The problem of health, commodities, the left vs.
the right, or the mental models that we bring to
these discussions seems to be making people angry
everywhere . The future of work is an
interesting thought except everyone only seems to
want to discuss the future of their work or their
favorite philosopher/economist. (At this point I
would prefer Peter Senge) I wrote a letter to a
friend last night and thought I would share it
because he seems to be encountering the same
issues of those wanting not to explore but to
conquer. The boys mentioned are his two sons who
he also had to rescue from the system.
Is there any hope for a discussion on what work
means and what kind of multiplicity there must be
to create a humane, happy future together? Well
probably not, but maybe the following will be of
interest.
John wrote:
> Which brings us back to the first point. I used
a simple declaritive
> 'common man/common sense' construction, Fred, to
demonstrate how far from
> useful some of our dialogues have come. You
see, I put down my pen as a
> theoretical linguist back in the '70s when I
realized that language is the
> tool man uses to describe the universe and that
for each man or woman in
> that universe, there is a separate universe. In
order to completely
> understand meaning, (in the way in which you and
AT are trying to
> understand it in this thread) we would have to
first understand each of
> these separate universes in terms of our own,
and then, we would need to
> change our own understanding because of it. We
would then be in search of
> knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Would
wisdom ever come?
John you assume a hell of alot about their ability
to understand, don't you think? After all there
were all of those circles on "Another World" in
the Soaps of the 1950s-60s and they didn't get it
then. If it's too hard for the soap operas to
teach then what hope is there on the net?
I'm having a terrible discussion with a H C who
lives in England on another list. You would think
she was a right winger or something. No
practicality anywhere, just "make work" to prove
that the lack of a need of workers is not
real. Anyway, you are one smart fellow and
much more optimistic than myself in this
instance. I couldn't even bring myself to reply
to At on the last post and that must mean I'm
depressed.
How are the boys? My daughter's doing great,
now. I just worked on some Stanislavsky theory
with her this weekend and realized how difficult
it is compared to the academics.
Now I understand why they don't teach performance
theory in most high schools, much less music
theory and those contrapuntal fugues. If they
can't deal with the three Rs or History then this
is impossibly abstract. Abstract, what music is,
is a dirty word to most of these folks.
She's been out of school for a semester with a
medical and pesticide issue. (The NYTimes
documented what her homeopath stated, in Friday's
paper, only to be removed from their net site
immediately.) We sent her to MRIs, Neurologists,
Gastrointestinal folks, every kind of blood test
possible etc. and they all came back negative and
healthy (within "acceptable" levels) except that
she couldn't perform much less stop her nose
bleeds, headaches, nausea, dizziness and fainting
spells, chronic red throats or thrush on the
tongue and very little memory. I know it sounds
adolescent but it was much more.
She was a mess, so I took her to an Internist MD
trained in France and registered here as a
homeopath and nutritionist. I took her because
he had helped so many students of mine who had
chronic issues as well. You can't perform on
the stage if you are chronically ill and if you
don't work you don't eat. So they tend to go to
people who help. "The show must go on!" The
Doctor ordered another battery of tests and then
said that she had little wrong except for her
digestive issues.
He taught her food mixing and put her on a diet to
detox for pesticides and no micro-wave. The
symptoms are gone except for the throat which he
now controls with herbs. He insists that she
eat properly and must scrub any non "organically
grown" produce as well as cleanse it in a solution
he gives her. Some things are also peeled and
many things are avoided completely. He encourages
the total use of organically grown foods where
possible. The change has been radical. She's
back in school, happy and working hard It
coincides completely with the NYTimes article on
pesticide toxicity in Friday's NYTImes from
Consumer Reports:
"A spokesman for the agency (EPA) said it was 'in
the process of implementing the Food Quality
Protection Act.'...In addition to choosing foods
with lower levels of toxicity, pesticide exposure
can be reduced by peeling produce and by buying
organically grown fruits and vegetables.....'There
are plenty of ways parents can get healthy foods
into kids without exposing them to high risk
stuff.' Nancy Metcalf of Consumer Reports
said." 2/19/99 "High Pesticide Levels Seen in
U.S. Food." by Marion Burros
Earlier in the article the Times describes the
effects of organophosphates as working the same in
human brains as they do in insects. Maybe a
little nausea, dizziness, memory problem,
fainting, yes? But the shocker of all is that it
is not coming from Guatemala but from foods grown
in the U.S.
It seems that the scientists and the philosophers
can prove "whatever", simply based upon the way
the winds of power and popularity are blowing at
the time. "What? Not MY
philosopher/economist!!!!"
God! even the produce from the country of
Montezuma's Revenge gets a more healthy rating
than the good ole' U.S. of A. And you can't
even stop using it. Dieldrin was banned in 1974,
stays in the soil and is absorbed through root
vegetables, squashes, melons and cucumbers. The
story of Aldicarb, currently in use is even
better. And they say they love children AND
business. How about just "moronic"? (without
the "Oxy.")
Ray Evans Harrell
