"political"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Ex pede non Herculem.

JL

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 2:07 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"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I disagree that 'the author is simply discussing the question of whether
> war existed in the Ice Age.' If that were true, they wouldn't be bringing
> politics into the discussion.
>
> The author is saying that the use of the word 'war' to describe Ice Age
> activity is inappropriate, because that activity is nothing like our
> practice of war
>
> Calling it political implies that there are implications for our
> understanding of the word 'war', and how we consider war today.
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 1:45 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:      Re: "political"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > >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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> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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