tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post286141444441109817..comments2019-03-16T22:13:26.796-07:00Comments on Witter...: Sisters are doing it to themselvesSteve Lawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04939837731535127700noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-28640013353337866852014-01-29T00:40:03.421-08:002014-01-29T00:40:03.421-08:00Ha! An Angel? Hardly.
I'm just trying to do my...Ha! An Angel? Hardly.<br />I'm just trying to do my bit.<br /><br />As for the risk - it's not anything big - it's just with online trolls etc, it's risky putting yourself out there. On the other hand since my audience seems to be precisely one I don't think I should be worrying too much.<br />watch this space...Steve Lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939837731535127700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-30535936539590251582014-01-28T23:36:24.118-08:002014-01-28T23:36:24.118-08:00Right, I like your caricatured summary of our resp...Right, I like your caricatured summary of our respective positions on polite talk, and will happily leave it there. <br /><br />Yes the other writing is important but as you say risky. It's for you to know what the risks are, and to protect yourself. For this is our first duty, to acknowledge our animal nature, heed our instincts, desires & fears, even when (especially when) for practicalVincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18297306807695767580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-50971534432656528152014-01-28T08:00:25.322-08:002014-01-28T08:00:25.322-08:00Thanks for that ps.
A point you made right at the...Thanks for that ps. <br />A point you made right at the beginning has stuck with me - about it not being 'manly' for men to campaign for men's rights and it occurred to me that you might not take kindly to my admission - self-esteem wise. I am an almost pathologically open person. Not sure why, and being 'manly' has never been my way. I really want to get on and write about Steve Lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939837731535127700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-36470567688962202532014-01-27T13:46:37.540-08:002014-01-27T13:46:37.540-08:00PS I didn't mean to omit mention of your other...PS I didn't mean to omit mention of your other point, which is far more important than our use of language. I refer to self-esteem and "all that stuff".<br /><br />One can have at least one parent and yet be to all intents and purposes an orphan, that is to say unloved. It is very hard to have self-esteem in such circumstances. Perhaps we have a similar background.<br /><br />I haveVincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18297306807695767580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-69859615094059745222014-01-27T11:12:46.416-08:002014-01-27T11:12:46.416-08:00You raise some excellent points about the use of w...You raise some excellent points about the use of words. Wittgenstein famously said that “the meaning of a word is its use in the language”. From which we see that a person may use the word in different ways, depending on intention and context.<br /><br />When I speak of “pride” I’m aware that Pride is listed as one of the seven deadly sins, and can be used in that way, but as you saw, I didn’t Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18297306807695767580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-21882276798184442022014-01-27T08:25:28.282-08:002014-01-27T08:25:28.282-08:00I'm pleased you make it clear that for you at ...I'm pleased you make it clear that for you at any rate, pride is not about superiority. I'm not sure that's a widely held view. To me it sounds a lot like the notion of self-esteem, which, stripped of New-Age psycho-babble, I think, is about feeling positive about what you are and where you came from and what you have made of your life but also knowing your faults and failings and Steve Lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939837731535127700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-3267428808086616672014-01-26T09:01:24.450-08:002014-01-26T09:01:24.450-08:00You make a good point about pride. One can use it ...You make a good point about pride. One can use it in the sense of pride in achievement. But there is another sense, which I call pride but others might call thanksgiving. To some it is a religious thing, and to others defiantly pagan: defiant where necessary.<br /><br />It implies full positive acceptance of the hand fate has thrown at us, perhaps by accident of birth, perhaps through Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18297306807695767580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-72325229307807845422014-01-26T06:29:06.335-08:002014-01-26T06:29:06.335-08:00Tautological? Perhaps not – I was being flippant (...Tautological? Perhaps not – I was being flippant (it was late). My point was that we all (all of us that think about these things) have our linguistic likes and dislikes. I dislike ‘fit for purpose’ because it smacks of pomposity - someone trying to sound important or expert by using several syllables when fewer would do – mostly politicians and technocrats. But my point was that it’s just a Steve Lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939837731535127700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-10915201736740105702014-01-24T21:30:14.662-08:002014-01-24T21:30:14.662-08:00Our differences of view seem to multiply yet I hav...Our differences of view seem to multiply yet I have not given up hope.<br /><br />It’s a very fine thing to be proud and grateful for what one is. I can be proud to be white, male, English, privately educated, in my early seventies and untroubled by homosexual leanings. Not because these attributes are inherently superior, but I shall not be and should not be prevented for thinking that they are—Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18297306807695767580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-54980803278951135142014-01-24T15:41:38.454-08:002014-01-24T15:41:38.454-08:00Or just 'fit'?
Isn't 'fit for pur...Or just 'fit'? <br />Isn't 'fit for purpose' a tautology? Steve Lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939837731535127700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-1876848274747821082014-01-24T05:26:11.248-08:002014-01-24T05:26:11.248-08:00Actually, I have to say, for someone who clearly b...Actually, I have to say, for someone who clearly believes in the power of language and its ability to shape meaning in all sorts of subtle ways, and who I suspect agrees with me that history has a lot to answer for in terms of its treatment of women, other races, religions and other minorities, people with mental illnesses and handicaps, and children, to argue that language has had no part to Steve Lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939837731535127700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-17037165096159503142014-01-24T05:03:35.848-08:002014-01-24T05:03:35.848-08:00Hi Vincent
Well I think I might have to dwell a bi...Hi Vincent<br />Well I think I might have to dwell a bit on our agreements and differences here now. I disagree with both your parentheses (not the one about Nigel Farago. Obviously I wouldn’t vote for him either.) <br />I agree with Caitlin Moran that political correctness is just a sort of politeness. <br />‘I went to see the GP today.’<br />‘What did he say?’<br />‘She's a woman actually.’Steve Lawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939837731535127700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364957201792783158.post-76317697989376002542014-01-21T22:07:29.039-08:002014-01-21T22:07:29.039-08:00I enjoyed this greatly, especially the frank way y...I enjoyed this greatly, especially the frank way you have put your attitude in the context of your own life-experience. If you had merely stated your own reactions, it would have focused the reader on his own agreement or disagreement. <br /><br />(I use "his" in the traditional universal sense, "their" being an abomination in most singular senses; which sets out my own Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18297306807695767580noreply@blogger.com