"political"

Sun Dec 2 19:45:37 UTC 2012

Is this a clue?:

2007 Helen Morales _Classical Mythology_ (N.Y.: Sterling, 2010): Had Freud
focused on Antigone rather than Oedipus, psychoanalysis would most probably
have paid more attention to the _politics_ [emphasis in original - JL] of
the developing psyche.  In other words...ethics and responsibilities.

The emphasis seems to imply that "politics" is precisely the word the
author wants.

She could have just said "...attention to the ethics and responsibilities
of the developing psyche," but chose not to. By calling them "politics,"
she seems to have performed a political act....

JL

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 4:39 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "political"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> We're on the same page, Joel, but the author (David D. Perlmutter, _Visions
> of War_, p. 14) is not condemning hidden agendas, "false consciousness," or
> the like. Believe it or not, he seems to be making a straightforward
> statement that any educated reader should be able to understand. It appears
> to be nonjudgmental: the "political" element in this cross-cultural naming
> is misleading but not sinister. Instead it appears to be unconscious and
> hard to avoid. (To that extent I have to agree with him.)
>
> Maybe it's just a poor choice of words. Maybe "ideological" would be closer
> to what he means, but that doesn't quite work for me either. "Misleadingly
> ethnocentric" might work.  "Act" does have a tendentious sound, however.
>
> But in any case, a Ph.D. believed in 1998 that the words "politics/
> political" include any form of cross-cultural interpretation.
>
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 3:10 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
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> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "political"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I am lead to recall the "Meaningless Words" section of Orwell's "Politics
> > and the English Language":
> >
> > "Words like romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural,
> > vitality, as used in art criticism, are strictly meaningless, in the
> sense
> > that they not only do not point to any discoverable object, but are
> hardly
> > ever expected to do so by the reader."
> >
> > DanG
> >
> >
> > On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 2:37 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > Subject:      Re: "political"
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > I'm with you, Jon, in "interrogating" "political".  For those who
> > > believe all writing has its agenda, then another writer's calling
> > > something anything is a "political" act.  And their agenda can
> > > appropriate "political" to mean "with an agenda.
> > >
> > > (Probably can be said better.)
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
> > > At 5/15/2012 01:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > > >Isn't the justification of a specific public policy a political act?
> > > >
> > > >Yeah, but that isn't the issue here.
> > > >
> > > >The author is simply discussing the question of whether war existed in
> > the
> > > >Ice Age. He's saying that whatever they may have been doing to each
> > other
> > > >with those spears, it is "a political act" to call it war.
> > > >
> > > >Because the Ice Agers, for all we know, might have thought of mass
> > > stabbing
> > > >and bopping as recreation or a neutral activity undifferentiated from
> > > peace
> > > >or a smart way to honor their gods (oops! political! maybe they didn't
> > > have
> > > >"gods"!).
> > > >
> > > >So "politics" and "policy" as we know them are not involved.
> > > >
> > > >JL
> > > >
> > > >On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 1:32 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > > -----------------------
> > > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > > Subject:      Re: "political"
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > >
> > > > > Isn't the justification of a specific public policy a political
> act?
> > > The
> > > > > author was arguing that using " the activities of the hunters of
> the
> > > Ice
> > > > > Age" as justification for war is political.
> > > > >
> > > > > DanG
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 12:27 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> > > > > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > > > -----------------------
> > > > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > > > Subject:      "political"
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Gee, I'm dense. After decades of exposure to Marxist,
> > > deconstructionist,
> > > > > > structuralist, poststructuralist, and metastructuralist
> criticism,
> > I
> > > > > still
> > > > > > don't know what "political" means!  Can you beat it?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Can someone interpret the meaning for me in the following
> > sentence? I
> > > > > mean
> > > > > > fairly authoritatively:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > "To use words from one culture to describe the activities of
> > another
> > > is
> > > > > > always a political act. It is an ethnocentric value judgment to
> > > impose
> > > > > the
> > > > > > term 'war'  to describe the activities of the hunters of the Ice
> > > Age. The
> > > > > > peoples of that time probably had no word for war and would be
> > > amazed at
> > > > > > the concept."
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 'Self-serving'? 'Ethnocentrically self-serving'?  'Unjustifiable
> > > from a
> > > > > > perspective of cultural relativism'?  'Etc.'?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > There seems to be an underlying nuance of "politics" present that
> > > isn't
> > > > > > covered by OED either. But what exactly?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Should we care?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > JL
> > > > > >
> > > > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle
> the
> > > > > truth."
> > > > > >
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> > > >
> > > >
> > > >--
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> > > truth."
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>
>
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