ja aamun kiuru kirkkaudessa soittaa ...
(Was this really written in the middle of WWII? I guess maybe it was after the Winter War ... )
How the Planets Protect us From the Sun
10 hours ago
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Three reactions, or: ideology as jargon
I
I don't know how I feel about that statement about the goal of that part of the contract being to fight against "white supremacy" or "imperialism". Partly I'm not convinced most of the people who make such statements really know what they are talking about when they say "imperialism". I'm also just not convinced that it's meaningful to talk about those broad abstract terms other as useful frames for analysis. In terms of actual changes we want to see in the world, it seems much more useful to me to articulate these in concrete terms, and to articulate the rationales in similarly concrete terms: who is being harmed, and how, and how do we propose to address that? Articulate that in plain language, not all adorned in fancy ideological garb. Even if I am partial to some of that ideological garb, I don't know that it serves any useful purpose here, beyond possibly a purely tribal one of pulling together all the other people who are partial to that garb.
II
Maybe white supremacy, or some sort of imperialism, broadly but not so broadly construed, does constitute the substantive background to the issues we are fighting over. But it still seems to me not so useful to just name-drop that, unless you have concrete, compelling ways of tying in that background to the issues at hand. Otherwise all that would do is trigger the anti-SJW anti-PC right-wing types without adding anything truly substantive to the fight.
III
Also I'm still not convinced you really know what you talking about. If you are, you should be able to break it down into concrete, specific terms. To some extent this annoyance I'm feeling is of a piece with the annoyance I feel towards people who spout jargon like "motivic integration over formal stacks" without ever bothering to explain what the hell that means and why they (or anyone else) should care about it.
I don't know how I feel about that statement about the goal of that part of the contract being to fight against "white supremacy" or "imperialism". Partly I'm not convinced most of the people who make such statements really know what they are talking about when they say "imperialism". I'm also just not convinced that it's meaningful to talk about those broad abstract terms other as useful frames for analysis. In terms of actual changes we want to see in the world, it seems much more useful to me to articulate these in concrete terms, and to articulate the rationales in similarly concrete terms: who is being harmed, and how, and how do we propose to address that? Articulate that in plain language, not all adorned in fancy ideological garb. Even if I am partial to some of that ideological garb, I don't know that it serves any useful purpose here, beyond possibly a purely tribal one of pulling together all the other people who are partial to that garb.
II
Maybe white supremacy, or some sort of imperialism, broadly but not so broadly construed, does constitute the substantive background to the issues we are fighting over. But it still seems to me not so useful to just name-drop that, unless you have concrete, compelling ways of tying in that background to the issues at hand. Otherwise all that would do is trigger the anti-SJW anti-PC right-wing types without adding anything truly substantive to the fight.
III
Also I'm still not convinced you really know what you talking about. If you are, you should be able to break it down into concrete, specific terms. To some extent this annoyance I'm feeling is of a piece with the annoyance I feel towards people who spout jargon like "motivic integration over formal stacks" without ever bothering to explain what the hell that means and why they (or anyone else) should care about it.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
That's a rather mild translation, innit
"Death to tyrants" would have been a feistier but still accurate rendition.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
