Greetings Economists,
Michael Perelman writes,
We often use expressions, such as looney, to suggest that someone's ideas
cannot be taken seriously. I have no idea how one could say something
comparable, still using colorgul language.
Doyle
Your point is correct in an every day sense. I find myself using words as
markers for intense feelings like bastard, goddamn, crazy etc. Though I do
eschew some words like 'queer' because for me they represent Vehement
Passion markers about some social aspect that I recognize are very
problematic for me. However, that is why I referred to Fisher ("Vehement
Passions", Philip Fisher, Princeton University Press, 2002) in my reply to
Jim Devine. The question is not policing language which Max Sawicky is
right is a futile and political dead end (I'll leave that up to dictionary
makers), but in the question which arises from a disability rights
perspective.
Whenever colorful expressions come up in every day language to indicate gut
reactions (Vehement Passions) those labels are just normal element of human
cognition. As you rightly say how could we express ourselves adequately
otherwise, or what could replace the offending words? But for example, when
we call something looney the word stands for an understanding of why we
don't take some thing seriously which does have historical significance.
You might say the lightness of the remark does not bear the weight of
investigation, but Fisher's book is important exactly in that way. It
allows us to take telltale words like looney and re-invigorate our
understanding of what is taking place.
There are good reasons why Vehement language and Vehement passions have been
criticized in political discourse and a shift generally took place over the
centuries as writing gradually became a popular activity (meaning literacy
spread to the masses). The brain work of writing works best in a
dispassionate methodology because of the effect of Vehement Passions upon
the intellectual brainwork process. But because we have found certain
answers that are relatively workable in regard to the act of writing, does
not mean we have fully understood what Vehement Passions mean.
We can see though with electronic distribution lists that passion is still
there in the general public and is a serious problem for how lists function.
You have a general rule about how to write to this list as an example of
what I am referring to, and the main issue is to write calmly (at some level
lower than Vehement Passion) and to not personally attack other writers
sparking flaming. More than once important contributors to this list
complain about how this impinges upon their Vehement feelings which they
feel aren't being properly observed. The names of individuals don't matter
here because I am not addressing that issue directly in my remarks.
Let me expand upon this, human beings due to our evolutionary history are
social animals and we respond to the group process to some extent. Though
not all of us work well in a social group, most people can calm down to
function in most groups. When the group gets rather large, and I'm thinking
of Slash Dot Org as an example, the sheer volume is greater than one person
can monitor so some sort of group monitoring process has to occur. Slash
Dot Org has about two million subscribers with a well known monitoring
system that ranks every published email with a gauge of 'quality' that the
monitors rate in their area.
This sort of system however fails to take into account Vehement passions.
Another way to understand how Vehement Passions work in electronic brain
work is to look at Sim city video games in order to grasp the interactivity
potential of the structure and a definite step above the limited
distribution electronic list model of brainwork,
NY Times Magazine November 24th 2002 pages 56 through 59 "Oversimulated
Suburbia", by David Brooks,
"Oversimulated Suburbia"
"The Sims was released in February 2000; soon thereafter it was followed by
expansion packs that allow you to take your characters, or Sims, out on
dates, to resort hotels or nightclubs. Last year, Sims-related games
occupied 5 of the Top 10 spots on the computer-game best-seller chart. (Keep
in mind, when weighing the social importance of these things, that in the
United States, computer- and video-game revenues are greater than movie
box-office receipts. Almost 20 million copies of the Sims and its add-ons
have been sold.)
And next month, an online version of the Sims goes on sale ($50 for the
game; $10 per month in subscription fees)...."
Doyle,
What is very interesting is that Sims is a woman centered video game, and
the most popular game by far at the moment, and
"Oversimulated Suburbia"
"But they are also social creatures. On the official Sims site, thousands of
Sims lovers have posted Sims novellas -- a sort of folk literature that
future historians, zeitgeist hunters and museum curators are going to go for
in a big way. These novellas look like storyboards, with pictures of Sims
interiors and characters, above written stories and dialogue. A typical
novella may stretch for 64 to 200 pictures and thousands of words. Some of
them are just Architectural Digest in digital form, involving dinner parties
and room-by-room house tours. But most of the novellas are more substantial,
and after you've read through a hundred or so of these things, they all
blend into one vast modern cultural landscape in which ''Oprah'' meets
''Friends,'' ''Terms of Endearment'' and MTV's ''Real World.''"
Doyle
>From an economic point of view the growth of online social methods like this
are ideal for Socialist organization of people. The technical understanding
of this comes best in my view from taking seriously what Fisher writes in
his book on Vehement Passions. Vehement Passions allows us to create a
technical language to talk about what people seem to think they are talking
about when they write about sects, crazies, loonies, and etc.
Suppose we don't take seriously some sect? We still have the problem of
building a movement. You might reply well I know something when I see it, I
know when I don't take something seriously and when I don't I trust
something my judgement is what I must go by, but how can you talk in a
materialist manner about this subject matter? How can one write about this
from a socialist perspective? My answer is to use Fisher's work as a model
and re-examine Vehement Passions.
My point is that when language comes up politically that references
disability it is a telltale like the canary in the coal mine. It points to
where empty phraseology pops up. On a superficial level it satisfies my pro
disability rights attitude to bring up the language use issue, but on a
deeper level what Fisher writes about in his book is the historical
development of attitudes and methods of dealing with Vehement Passions that
could technically allow us to talk realistically about this area. And we
can apply this understanding to on-line communities in new socialist ways.
And Vehement Passions theory applies to economic theory as Fisher frequently
writes about in his book. I don't want to advocate a psychologizing of
economic theory, but rather a technical language that jettisons empty
phraseology. And in particular because this has a positive impact upon
disabled people fighting for their right in this time period gives all
disable people the feeling that Marxists respond on a deep level to
oppression and how to deal with it.
thanks,
Doyle Saylor
