11, 2021
Language Arts
English is such a crazy fun language - just look
The word "Knot" has a silent "K"
"Knock" has 2 silent "Ks"
"Republican" has 3 silent "Ks"
And "knick-knack" has 4!
See? Isn't English a kick?
Ope - there's another one!
Mar 6, 2021
Today's Word Porn
The word "queue" is on the short list of
The Most Ironic Things.
It's the letter 'Q' followed by
a bunch of silent letters waiting in line.
Sep 2, 2020
Jul 22, 2020
Dots
An awful lot of talk goes on about 45* and "the base"
In Arabic,
"the base" translates to "al qaeda"
Birds of a radical feather
May 7, 2020
Sep 22, 2019
Today's Tweet
This is an encore performance, because I finally hit on something that I can use to describe the phenomenon:
Intellectual Homeopathy - being convinced that knowing absolutely nothing is the pinnacle of enlightenment.
SHE'S MUST'VE HAD A MISERABLE LIFE: A QAnon follower explains how she responds when somebody asks her "What is Q?"pic.twitter.com/JF062W16yv— Tomthunkit™ (@TomthunkitsMind) September 20, 2019
via travis_
Sep 8, 2019
Sep 5, 2019
Jun 24, 2019
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