“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
.
And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
Friday, July 14, 2017
The Post-Modern Slide into Totalitarianism
Dominance merges with Communality...and then encroaches upon Reciprocity to prevent formation of any Social Distance or Alienation.
Yep, and this arrangement in marked contrast to what happens when I procure services as an individual. When I pay for my sewerage to be dealt with it is NOT voluntary, yet I do not consider it robbery -- I am forced to postulate a third category.
Doo-Doo Dudes, you're over and done. GEDDOUDDAHERE! You ain't no fun. Put your hate where the sun don't shine No way could you be friends of mine. Toilet Talk without a bit ___ of humor, wit ______ ain't worth a _________ Tinker's Dam!
Long ago in my elementary school days I used the SEWERAGE in a written class exercise. The teacher corrected me, and said the word was SEWAGE –– that there was no such word a SEWERAGE.
That made little sense to my eager young mind, because we were talking about material that properly belonged in a SEWER. In those days however, it was unthinkable to challenge or argue with a teacher, so I had to assume she was right, even though I still couldn't imagine why.
Jez's use of SEWERAGE brought all that back to me, so I decided to look it up, and settle the matter once and for all. Here's what WIKI says:
Sewerage is the infrastructure that conveys sewage or surface runoff (stormwater, meltwater, rainwater). It encompasses components such as receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, and screening chambers of the combined sewer or sanitary sewer. Sewerage ends at the entry to a sewage treatment plant or at the point of discharge into the environment. It is the system of pipes, chambers, manholes, etc. that conveys the sewage or storm water.
According to this definition, sewerage and sewage are two different terms. However, at least in American English colloquial usage, both terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
Depend on us Americans to confuse and contaminate the use of the language we (almost) share with Mother England!
"it was unthinkable to challenge or argue with a teacher,..." Ah, deference! ;) I shall recommend to my children that they only do this is they are sure of the teacher's mistake and it is one that would disrupt the main thrust of the lesson. Otherwise they should wait to raise the issue during one-on-one conversation rather than interrupting.
"I decided to look it up, and settle the matter once and for all." I shall strongly encourage them to do plenty of this. Independent learning is among the most valuable of habits. Careful reading of the dictionary can often reveal distinctions that we might otherwise have overlooked, not just between the words but between the concepts they represent. I remember the first time I discovered this was with the difference between accuracy and precision. It is a tremendously powerful feeling to choose a word with that much specificity.
Yes. One can busily–– even zealously –– perfect imperfections and promote faulty concepts with great precision, while neatly avoiding accuracy altogether.
Myriad examples of this regrettable phenomenon occur every day in boardrooms, newsrooms, stores, doctors' offices, hospitals –– and in classrooms, perhaps, most of all.
"... Independent learning is among the most valuable of habits. Careful reading of the dictionary can often reveal distinctions that we might otherwise have overlooked, not just between the words but between the concepts they represent. I remember the first time I discovered this was with the difference between accuracy and precision. It is a tremendously powerful feeling to choose a word with that much specificity."
BRAVO, Jez! I'm happy to learn you embrace what-has-been a lifelong habit of mine (since my wonderful mother presented me with the Random House American College Dictionary for my tenth birthday, bless her heart!).
That turned out to be the single most important, most treasured, and best loved gift anyone has ever given me.
[Incidentally, I've wanted for years to own a copy of the OED unabridged, but Alas! have never had the opportunity to acquire one.]
Good luck with raising your children in this increasingly fractious, dissident, dissonant, increasingky barbarous age.
While I'm at it, I'd like to say that perennially questioning Authority and the virtue of Received Wisdom is a good thing, but ONLY when it is employed ut of genuine CURIOSITY. Used mischievously, malevolently, or self-righteously as a tool merely to disturb, disrupt, discommode and derail a theatrical performance, a sports event, a public speaker or lecturer, a priest, a minister of the gospel in the pulpit, or a classroom teacher is in my opinion ignoble and contrary to established rules of etiquette and good order.
I despise the SLASH 'EM, BASH 'EM, STOMP 'EM and BURN 'EM approach to political discourse currently in vogue, though I admit to getting a kick out of watching your members of Parliament go at each other hammer and tongs without restraint.
Perhaps I find that more tolerable in your country than in mine, because –– at the very least –– your MP's are admirably articulate in their use of the language, while most of ours are downright pathetic? ];^)>
At any rate, I hope life turns out well for you and your children. No matter how bad things may be I do believe "While there's life, there's hope."
"Incidentally, I've wanted for years to own a copy of the OED unabridged, but Alas! have never had the opportunity to acquire one."
I've used the shorter OED a few times (2-volume) but never looked anything up in the complete version. I've never been clear how it would differ from an encyclopedia.
Interesting to ponder where would you find a second hand complete OED? I guess only when someone died, but few individuals would own one. Any institutions that had acquired one in the first place would want to keep it, I would imagine.
I expect you'd be most interested in a first edition, maybe with the 1933 supplement, but would have no use for subsequent supplements -- the first was issued in 1972 ;)
"getting a kick out of watching your members of Parliament go at each other hammer and tongs without restraint" -- maybe I'd enjoy it more if there weren't something more important they should be doing.
"MP's are admirably articulate in their use of the language" But they are all too often disingenuous. I hate that. And the campaign style (now perhaps retired after it backfired on May recently) of repeating slogans ad nauseam without regard for the question being asked grates on me most powerfully. Have you heard much from Corbyn? What do you think of his language? His interview manner is the thing I like best about him.
I've recently stated a truism in my own inimitable fashion:
"Investigation produces Constipation in the process of Legislation."
To that In light of your [just] criticism of MP's, Jez, I won't hesitate to add:
"Ceaseless Argumentation born of Dissimulation produces Frustration and Constipation of any hope of Amelioration."
In other words I agree with your observations about politicians, but have to add that relentless antagonism between diametrically opposed factions seems to be the very essence of what the political process is all about –– in BOTH ou countries.
I've seen the same principle work well in marriage and business relationships. Dispute between partners –– often, though not always ––, produces creative tension from which better solutions to pressing problems may arise.
30 comments:
Communality and Reciprocity have value ONLY when they occur SPONTANEOUSLY amkng or between WILLING participants.
Leftist ideologies of ALL stripes have the seeds of TYRANNY embedded in the very essence of the Collectivist-Communitarian concept.
Charity ceases to be Charity when it is induced at the point of a gun. It is ROBBERY pure and simple.
That is all ye can know, and all ye need to know.
As Trump leads us there.
That's your (free) choice, RN!
@ FT - Families (Communality) are seldom "chosen" except as it relate to marriage partners.
You need not tell me s*it about free choice. I'm freer than you are or ever will be.
BOOM! chicky chicky boom
Chicky chicky BOOM! chicky
BOOM! chicky chicky boom
Chicky chicky BOOM! chicky
BOOM! chicky chicky boom
Chicky chicky BOOM! chicky
BOOM! chicky chicky boom
Chicky chicky BOOM! chicky ...
"I'm freer than you are or ever will be."
Says the slave as he hugs his chains!
:P
☺ It is my great pleasure knowing you are the slave Joe Cameltoe. My chains were cast off LOND ago. I hope one day you can say the same. ☺
lol!
BTW FreeThinke, are you using Medicare? Are you planning on accepting SS after the the funds you paid into the "trust fund" have been exhausted?
The Cuckistani's want to know FT! Cuck Nation NEEDS to know!
RN has no dreams or desires. He is a "free" man! lol!
Is there, anywhere in the world, a large city with a privately funded sewerage system?
Cities are corporations. Why would they outsource to private industry their primary businesses?
In many ways, they ARE "private". You can't vote unless you're a "stock-holder".
;p
I don't know about you, but my local 'corporation" sends me a bill for water and sewage treatment. Doesn't yours?
;p
Yep, and this arrangement in marked contrast to what happens when I procure services as an individual. When I pay for my sewerage to be dealt with it is NOT voluntary, yet I do not consider it robbery -- I am forced to postulate a third category.
Monopoly? lol!
naturally.
Doo-Doo Dudes, you're over and done.
GEDDOUDDAHERE! You ain't no fun.
Put your hate where the sun don't shine
No way could you be friends of mine.
Toilet Talk without a bit
___ of humor, wit
______ ain't worth a
_________ Tinker's Dam!
};^)>
Get out of here you Boston ANTIFA supporter! Beantown ANTIFA is where REAL anarchism's at! If you ain't a Yankee's fan punching NAZIs, you ain't sh*t!
AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN:
Long ago in my elementary school days I used the SEWERAGE in a written class exercise. The teacher corrected me, and said the word was SEWAGE –– that there was no such word a SEWERAGE.
That made little sense to my eager young mind, because we were talking about material that properly belonged in a SEWER. In those days however, it was unthinkable to challenge or argue with a teacher, so I had to assume she was right, even though I still couldn't imagine why.
Jez's use of SEWERAGE brought all that back to me, so I decided to look it up, and settle the matter once and for all. Here's what WIKI says:
Sewerage is the infrastructure that conveys sewage or surface runoff (stormwater, meltwater, rainwater). It encompasses components such as receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, and screening chambers of the combined sewer or sanitary sewer. Sewerage ends at the entry to a sewage treatment plant or at the point of discharge into the environment. It is the system of pipes, chambers, manholes, etc. that conveys the sewage or storm water.
According to this definition, sewerage and sewage are two different terms. However, at least in American English colloquial usage, both terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
Depend on us Americans to confuse and contaminate the use of the language we (almost) share with Mother England!
];^}>
Well, the definition of Potable water" is likely also confused...
"it was unthinkable to challenge or argue with a teacher,..."
Ah, deference! ;) I shall recommend to my children that they only do this is they are sure of the teacher's mistake and it is one that would disrupt the main thrust of the lesson. Otherwise they should wait to raise the issue during one-on-one conversation rather than interrupting.
"I decided to look it up, and settle the matter once and for all."
I shall strongly encourage them to do plenty of this. Independent learning is among the most valuable of habits.
Careful reading of the dictionary can often reveal distinctions that we might otherwise have overlooked, not just between the words but between the concepts they represent. I remember the first time I discovered this was with the difference between accuracy and precision. It is a tremendously powerful feeling to choose a word with that much specificity.
Yes. One can busily–– even zealously –– perfect imperfections and promote faulty concepts with great precision, while neatly avoiding accuracy altogether.
Myriad examples of this regrettable phenomenon occur every day in boardrooms, newsrooms, stores, doctors' offices, hospitals –– and in classrooms, perhaps, most of all.
"... Independent learning is among the most valuable of habits. Careful reading of the dictionary can often reveal distinctions that we might otherwise have overlooked, not just between the words but between the concepts they represent. I remember the first time I discovered this was with the difference between accuracy and precision. It is a tremendously powerful feeling to choose a word with that much specificity."
BRAVO, Jez! I'm happy to learn you embrace what-has-been a lifelong habit of mine (since my wonderful mother presented me with the Random House American College Dictionary for my tenth birthday, bless her heart!).
That turned out to be the single most important, most treasured, and best loved gift anyone has ever given me.
[Incidentally, I've wanted for years to own a copy of the OED unabridged, but Alas! have never had the opportunity to acquire one.]
Good luck with raising your children in this increasingly fractious, dissident, dissonant, increasingky barbarous age.
While I'm at it, I'd like to say that perennially questioning Authority and the virtue of Received Wisdom is a good thing, but ONLY when it is employed ut of genuine CURIOSITY. Used mischievously, malevolently, or self-righteously as a tool merely to disturb, disrupt, discommode and derail a theatrical performance, a sports event, a public speaker or lecturer, a priest, a minister of the gospel in the pulpit, or a classroom teacher is in my opinion ignoble and contrary to established rules of etiquette and good order.
I despise the SLASH 'EM, BASH 'EM, STOMP 'EM and BURN 'EM approach to political discourse currently in vogue, though I admit to getting a kick out of watching your members of Parliament go at each other hammer and tongs without restraint.
Perhaps I find that more tolerable in your country than in mine, because –– at the very least –– your MP's are admirably articulate in their use of the language, while most of ours are downright pathetic? ];^)>
At any rate, I hope life turns out well for you and your children. No matter how bad things may be I do believe "While there's life, there's hope."
"Incidentally, I've wanted for years to own a copy of the OED unabridged, but Alas! have never had the opportunity to acquire one."
I've used the shorter OED a few times (2-volume) but never looked anything up in the complete version. I've never been clear how it would differ from an encyclopedia.
Interesting to ponder where would you find a second hand complete OED? I guess only when someone died, but few individuals would own one. Any institutions that had acquired one in the first place would want to keep it, I would imagine.
I expect you'd be most interested in a first edition, maybe with the 1933 supplement, but would have no use for subsequent supplements -- the first was issued in 1972 ;)
"getting a kick out of watching your members of Parliament go at each other hammer and tongs without restraint" -- maybe I'd enjoy it more if there weren't something more important they should be doing.
"MP's are admirably articulate in their use of the language"
But they are all too often disingenuous. I hate that. And the campaign style (now perhaps retired after it backfired on May recently) of repeating slogans ad nauseam without regard for the question being asked grates on me most powerfully.
Have you heard much from Corbyn? What do you think of his language? His interview manner is the thing I like best about him.
I've recently stated a truism in my own inimitable fashion:
"Investigation produces Constipation in the process of Legislation."
To that In light of your [just] criticism of MP's, Jez, I won't hesitate to add:
"Ceaseless Argumentation born of Dissimulation produces Frustration and Constipation of any hope of Amelioration."
In other words I agree with your observations about politicians, but have to add that relentless antagonism between diametrically opposed factions seems to be the very essence of what the political process is all about –– in BOTH ou countries.
I've seen the same principle work well in marriage and business relationships. Dispute between partners –– often, though not always ––, produces creative tension from which better solutions to pressing problems may arise.
Without Stress there would likely be no Success.
};^)>
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