I'm guessing that, based on this piece in Slate.com, Christopher Hitchens wasn't impressed with Gibson's apology. There's a lot to dislike about Gibson. He is given to furious tirades against homosexuals of the sort that make one wonder if he has some kind of subliminal or "unaddressed" problem. His vulgar…
I’m a writer. As such, words and their uses are important to me, and it bugs me when I hear them used inappropriately or in ways that I know are wrong or intended to mislead. It’s like an itch I can’t scratch. Most of the time, I let them slide, because I know there’s nothing much to be done and I don’t wish to sacrifice what little sanity I have complaining about Other People’s Ignorance and/or Language Abuse.
But the other day I listened to an essay by Jeff Nunberg. He’s a linguist and I usually catch him on NPR on the Frech Air program. This piece was about the word–the term–Lifestyle.
Nunberg has a new book out about the way in which the Right has stolen language in politics in the last couple of decades, and he lays it out clearly the way in which a masterful job has been done by those not liberal to take the “high ground” linguisitically in our national debate. The book is called Talking Right and it’s on my list. I’ve been listening to Nunberg for years on this subject, so I think I know what the book contains. I recommend it to all and sundry.
His piece on Lifestyle centered on its use as a substitute label socially and politically for discussions about choices and the way in which the word has come to denote everything about us. Our politics, our spending habits, our taste in clothes, even our personal hygeine and …
I didn’t know that they had amusement parks like this, until I recently saw this advertisement . . .
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Yes, these are giddy and unnerving times, but it’s also time to bring out popcorn and balloons. It’s time to celebrate the end of the world!
You can hear it 24/7 on evangelical radio, (I’ve been listening to radio station KJSL, based in St. Louis). Each passing month, the voices of those radio preachers are getting faster and higher-pitched. It’s all intensely festive, in a macabre sort of way. All the signs are there, the preachers proclaim. This is really “it.”
Syndicated talk show host Paul McGuire is among the many radio preachers leading the cheers with their own gnashing teeth. McGuire just wrote a book entitled ARE YOU READY? WELCOME TO THE END OF THE WORLD. What’s his new book about? Check out McGuire’s website:
A NUCLEAR ATTACK ON AMERICA; THE COMING MEXICO, U.S. & CANADIAN MERGER; ISRAEL & THE PALESTINIAN STATE; GLOBAL GOVERNMENT; TERRORISM; HURRICANES, FREAK WEATHER & EPIDEMICS; PREDICTIONS OF THE ANCIENT HEBREW PROPHETS; SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Any time the radical Christ crowd gets this excited (excited enough to use the Caps Lock key so extensively), it’s worth checking out. Just because they’ve been wrong about the end of the world so often before doesn’t mean that they aren’t on target this time.
But there’s this other thing on my mind—why have those evangelicals gotten so enamored about protecting their very very very good friend, Israel? It turns out that these two things—the end of the world and the existence of Israel–are connected.
Remember Pat …
What is it to be loyal? According to Merriam Webster, to be "loyal" is to be
1 : unswerving in allegiance: as a: faithful in allegiance to one's lawful sovereign or government b: faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due c: faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product.I don't have a problem with this definition. I do object, however, that "loyalty" has been given a free pass in modern American culture, as though loyalty is always a good thing. In particular, the mass media has bought into this linguistic sleight-of-hand: according to the mainstream media, it is always a good thing to be "loyal." Loyalty is undoubtedly a virtue when we are dealing with pet dogs. We like our dogs to be loyal. We like our dogs to do what we tell them to do. The loyalty of a human being is not necessarily a good thing, however. Loyalty is a matter of committing oneself to a person, to a group of people or to a cause. But people and causes can be either praiseworthy or despicable (or something in between). If a social cause to which I am loyal is that all babies should have basic medical care, loyalty to such a cause would be a good thing. If my idea is that we should all give homage to Hitler, loyalty to this cause would be a horrible idea. Therefore, how can it be said that loyalty is per se a good thing unless one first examines the merit of the person(s) or clause(s) to which a person is being loyal? [More . . . ]