Anyway, since I don't have much else to say right now, to anyone who happens upon this post: do you have any interest whatsoever in seeing a chapter by chapter critique of Michael Savage's The Enemy Within (published approximately 6 years ago)? I just happened to obtain it because it was being sold for $1, so it was slightly less overpriced than usual, and if anyone gives a damn at all about yet another person establishing that Michael Savage is a bit of a moron, then I might bother to go through with the ordeal of typing up quotes from the book in order to laugh at on the internet. Otherwise, I'll try to find another project to keep me active on the blog for a week or two.
Until that point, feel free to just drop by and talk about anything at all here. Open forum, if you so choose to use it as one.
20 comments:
Sure, bring it on!
Well, that's one "yea". I should also mention that the book only has 9 chapters, so it will be a series of nine "LOL what a maroon" posts.
I suspected that you had something against Canadian politicians awhile ago.
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I has a Savage related question for ya.
What do you think is an acceptable substitute (if any) to the ideal of an official language for the U.S.?
Admittedly, even though I'll have a shiny new degree in Spanish relatively soon, I do see merit in the idea.
I just really dislike the Western elitism and bigotry attached to the means.
I agree with peeb, you do have a fine way with words. Would it be to much to ask for one chapter with deconstruction?
Rhetoric's great fun and all, but at the end of the day why be like the people you oppose?
The official language idea for the country doesn't really register on my radar as anything but bizarre. Frankly, the people of our country already seem to be completely unwilling to be multilingual and the education system doesn't help too much (I say this after having taken Latin and Spanish in school and remembering none of it). Encouraging that by glorifying English even more than it already is just doesn't sit well with me. Though it might be helpful to note that English is the language used by most people in our country and the one that will most likely be used by the government for the immediate future, and to make that clear to people, it seems odd to make it "official", per se. I just don't see the need to legally saddle ourselves with a single national language for the rest of time.
"Rhetoric's great fun and all, but at the end of the day why be like the people you oppose?"
Because it's fun!
I think that posting one chapter and a discussion of it might be a good start and to just play it by ear from there. It's a good idea, so that I don't have to commit myself to going through the entire book from the outset. Interestingly, I've found that his first chapter acts sort of like his thesis. It's good in the respect that all the basic ideas are laid out clearly and simply right there. It's bad because, without the context and support given when it appears later in the book, criticizing any given idea in that chapter for being "weak" or unsupported reaches straw man status (it wasn't supposed to be an argument, just a summary of one). But, it's still probably a good idea to start with that as a first step.
I have a cold beer and a bowel of popcorn at the ready for when you roll this one out.
Doh! a bowel of popcorn would be quite unpleasant! I really only plan on a bowl of the stuff....
"The official language idea for the country doesn't really register on my radar as anything but bizarre."
Hmm. I do see both sides. Language is very unifying, so much so we mostly don't realize it on a daily basis.
That being said, how would someone implement English only laws in this country without cultural oppression? I don't think it's possible.
Instead of an official language, we should have an official food to be eaten on every American holiday. I pick pizza.
While language may, in fact, be unifying, it is constantly changed to provide separation. Individuals invent or modify words and use them in contexts unique to certain groups. Having a standard state language is not only impractical, but impossible. Why pass legislation on something which is impossible to enforce? (we have enough of these already) A better idea would be to promote the teaching of numerous languages; Mandarin, English, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and French; there, you've covered over 50% of the population--and almost all of the industrialized world.
My problem with official anythings is that people get into enough mischief with unofficial policies, beliefs, etc. But it's no where near the trouble they get into when things become official.
Jared, excellent point. I didn't think about that.
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Pliny, do you have libertarian tendencies?
Pliny, do you have libertarian tendencies?
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Oh definitely. I think it's best to leave people alone as much as possible to the extent they can be trusted - the skeptic in me just doesn't think that's very far ;)
Pliney,
Is that what my Uncle meant when he said Arizona was drier than a Popcorn Fart?
Pliny; and do you think you can trust governments to regulate the lives of others?
Mac - LOL
Jared: Regulate lives? No. I'm pretty libertarian about how people choose to live their lives - essentially - I don't care as long as they leave me alone. No when I talk about limits I mean limits on what one can force on others.
"That being said, how would someone implement English only laws in this country without cultural oppression?"
Two words:- Cattle prods.
"That being said, how would someone implement English only laws in this country without cultural oppression?"
Two words:- Cattle prods.
:-) Why yes pboy, cattle prods are somewhat culturally neutral. But would their users be?
I read a funny quote yesterday....
"A Libertarian is merely an Anarchist with a little bit of money"
Sure, there's more to it than that, but it's not as funny to me :-)
"A Libertarian is merely an Anarchist with a little bit of money"
Sure, there's more to it than that
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No Mac, that's about it ;)
Further clarifying Jared's questions: I don't feel that governments can be trusted to have much of a role in determining how we should act, but rather can (and do) have an important role in determining how we act to each other.
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