The Current Tragedies

[Richard J Senghas]

>i don't mean to be depressing, anti-intellectual, or offensive.
>but i remember during the gulf war, all this sort of analysis went on
>online, mostly using metaphor theory. it kept us occupied, but i can't
>remember that anything came of it -- or even that it told us anything
>people on the left didn't already know, in other guises. a fair amount
>of it was just spouting off, too. did any non-linguists listen?
>	this reaction may be partly from my exposure to the British
>(read English) media, BBC, Guardian etc who seem to have bought in-- if
>from a pseudo-respectable angle-- to the same thinking as the people
>who did this. everything is about the symbols of wealth and power, the
>death of the american dream, even the vignettes of individuals are
>clearly written to make the points about americans being belligerent,
>naive, ignorant, etc-- all the usual stereotypes you encounter here
>(though i haven't noticed the one about obesity cropping up yet).
>not much about the way real people's lives have been affected, which is
>what matters, isn't it?
>	maybe the time spent analysing would be better spent calling
>and holding the people we love, and figuring out what we can possibly
>say to our children -- always a good test for weeding out the blather.
>	-peter-

Boy, do I hear you, Patrick. I share your ambivalence about intellectual
uselessness. how much of this do we do only for our own entertainment or
comfort? I, too, think we should indeed ask how best we might spend our
time and attention. But I don't see it as an either/or, but a both/and.

I've been staying closely attuned to my 6 year-old daughter and my wife,
been talking to my sister in Manhattan, and trying to help my students deal
with rage & confusion & pain. I see all these as reinforcing each other. We
need to (re)build foundations of human understanding and (if possible)
cooperation at all levels. Intuition is obviously not sufficient, we need
to understand the (as yet) counter-intuitive nature of the systems that
lead to these situations, both local/individual and global/structural. I'm
finding that I often use my insights from talking with my daughter to help
me talk with adults, and vice versa.

One thing I want to focus on now is WHY would all that "leftist" or
"rightist" rhetoric of the past haved failed to prevent such a current
crisis as this current one. What hope have we of altering our future
trajectories? What does this mean in terms of day-to-day, mundane,
"little-people" actions and habits?

Respectfully,

Richard

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Richard J Senghas, Assoc Professor       | Sonoma State University
Department of Anthropology/Linguistics   | 1801 East Cotati Avenue
Coordinator, Linguistics & TESL Programs | Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609
Richard.Senghas at sonoma.edu               | 707-664-2312 (v); 664-3920 (fax)