[lit-ideas] Re: On Nip Thievery
- From: Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 07:38:34 -0700 (PDT)
"If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences".
That big ole 'if' sitting there. If grandma had wheels she'd be a
railroad. If people behaved rationally we'd have heaven on earth (natural
catastrophes notwithstanding, and even those would be dealt with much more
positively). Unfortunately, 'if' virtually never
happens. Denial rules. Reality doesn't enter into the
picture until some shock happens after which the consensus changes
and the 'reality' suddenly changes. So has the reality changed or has
what everybody thinks about the reality changed?
--- On Fri, 6/6/08, John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: On Nip Thievery
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Friday, June 6, 2008, 4:36 AM
On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 12:36 PM, Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Yes, of course, the earth was round, nature is not a human plaything, democracy
was not on the march, etc. etc. The problem is humans are indifferent to
everything unless they agree that it exists, that it's important, that
it's not important, etc. Reality doesn't enter into the picture. To
question anything is literally heresy, whether religious or political or any
other kind. Humans also talk a good line about definitions but that's as
far it goes most of the time.
We stand on the shoulders of giants.
William Isaac Thomas (b. Russell County, Virginia, 13
August 1863, d. Berkeley, California, 5 December 1947), was
an American sociologist. He is noted for his pioneering work on the
sociology of migration on which he co-operated with Florian Znaniecki, and
for his formulation of what became known as the Thomas theorem, a
fundamental law of sociology: "If men define situations as real, they are real
in their consequences". [Thomas, William I.; Thomas, Dorothy: The Child in
America (Alfred Knopf, 1929, 2nd ed., p. 572)]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._I._Thomas
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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