[lit-ideas] Re: Russell--"good for bikers & divorce lawyers?"
- From: andy amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 08:10:04 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
Seems to me we understand the unknown all the time. It's called prejudice.
Many applications, that word. Come to think of it, it's not a bad definition
of religion either. Ever hear, I don't know why I keep doing this, but [I do]
...
-----Original Message-----
From: Scribe1865@xxxxxxx
Sent: May 7, 2004 3:31 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Russell--"good for bikers & divorce lawyers?"
O wrote that "if you have nothing against my views or personality but do not
. . . . I will understand."
_____
If O didn't know about it, how could he understand it?
Can one understand the unknown? Can one hold a grudge against the unknown? Or
maybe one makes predictions about how one would understand new things so that
the unknown becomes more easily parceled out? The one thing certain about our
predictions is that we claim to have made them.
For example, I have nothing against O 's personality. But unless I state my
opinion about subscription or his list's proposed focus--how would he
understand?
O implies that he views the list subscription choices of others without any
personal resentment toward those making existentially genuine choices. This
"understanding" has "forgiveness" written right into it. The word use seems to
turn on the maxim, "to understand all is to forgive all" with the "forgiving"
part elided so that its very elision becomes its tacit meaning, i.e., "I
understand people will have different responses, and I will not be offended by
that;
instead, I will forgive them in advance for their choices" becomes, "I will
understand."
Seems like the kind of thing JL Speranza could untangle, were he moved to do
so, into related semantic deep structures.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
