[Wittrs] more philosophy as anthropology
- From: kirby urner <kirby.urner@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:46:07 -0700
When one enters a language game, one may
not abide by the rules at first, according to
those who judge. For example, one might
learn about something called "marriage", a
kind of partnership, and not realize, at first,
what the requirements might be. Two people
get it wrong, like in the movie 'Bruno' and
show up in a rule-breaking configuration.
The judge refuses to go through with it, as
"marriage" is between a man and a woman
in his state.
My friends Alan and Kati were some concerned
that their wedding in the Himalayan Kingdom
of Druk-yul, known to outsiders as Bhutan (a
family HQS for a spell), might not be recognized
by the French authorities. Perhaps this was
because this Tantric culture does not enforce
the Anglo-Puritan rule that a "marriage" must
only be between two people, as families in
that region are not required to be "nuclear".
Sometimes sisters partner with brothers
from a different family. The former King had
three wives I think it was, whereas in other
families, the wife might have three husbands.
I took the side of those Mormons in the
compound, when Texans barged in with
heavy armor, shades of Waco, and stole
all the children, for their own protection.
This renegade state (TX), only reluctantly
a part of the Union, had taken the ethno-
centric point of view that raising children in
such a non-nuclear family type situation
could only be regarded as abnormal, and
sure, every large family tends to have some
bad apples, Kitty Kelly could tell you that.
Quakers have this marriage ceremony
(between two people in current templates)
where everyone signs the covenant, which
is usually framed and hung within the house.
Mine is in the living room, near the TV.
Although the clerk of the meeting officiates,
it's a voluntary unpaid rotating position, so
not a "pastor" by most accounts (including
our own). My understanding is the State of
Oregon recognizes this form of group
process and solemnification under the
same loophole used to accept some
Native American marriage ceremonies,
likewise conducted in quasi "outlaw"
fashion, at least prior to 1947.
The last wedding I attended was indeed a
Quaker one, and was between two women.
That's normal practice for us, as is divorce.
Having non-nuclear households under the
care of the meeting is not done under the
rubric of "marriage" per se and we haven't
petitioned in Salem (Oregon's capital) for
any amendments that would allow us to
offer group marriages. Non-nuclear
partners wishing to organize their affairs
in some way acceptable to the state are
sometimes advised to steer clear of dom
rel altogether and carve their niche in
business law.
A partnership need not be a domestic
partnership. Use a business template
instead? Households might even incorporate,
perhaps as non-for-profit organizations if they
prove their operations as NGOs are providing
the requisite kinds of public services. A
community of five adults and three children
might be a subject of community gossip, sure,
if it seemed like this business team were also
a family of some kind. Clearly the Catholic
hospitals in the neighborhood are going to
have different ideas where "next of kin" are
concerned, though the Catholic Church tends
to be accepting of indigenous ways, having
many centuries of experience fielding
missionaries.
What does any of this have to do with
philosophy? We learn from Wittgenstein
that philosophy lays out the rules and pays
attention to their interpretation. Translating
"rules" into "laws" is pretty easy, such that
"language games" become the normative
practices of a culture, "marriage" being
one of these. A more philosophically mature
America is one of the goals of Americans
for the Advancement of Philosophy, at
least in my book. That's why this "free will"
media campaign, an attempt to salvage
philosophy as a discipline from those who
have run it into the ground, marginalized
it, rendered it unimportant, irrelevant and
ineffective. We have the freedom to not
leave philosophy to those people who self
identify as philosophers. We have our own
philosophers (with some overlap of course),
just as we have our own judges.
The nearby Warm Springs Reservation has
its own museum, which talks about the
practices of the Anglo-Puritan invaders.
These barbarians would forcibly corral
peoples and coerce their young into these
so-called "schools" that would actively
discourage rule-following. Other rules
would be enforced. Children were programmed
to suppose that only nuclear forms of family
were normal. These were dark times,
now thankfully over (though we must
remain vigilant, as Anglo-Puritans, like
the KKK, still haunt us). Yes, I jest. These
are dark times even still.
Speaking of the French, my friend Hugh, a
Friend, did much to introduce pearl farming
to the Cook Islands, now a lucrative business.
He's doing something similar in Arkansas
I think he said. Anyway, the Cook Islanders
were at first highly suspicious of pearl farming
and wanted nothing to do with it. Why?
Because the irritant used to form a pearl
in a muscle (the shell fish) is called a
"nucleus". They'd heard that word before,
in connection with "nuclear bombs" and
French testing in the South Pacific, and it
had no good connotations whatsoever, much
as "nuclear" has a rather negative spin in
Japan (and elsewhere) these days.
It took the Cook Islanders awhile to realize that
"nuclear" has many meanings, just like being
in a "nuclear family" doesn't mean one lives
near the Nevada testing site and sun bathe
in its glow (above ground tests were banned
not so long ago, but it's already too late for
many if the afflicted, not to mention destroyed).
Kirby
Notes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/2860608686/in/photostream/
(Quaker wedding)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/2859781251/in/photostream/
(nearby Warm Springs area)
http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2008/04/erratum.html (defending Mormons)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/4701687239/in/photostream/ (Alan,
married in Bhutan)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/5497826055/in/photostream/ (Quaker
pearl farm expert)
http://www.king-sheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/art_nuclear_family.jpg(the
nuclear family)
http://technodoll.blogspot.com/2009/11/holy-matrimony.html (regarding
marriage)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhutangangtey/3043241197/ (three wives of the
king)
http://www.unmarried.org/ (Alternatives to Marriage)
http://technodoll.blogspot.com/2009/11/industrial-revolushon.html (more
media campaign)
http://www.warmsprings.com/images/Warmsprings/Tribal_Community/Tribal_Government/Current_Governing_Body/Tribal_Code_Book/Doc_Files/331_domesticrelations.pdf(Warm
Springs dom rel)
http://www.fao.org/docrep/field/003/AB726E/AB726E10.htm (pearl farming FAO)
http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2010/06/bruno-movie-review.html (reviewing
'Bruno')
http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2008/12/voluntary-associations.html (re
Voluntary Associations)
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/johnston_atoll.htm (WMDs in South
Pacific)
http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2011/04/multitasking-again.html (link back to
Wittgenstein list)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy (mentions Bhutan in
passing)
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