Comments on: Hope! Change! Together! Cliche!

By: Jim S

Jim S — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:59:23 +0000

Which came first, the sound bite or the short attention span? Recently The Moderate Voice had this wonderful piece where you could hear a speech delivered by Teddy Roosevelt. What kind of news coverage would it get now? How much would be taken out of context or condemned as elitist? It's unfortunate that it has come to pass.

By: TerenceC

TerenceC — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:53:47 +0000

Ted Kennedy recently said the present American population was the most under informed over stimulated population in history. Based upon what Hitchens says, I too believe there is a small percentage of the population that actually does involve itself in deep political discourse and intelligent thoughtful conversation. Unfortunately for our nation however, there appears to be a huge percentage of the population that looks for distraction and escape. I like to read Mark Twain from time to time and it would appear that in the late 19th century we had pretty much the same two issue’s without much additional thought. I try not to feel to depressed when I think about the state of things, and wish the American people would stop taking what they have for granted – maybe that’s asking too much. Two things are certain, and have always been certain -”there are 2 constants in the Universe, death and stupidity.

By: Dos

Dos — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:06:06 +0000

Hitchens is “on the money” — the problem is that one can not so easily seperate language from thought/ideas. We can’t say, “well, really we mean deeper things, but it is more effective marketing to condense it into the meaningless bumper-sticker idiocy for the great unwashed.” Language, thought and ideas are inextricably connected, so that a dumping down of one, leads almost simultaneously, to a dumping down of the other. This is way William F. Buckley was an intellectual and ideological hero and why, Bill O’Reilly, is a populist moron. WFB was about ideas/history, the other is about marketing and manipulation. We leave in a depressing era of total stupidity.

By: DK

DK — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:29:34 +0000

To make matters worse, human language is incapable of accurately describing full ranges of understanding. There are countless paradoxes that exist within our language that display this lack of range I am talking about. Examine these three statements, as an example:

1. Nobody is everybody. (How is everybody be noboday when they are clearly everybody? But how can everybody be “every”body? Nobody is that.)

2. This statement is false. (If this statement is false, then that would mean that it’s false that this statement is false, which would mean that it’s true. But how can it be true if it is false?)

3. I know nothing. (How can you know that you know nothing, if you know nothing?)

These are paradoxical statements that are both true and false at the same time. Yet, the only real reason why they are that way is simply due to the language and it’s inability to go beyond such a scope of paradox.

My point is that our language limits us, and many of the things we say are simply folly.

By: Susanna

Susanna — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:24:48 +0000

“Is Hitchens just a curmudgeonly elitist?” Well, yes. But I don’t think political discourse is doomed to continue a downward spiral. Banal, pithy slogans have been around for decades, but there have always been – and I hope will always continue to be – people who question simplistic answers to difficult problems and demand candidates go into more detail about their positions.

For example, we have blogs, where we can discuss this sort of thing. And since I wasn’t blogging back in 2000, I’d just like to say that the meaningless catchphrase “compassionate conservatism” annoyed me to no end during that campaign.

By: Independent Liberal » Goosebumps and Slogans

Independent Liberal » Goosebumps and Slogans — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:43:19 +0000

[...] Justin on Hitchens: Words matter a lot. At their best, they can inspire monumental acts and change millions of minds. But they are also bluntly utilitarian, simple tools we use for most of our daily communication. Political discourse must walk the divide between language as art and language as hammer. Politicians are expected to raise us up while also detailing the 24-steps to social security solvency â€“ and they get no more than a short speech or a catchy phrase in which to capture their full essence. The distillation process rarely creates a smooth result. [...]

By: Blue Crab Boulevard » Words Matter - Slogans Not So Much

Blue Crab Boulevard » Words Matter - Slogans Not So Much — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:34:09 +0000

[...] chuckle from Donklephant: "If you buy Nike because you feel like just doing it, you’re an idiot." [...]