It may be banal or even simple-minded to say so, but I must confess that I am often in awe of the wondrous possibilities and effects of language, such as that some new combinations of words can easily, and with little mental effort, lead to new and quite remarkable ideas. For instance, when the word “public”, referring to the people at large, is inserted into the phrase “informed debate”, referring to reliable and learned discussion, at once there is born a new and more complex phrase, out of which grows a new and more complex idea, which itself quite simply and wonderfully corresponds to nothing in the known universe.
4 comments:
It strikes me that your preferred system of government is not that of the direct voice of the unwashed, Deogolwulf. Should there be, in fact, no government or should there be a meritocracy?
Language: a systematic method of rhythmic grunting.
As for "informed public debate", that's not the discourse of my beloved "international community", is it?
James, suffice to say, my preferences do not tend towards public (i.e., open-access) government, with its variously attendant and promoted ideologies of social liberalism, democracy, socialism, or communism, all of which tend to foster illusions as to the nature of government, and which aid the growth of the state into bloated, managerial, and morbid form. As you may gather, my preferences are quite opposed to it. I shall perhaps put the matter at greater length soonish, for what it’s worth.
Robert, yes, the beloved international community: a very odd creature, otherwise know as the world, which is of single and indivisible mind on all those matters which the power-lunatics think should happen.
Look forward to it, Deogolwulf.
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