Oct 14, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
PARIS (Reuters) - French philosopher Jacques Derrida, whose work is credited with originating the school of deconstruction, has died of cancer at the age of 74, France Info radio has said...[Jacques Derrida] said the traditional or metaphysical way of reading makes a number of false assumptions about the nature of texts. His thinking gave rise to the school of deconstruction, a strategy of analysis that...is heralded as showing the multiple layers of meaning at work in language. [Reuters, "French philosopher Derrida dies", October 9, 2004]
Deconstruction is a philosophy of nihilism that seeks to misuse language to attack the values of Western philosophy under the guise of honest criticism and intellectual creativity. On both counts Deconstructionism is both dishonest in principle and destructive in practice.
According to Deconstructionists, the entire history of Western philosophy suffers from "logocentrism" (system building on central principles or "centers") and "structuralism" (the idea that words, and sentences, refer to things in, and ideas about, reality) that must be transcended. Under this view, words and sentences are indeterminate in their referent and meaning--they do not have fixed referents in reality, but can refer to, and thus mean, anything. All that remains is a "flow" of language--words that refer to other words ad infinitum (to infinity). All that remains is to "deconstruct"--that is reinterpret--texts with no "bounds" (such as logic, context, or reduction) on ones "play." An ugly sort of skeptical egalitarianism replaces logic as the means of discovering the truth.
The victims of such an assault are reason (which becomes not guided by logic, but by subjective whim), truth (which becomes the arbitrary), knowledge (knowledge of what?), clarity (replaced with ambiguity--this lack of clarity in academic circles is referred to as "creativity" and "brilliance"), and (no surprise) capitalism. Derrida is the dead-end of Modern philosophy.
"Jacques Derrida is Dead." Deconstruct that!Oct 14, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
Contrary to popular belief, last night's presidential debate made perfectly clear the nature of the choice Americans will have when they enter the voting booth on November 2nd.
President Bush flaunted the mentality of a Medieval mystic by announcing that his method of dealing with reality was to make ritualistic incantations to invisible spirits. When asked, "What part does your faith play on policy decisions," Bush proudly admitted: "First, my faith plays a lot -- a big part in my life... I pray a lot." He then proceeded to enumerate his wish list: "I pray for strength. I pray for wisdom. I pray for our troops in harm's way. I pray for my family. I pray for my little girls." And, sources say, he wants Santa to bring him a pony because he's been a really good boy this year.Senator Kerry was even less civilized. Despite his comparative eloquence, Kerry mistakenly revealed a horrifyingly stunted, pre-conceptual mentality reminiscent of Cro-Magnon. While criticizing Bush for somehow causing a "partisan" divide in congress, Kerry declared: "I've never seen such ideological squabbles in the Congress of the United States." Ideological squabbles? A "squabble" is a disagreement over petty, insignificant details. An ideology is an (hopefully) integrated system of ideas about human life, society and politics. There is no greater, more significant disagreement possible between two men than a disagreement over ideas, and only a mind completely devoid of any ideas whatsoever would think to call it a "squabble."So, while the quality of the final presidential "debate" was embarrassing, at least Americans were left with a clear choice: on one side is a man dumb enough to fight against religious zeal for "Allah" with religious zeal for "God," and on the other side, well...there isn't even a man.Oct 13, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From CNN:
Islamic courts in Nigeria sentenced two women to death by stoning for having sex out of wedlock, but two men whom they said they slept with were acquitted for lack of evidence, authorities said Tuesday.
Unbelievable.
Both sentences, which were passed within the last month in the northern state of Bauchi, have to be confirmed by the state governor before being carried out, and they are open to appeal. Nobody has been lawfully stoned to death in Nigeria since 12 northern states introduced Islamic Sharia law in 2000, because all such sentences have been overturned on appeal. [...] The adoption of Sharia law in northern Nigeria has polarized Africa's most populous nation, whose 130 million population is split roughly evenly between Muslims and Christians.
Someone go call Jesse Jackson...wait a minute the Nigerian government isn't white. Never mind. [CNN, Nigerian court condemns women to death by stoning, Hat Tip: Cox and Forkum]Oct 12, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
Over the past few months, several groups of individuals in Iraq have taken to kidnapping, torturing, and beheading innocent civilians, bombing vehicles and buildings at random times in random public locations, and generally intimidating the population in an effort to coerce the U.S. and other governments into meeting their fanatical religious demands.
The definitions below are taken from the Merriam-Webster OnLine dictionary.
rebel (noun): one who rebels
rebel (intransitive verb):
1 a : to oppose or disobey one in authority or control b : to renounce and resist by force the authority of one's government
2 a : to act in or show opposition or disobedience b : to feel or exhibit anger or revulsion
Note that the word "rebel" is reminiscent of Luke Skywalker's resistance against an evil empire, but that it also includes much more mild forms of disobedience like rebelling against "conventions of polite society."
insurgent (noun):
1 : a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; especially : a rebel not recognized as a belligerent
2 : one who acts contrary to the policies and decisions of one's own political party
Note that "insurgents" do not necessarily spread violence and terror, and that this word should probably be reserved for those who are "not recognized as a belligerent."
terrorist (adjective or noun): [defined via the definition of "terrorism"]
terrorism (noun): the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
Sound familiar?
When characterizing the situation in Iraq, journalists seeking legitimacy might do well to take these definitions into account. (Sorry, Dan, it's already too late for you.)Oct 11, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
Jack Wakeland in TIA Daily on The American Dream:
[Americans] enjoy their luxuries and aren't shy about having them. They're mobile, changing jobs and cities as circumstances suit them. They move to warm sunny places. Some are adaptable in their goals and some are not, but the vast majority are sure that they control the course of their own lives. In America, every man can be his own king, a successful, independent, happy king. That's the American Dream. Because it's all around, we often don't stop to notice. Outside America, however, it is noticed.
...There is no where else on earth that quite has the 'feel' of America. The idea that it is okay to make money and to go out and get what you want -- the acceptance of egoism -- runs deeper here than anywhere on earth. The consequence -- a feeling shared by a majority of people that life is open to them, that anything is possible, and that they're in the middle of getting where they want to go -- is unique to America.
This feeling -- an emotion some people call 'freedom,' but is actually happiness -- has captured the imagination of the rest of the world. Because they can see that there is a way to reach it, people throughout the world want to have it, too. ["The Empire of the Pursuit of Happiness", TIA Daily, Oct 11, 2004]
Oct 11, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
The actor who played Superman died today at age 52. From the BBC:
Superman star Christopher Reeve, who lobbied for medical research after being paralysed in a fall nine years ago, has died aged 52. He had been suffering from an infection as a result of a pressure wound and died on Sunday, his publicist said. He suffered a cardiac arrest at his New York home and slipped into a coma, Mr Wesley Combs added.
Reeve was paralysed in 1995 when he broke his neck after being thrown from a horse. He later became an advocate for spinal cord injury research. In recent years, he had regained sensation in some parts of his body....Film director Michael Winner called Reeve the "archetypal movie star". "I think he grew to personify a heroic struggle against disability," said Winner. "We all kind of believed that we would one day see him walk again and instead we see him die really very young." He added: "He was a kind of action actor and to see an action actor who played Superman paralysed and hardly able to speak was terrible, but we all had hope for him and it is tragic that those hopes have been dashed."Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia. He then became a tireless campaigner for stem cell research, forcing it on to the political agenda. Before the actor's death, Senator John Kerry mentioned Reeve in a presidential debate, calling him a friend and pledging support to stem cell research. [BBC, "Actor Christopher Reeve dies" October 11, 2004]
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