... Just in case you didn't notice the image in your Google browser today. ;-)
I must add that it is really rather clever of people to have figured this out... At least clever to me as I would have never made the association. And of course, now that we all know know this date's significance, we should immediately realize that other people at places like MIT would have added additional significance to this date long ago.
There are a lot of clever people on this planet, that's for sure (where is Street Dog by the way?) And it does occasionally bring comfort to think that I do occasionally get to patch them up and send them on their merry way, letting them get back to performing the great deeds we know they will all perform.
Teamwork, it is the reason I do what I do.
... Of course I am a voice for the system. ;-)
Be well all
8 comments:
"There are a lot of clever people on this planet and it does occasionally bring me comfort to think that I do occasionally patch them up and send them back on their merry way"
March 14th- Geek Pride Day!!! Out of the lab and into the streets!!
"I might take issue with the word naivete, since some of us accept rules."
Ah, you have class. I was going to respond with "bite me" ;)
Debby, Debby quite contraby
Why do you spit at me?
Is your hatred of rules so blinding that you can't believe that some would follow rules voluntarily? That some rules benefit us instead of oppress us? That some cultures may see the American "game" and like it more than their current game?
NIce post, Thai.
IT TAKES ALL KINDS TO MAKE UP A WORLD.
LIVE AND LET LIVE... ;-)
Dink, my answer to you is at the end of the last post. I'm not going to repeat it here.
You guys are polarizing this issue.
I don't HATE rules. But I DO NOT approve of following them blindly, BECAUSE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD FOR US, or because if there are no rules, then... etc etc.
I grew up in a family where my parents followed the rules without knowing WHY they followed them.
They were going through the motions.
Convenient for the social body.
Not for the individual.
Go see "A Serious Man" for some ideas on the particular devastation that following the rules because they're THERE produces.
It is my credo that I will do all in my power to UNDERSTAND why any particular rule is there.
I already said... the RULE that I try to follow to the best of my ability is the Golden one. You know, the one "do unto others".
It... takes care of all the other IMPORTANT ones, in my book.
But... is it a rule, or an ideal ?
Which way makes it more... ALIVE, more galvanizing for me and my action ?
I'm not spitting on you, dink.
I don't think so, at any rate.
I'm sorry if you see my comments this way.
But one thing is true : I get NO JOY out of defending what you call "the system". None whatsoever.
Granted that I was pretty polarized over there in the jungle in the last post...
Hell got me mad.
Yes there are PEOPLE all over the planet in other cultures who see the American way of life (in movies, TV series, hint, hint...) and want it for themselves.
The American way of life is not ALL bad. lol
WE enjoy enormous freedom of speech (well, less individual freedom all over progressively for quite some time now, re my comment on the lion cage).
We STILL have the finest (private!...) higher education system on the planet (for those who can afford it...).
We have a beautiful country. Great national parks (diminishing in size and budget, but still great).
And that lifestyle... (Again, for those of us who can afford it.)
And access to the Internet.
But for example... the health care that I still have access to in France is working better than in the U.S. France's infant mortality is STILL way under the U.S.'s, and prenatal care is STILL better.
The differences between the haves and the have nots are not quite as crushing in France, even though they're getting there, and people have good reason for complaint.
What I don't like is triumphant finger pointing, and the smug assumption that OUR society (French), and the philosophy behind our social protection COSTS TOO MUCH, and should be abandoned, for example. I don't like this remonstration WHETHER IT CIMES FROM OUR POLITICAL CASTE IN FRANCE OR.. people like Hell over there in the jungle who, in my opinion, trot out this little prejudice constantly without acknowledging that there IS prejudice involved in this situation. What I call nationalistic prejudice about the way "things should be done". (That's NOT the rules, dink. No) Prejudice masquerading as... realism. Ugh.
Deb, remember careful about getting into comparisons between our two countries.
I have said before that I do not agree at all with those who say prenatal care is better in France.
I do agree that French and Americans prenatal care delivery systems are different, but so too are the people who access those systems.
Point B explains (at least to me) far more of the differences in outcomes between our systems than point A.
Perhaps you would care to be more explicit about your last comment, Thai ?
Comparing is not always a bad thing. It can be very useful. Like everything, it has its... bad points, and its good points.
"You guys are polarizing this issue.
I don't HATE rules. But I DO NOT approve of following them blindly"
But don't you see the subtext of your statement and how it is extremely polarizing?
Subtext: The only people who follow rules are those who do so blindly. Also, if you follow one rule you follow all rules.
Related: Those who use English do so because they are coerced. And if you adopt wearing contacts lenses you have bought the entire package of American dominion.
exasperation
I just feel like you repeatedly say that one is either an anarchist or a slave. Which is about as polar as you can get.
Maybe your statements are innocuous and I'm reading in insult. Perhaps your statements are insulting (intentional or not)and I am reading them correctly. Lets both keep an open mind to these options.
" An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself." Camus
I give up Dink.
I don't feel as though you are reading what I'm saying and understanding it THE WAY THAT I INTEND.
And I don't know how to say it in a way that will appeal to you, apparently.
Dink, I just read through your last post VERY CAREFULLY (and critically : this means with an OPEN mind, trying to understand what your intentions are, and where you are coming from, and looking very carefully at all the words you chose... it is NOT a negative judgment...).
Some observations : first I agree with the idea of trying to keep an open mind. My personal experience is that IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT IN GENERAL TO KEEP AN OPEN MIND. Is it more difficult for me than for others ? Maybe. Maybe not. The jury is still out on that one.. ;-)
I think that we are coming from very different places, in every sense of the word.
On the question of English... the documents on the E(M)U's website CAN be (almost) exclusively in English at this time. This despite the fact that the dominant language in France is French, in Germany, it is German, etc etc.
This means that... if you want to access those documents which have a direct bearing on your personal life in the E(M)U, you gotta speak English REALLY WELL. Many people feel that this is a not so subtle form of colonization. I agree with this view.
OUR political leaders have decided this, and are actively promoting shoving the national languages to the sidelines to promote "unity".
COERCED unity around the English language.
Coerced unity around the English language due to the idea (prejudice ?) that business and politics MUST BE conducted in English.
Now... the American people and to a certain extent, even the American government are not responsible for this. YOU are not responsible for it.
But the FACT remains that it is the ENGLISH language which is being promoted... TO THE DETRIMENT OF OUR NATIONAL AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES. Because when you IMPOSE a language the way English is being imposed in the E(M)U, you do so TO THE DETRIMENT of another language. You are making a choice BETWEEN. Languages live when they are spoken and used. When they are not, they weaken and die (except in rare cases like that of Latin, and classical Greek, and one might say that THESE languages are dying in our civilization now too.).
And that gets a lot of people worked up. (And yes, they can get worked up about Brussels WITHOUT getting worked up about listening to American pop/rock artists or watching American films....)
On the subject of insults... how do you insult someone without it being intentional ??
Insulting someone is not the same thing as feeling insulted.
Last point : we are WRITING all this, and not engaging in a conversation together. That changes a lot of things, and makes it harder for us to perceive each other's intentions. As Thai points out from time to time.
More smileys ? There aren't any on this blog !!
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