Monday, January 3, 2011

You Have E-Mail

If you receive the following e-mail: “Next Wednesday’s staff meeting has been moved forward two days”, on what day (Monday or Friday) would you appear for the re-scheduled meeting? It depends on whether you are operating in terms of an ego – moving perspective (Friday) or a time-moving perspective (Monday).

The human organism does not belong to the abstract realm of nature but forms part of a specifically social realm – V N Volosinov –Marxism and the Philosophy of Language p29

It is only what we really don’t need that we must be persuaded to buy

He resorted to elaborate invention only after fist experimenting with simple falsehoods – Machado De Assis – Epitaph of a Small Winner, 1952 p23

The aim of the intellect is to escape the present without being bound to the past – in other words it is to overcome fear

For jealousy there can be neither past nor future, and what it imagines is invariably the present – Marcel Proust – The Fugitive p78

Concept first, evidence later – contradictory evidence result in a counter concept – hence constant vigilance and all-inclusive observation are necessary

A neo-populism substantiates the plebs as an entity, [while] a neo-liberalism sacrifices its basic rights – Michel Foucault – Power/Knowledge, 1979 p138

Science is reductionous, the humanities are additive and when they behave in the opposite manner then we have caught mythology being made

There is a battle ‘for truth’, or at least ‘around truth’ – it being understood once again that by truth I do not mean ‘the ensemble of truth which are to be discovered and accepted’, but rather the ensemble of rules according to which the true and the false are separated and specific effects of power attached to the true, it being understood also that it’s not a matter of a battle on behalf of the truth, but a battle about the status of truth and the economic and political role it plays – Michel Foucault – Power/Knowledge, 1979 p133

Absolutely, I want to be a part of it
Well do you see this worth making
A team effort for?
Well, yes and no


Cultural optimism became
Imperialist and poignant
Cultural pessimism is muttered
Beneath the breath


Everyone goes along to get along
Some with a frown and some
With a smile


Heroic pessimists become martyrs
Heroic optimists die with more toys

Believe me, remembrance is the lesser evil, let no one trust the happiness of the moment: there is in it a drop of gall. When time has gone by and the spasm has ended, if ever, one can truly enjoy the event - Machado De Assis – Epitaph of a Small Winner, 1952 p28

Placards seen at the Oct 30, 2010 Rally for Sanity and/or Fear:
- We have nothing to fear but fear itself and spiders
- Moderation or death
- Atheists for Masturbation
- Gay Malaysian Muslims for Sarah Palin
- Support Separation of Head from Ass

The chief aim of the loser is not preservation or protection but recovery and restoration, and that is the secret of conservatism’s success – Corey Robin – Conservatism and Counterrevolution from Burke to Palin

No comments: