September 22, 2006
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Truth.
I had a debate with thidwick
today regarding what is and is not worship only to discover that we
were operating with different definitions of what worship is. (I still
maintain that I’m closer to correct on this one…)One of the
things that my moniker should remind me is the importance of
understanding the nature of what you’re debating. Words and language
are so vitally important when we are trying to sort things out. If I
mean this and you mean something slightly different, we’re fucked when
it comes to trying to solve anything. This is why those who attempt to
twist, abuse, and complicate the language in order to further and
obfuscate their agenda must be watched with a suspicious eye.Or, to put it better, this is stolen from Andrew Sullivan:
“In
our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the
indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the
Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on
Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too
brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the
professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to
consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy
vagueness…A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like
soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The
great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap
between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were
instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish
spurting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as “keeping out of
politics.” All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a
mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia. When the
general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer…But if
thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad
usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who
should and do know better. The debased language that I have been
discussing is in some ways very convenient,” – George Orwell(note, that was written in 1946)
Oh,
and since the FBI and other internal law enforcement groups haven’t yet
been authorized to use, erm, “alternative interrogation techniques”,
its worth taking a moment to bone up on how to protect yourself during
an interview with the feds. The most important thing to remember: lying
to them IS a crime, refusing to answer them is not.Scroll down to the bottom of this article regarding recent local FBI activities for some tips: http://twincities.indymedia.org/newswir
e/display/28403/index.php
