Glen -
I appreciate the nuance here.
I have been dealing with crypto-fascists all of my life... we have
discussed the libertarian vs the Libertarian, I have endured the years
where Lefty political correctness was approaching fascism and I have had
to endure the Righty style fascism that seems to be hitting a crescendo
under the rallying cry of that "man-child" running for president.
I isolate myself enough in daily life so as NOT to have to spend too
many cycles on this constant interpretation, for those who do not have
that luxury, I understand that this can be deeply painful to the psyche
if not the soul.
I refer you to the musical observations of the philosophers known as
"They Might be Giants":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow-nuHCTA5E
Unfortunately, *I* believe that the language we use in our communication
deeply informs the language we use to think... and that by adjusting our
discourse with others can lead us to think (for better or worse)
differently. I believe that the damage being done to our culture today
is as much the way our thinking is modified by this presidential race as
it is the possible outcomes. We are leading ourselves to believe that
our only two choices are to become a xenophobic, retrograde, bigoted
people or to continue with a status quo which is clearly not serving
many, many people very well.
While I don't completely agree with or support Jill and the Greens, I DO
appreciate the alternative rhetoric they have offered. Her *very* low
polling indicates to me that either *many* of us really aren't willing
to think outside of one of the two boxes offered to us, OR, there is
something specifically wrong with their message that *I* am not getting?
What I hear pretty exclusively is "I won't vote for them because nobody
else is voting for them" or maybe even more pointedly "I won't listen to
them because nobody else is listening to them".
- Steve
On 11/8/16 8:25 AM, ┣glen┫ wrote:
Right. It's not quite right to suggest that switching codes is bimodal or
bivalent. I think it's more of a spectrum, at least in an informal sense. If
we were talking about a person trying to communicate a complex idea in a
non-native language then switching to their native language, that would be more
bimodal. But I'm talking more about, eg, realizing in the middle of a
conversation that you're talking to a crypto-fascist who puts up a good veneer
at first, then reveals their fascism over the course of the conversation. When
I realize it, I switch, either to something that will completely alienate the
person, or to language that makes me sound more like a fascist, depending on
how I feel at the time.
Marcus' idea of a an interpreter vs. languages closer to the bare metal is, I
think, akin to Nick's idea of imaginary vs. factual. And the gist is solid.
There's a very high overhead interpreting through many layers of abstraction or
entertaining imaginary worlds through the suspension of disbelief. It's a
luxury we can't always afford. But both assume there exists a bare metal. I'm
a constructivist, for the most part, and believe all our languages are
interpreted and there really is no such thing as a natural, close to the metal,
machine code. There are no linguistic or cognitive facts, only action facts.
And this may be closer to what you're trying to say, because that means that we
are always interacting through an interpreter, albeit sometimes many layers out
vs. only a few layers out.
On 11/07/2016 08:05 PM, Steven A Smith wrote:
I guess I already feel I have to "code switch" all the time already... I have
to speak a pidgin of Left/Right/Green/Libertarian/Anarchist just to communicate with my
friends and colleagues on these matters. I understand and agree that in world D, the
emergent patois will be much less familiar/comfortable than the one I have now and that
in world H, it will be much more familiar, less abrupt of a change. I guess I assumed
that Agent G and agent M were more like me in this regard than maybe they are.
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