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Analysis shows how the Greens have changed the language of economic debate in New Zealand
Analysis shows how the Greens have changed the language of economic debate in New Zealand When Health Minister Chris Hipkins recently quipped that the Green Party is “to some extent the conscience of the Labour Party” he was not simply referring to polls suggesting Labour may need the Greens’ support to form a government. Hipkins was also suggesting […]
We Are Ruled By Wizards
We Are Ruled By Wizards Bending reality is as simple as bending people’s perception of reality. Throughout history, the mythology of civilizations around the world has been full of tales of men and women who mastered a mysterious, esoteric art which enabled them to use language in a way that bends reality to their will. […]
‘Climate Crisis’ Open Letter to Media: Who’s Responded (So Far)
‘Climate Crisis’ Open Letter to Media: Who’s Responded (So Far) Five-point plan on Tyee finds allies in CWA union and top US journos. Now the responses are rolling in, some from beyond Canada’s borders. Here’s how Holman came to write the widely shared letter and what it’s helping to trigger. As record wildfires raged out […]
Against ‘Sustainability’ and Other Plastic Words
Against ‘Sustainability’ and Other Plastic Words How techno-speak is robbing us of our feelings and our future. The word sustainability, were it up to me, would be extinct, wiped out, kaput. It is hard to escape the word’s tyranny. Economists promise “sustainable economies” while business types explore “sustainability accounting.” Greens promise a “sustainable future,” and […]
Language: The Indispensable Fundamental Actuator of False Orthodoxy
Language: The Indispensable Fundamental Actuator of False Orthodoxy In Ayn Rand’s penultimate magnum opus, “The Fountainhead”, there was a minor antagonist by the name of Ellsworth Toohey whose raison d’etre was to undermine Rand’s ideal man and protagonist, Howard Roark. Although Toohey considered his parasitical power as having a major stifling effect on capitalistic society, […]
Some Confusions of Language in Economic Thought
SOME CONFUSIONS OF LANGUAGE IN ECONOMIC THOUGHT Fifty years ago, in 1968, Austrian (and Austrian school) economist Friedrich A. Hayek published a monograph called The Confusion of Language in Political Thought [4]. Hayek argued that the words we use and the meanings we give to them greatly influence how we think about the political system and the […]
The 10 Habits of Logical People
The 10 Habits of Logical People The authentically logical person keeps his logic rooted in truth and never lets it devolve into mere verbal trickery. Becoming a logical person is not just a matter of memorizing and applying formulas, or learning how to tell the difference between a valid and an invalid syllogism. Rather, it […]
Governments Try to Control Language to Hilarious Results
Governments Try to Control Language to Hilarious Results In the region formerly known as Yugoslavia, everyone speaks the same basic language, despite the individual countries’ governments insisting that they don’t. It is quite interesting to see how widespread some languages are, with some having over a billion speakers while others are spoken by a single […]
The Emergence of Orwellian Newspeak and the Death of Free Speech
The Emergence of Orwellian Newspeak and the Death of Free Speech “If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and […]
Terms of debate: Destroying vs altering nature, the fragile vs the resilient Earth
Terms of debate: Destroying vs altering nature, the fragile vs the resilient Earth Last week’s piece drew responses that throw into relief how much the language we use depends on our most basic assumptions about how the world works. If left unexamined, that language leads to further conclusions that go unchallenged because the underlying assumptions are never scrutinized. […]
