Words are weapons
October 31, 2013 1:12 PM Subscribe
"Unspeak is language that deliberately loads the dice. War on Terror. Weapons of mass destruction. Climate change. Failed asylum seekers. File sharing. Austerity measures. Oil spill. Erectile dysfunction. Once we tune in to unspeak we start seeing and hearing it everywhere" -- UK journalist Steve Poole's book Unspeak has been turned into a six part interactive documentary series by Dutch new media group Submarine Channel, narrated by Poole himself.
The series:
Unspeak 1: an introduction (directed by Tommy Pallotta)
2: Money Talks (directed by Rob Schröder)
3: Natural Disasters (directed by Menno Otten)
4: Anti-Social Media (directed by Benoit Detalle & Marija Jaćimović)
5: Obamarama (directed byGeert van de Wetering)
6: Brave New Minds (directed by Jennifer Abbott)
Bonus video:
Unspeak project walkthrough
For more Unspeak there's also the Unspeak dictionary while Steve Poole also has a regular column in the Guardian about language.
Submarine Channel projects previously, more previous, even more previous, pretty much prehistoric.
The series:
Unspeak 1: an introduction (directed by Tommy Pallotta)
2: Money Talks (directed by Rob Schröder)
3: Natural Disasters (directed by Menno Otten)
4: Anti-Social Media (directed by Benoit Detalle & Marija Jaćimović)
5: Obamarama (directed byGeert van de Wetering)
6: Brave New Minds (directed by Jennifer Abbott)
Bonus video:
Unspeak project walkthrough
For more Unspeak there's also the Unspeak dictionary while Steve Poole also has a regular column in the Guardian about language.
Submarine Channel projects previously, more previous, even more previous, pretty much prehistoric.
Unspeak
I don't know just what you're saying
So please stop explaining
Don't tell me cause it hurts
Unspeak
I don't know what you're thinking
I don't need your reasons
Don't tell me cause it hurts
posted by blue_beetle at 1:17 PM on October 31, 2013 [17 favorites]
I don't know just what you're saying
So please stop explaining
Don't tell me cause it hurts
Unspeak
I don't know what you're thinking
I don't need your reasons
Don't tell me cause it hurts
posted by blue_beetle at 1:17 PM on October 31, 2013 [17 favorites]
OK, so what should climate change be called?
posted by lukemeister at 1:17 PM on October 31, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by lukemeister at 1:17 PM on October 31, 2013 [4 favorites]
Global climate chaos.
posted by poe at 1:18 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by poe at 1:18 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
Warmy floody
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:19 PM on October 31, 2013 [23 favorites]
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:19 PM on October 31, 2013 [23 favorites]
Yeah, cheers blue_beetle, it's not as if I'm being earwormed with that song already every time I visit Poole's blog.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:19 PM on October 31, 2013
posted by MartinWisse at 1:19 PM on October 31, 2013
That was my point. "Global warming" was criticized as slanted, then "climate change" was taken by some as evidence of backing off in the face of the overwhelming evidence of natural fluctuations presented by random people on the Internet.
posted by lukemeister at 1:20 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by lukemeister at 1:20 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
OK, so what should climate change be called?
I'm sure Frank Luntz has some ideas.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:34 PM on October 31, 2013 [3 favorites]
I'm sure Frank Luntz has some ideas.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:34 PM on October 31, 2013 [3 favorites]
What's all this crazy talk about unspeak?!?
posted by fairmettle at 1:34 PM on October 31, 2013
posted by fairmettle at 1:34 PM on October 31, 2013
Why isn't "unspeak" the same thing as a euphemism?
It appears to be more the same thing as "phrases this person doesn't happen to agree with." Their dictionary, for example, defines "organic food" as "All food is ‘organic matter’ (containing compounds from once-living organisms), and all food is made up of chemicals. The food sense of ‘organic’ was invented in 1940 by Walter James, fourth Baron Northbourne, a devotee of the esoteric ‘spiritual science’ promulgated by Rudolf Steiner. Since then, claims for the superiority of ‘organic’ food have often rested on a sentimental eco-mysticism."
posted by tyllwin at 1:36 PM on October 31, 2013 [7 favorites]
It appears to be more the same thing as "phrases this person doesn't happen to agree with." Their dictionary, for example, defines "organic food" as "All food is ‘organic matter’ (containing compounds from once-living organisms), and all food is made up of chemicals. The food sense of ‘organic’ was invented in 1940 by Walter James, fourth Baron Northbourne, a devotee of the esoteric ‘spiritual science’ promulgated by Rudolf Steiner. Since then, claims for the superiority of ‘organic’ food have often rested on a sentimental eco-mysticism."
posted by tyllwin at 1:36 PM on October 31, 2013 [7 favorites]
OK, so what should climate change be called?
I take my lead from New International, call it "a left wing conspiracy"
posted by Mario Speedwagon at 1:41 PM on October 31, 2013
I take my lead from New International, call it "a left wing conspiracy"
posted by Mario Speedwagon at 1:41 PM on October 31, 2013
I'm fine just calling it CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN
posted by The Whelk at 1:44 PM on October 31, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 1:44 PM on October 31, 2013 [6 favorites]
That was my point. "Global warming" was criticized as slanted, then "climate change" was taken by some as evidence of backing off in the face of the overwhelming evidence of natural fluctuations presented by random people on the Internet.
My own sentiments go the other way. Climate change makes it clear that we're not just talking about an extra couple degrees on the thermometer. Climate change means radical changes in weather patterns that will be extremely disruptive and difficult to predict.
All goodthinking people know that climate change is doubleplus ungood.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 1:44 PM on October 31, 2013 [6 favorites]
My own sentiments go the other way. Climate change makes it clear that we're not just talking about an extra couple degrees on the thermometer. Climate change means radical changes in weather patterns that will be extremely disruptive and difficult to predict.
All goodthinking people know that climate change is doubleplus ungood.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 1:44 PM on October 31, 2013 [6 favorites]
Climate change is the preferred nomenclature because global warming implies that the entire globe will be getting warmer, while in fact some places will get cooler even though the planet as a whole is warming.
Also, I don't see what's wrong with austerity measures (they're austere, and both critics and proponents of those idiotic policies agree on that) or file sharing (the files are being shared).
But this is just, like, my opinion, man.
posted by Aizkolari at 1:49 PM on October 31, 2013 [5 favorites]
Also, I don't see what's wrong with austerity measures (they're austere, and both critics and proponents of those idiotic policies agree on that) or file sharing (the files are being shared).
But this is just, like, my opinion, man.
posted by Aizkolari at 1:49 PM on October 31, 2013 [5 favorites]
okay, I like the gist of where this is going, but holy shit does it stylistically rip off Adam Curtis's stuff
posted by philip-random at 1:50 PM on October 31, 2013
posted by philip-random at 1:50 PM on October 31, 2013
This is weird. It lists both "file sharing" (because it's really stealing) and "piracy" (because it's really illegal copying). There's also some ADHD medication denialism, and it criticizes Greenpeace for opposing drought-resistant GM plants, and then says Genetically Modified is a euphemism for Genetically Engineered.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:52 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:52 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
So, if "climate change" is unspeak, does that mean "oil change" is, too? Sex change? Change of heart? Anything with a Δ?
Oh, wait! I get it now! Unspeak is itself unspeak. Now where did that Hofstadter thread get off to...
posted by mondo dentro at 1:55 PM on October 31, 2013 [8 favorites]
Oh, wait! I get it now! Unspeak is itself unspeak. Now where did that Hofstadter thread get off to...
posted by mondo dentro at 1:55 PM on October 31, 2013 [8 favorites]
I think that the point, JZ, is that intellectual dishonesty is so commonplace that it's bullshit all the way down.
posted by ob1quixote at 2:01 PM on October 31, 2013
posted by ob1quixote at 2:01 PM on October 31, 2013
It can be used for good. One that I use all the time is: "Reproductive liberty."
posted by deadmessenger at 2:02 PM on October 31, 2013
posted by deadmessenger at 2:02 PM on October 31, 2013
It can be used for good.
Gay Marriage --> Marriage Equality
Of course, that's not euphemism. Marriage equality is a more accurate description of what we want.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:10 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
Gay Marriage --> Marriage Equality
Of course, that's not euphemism. Marriage equality is a more accurate description of what we want.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:10 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
OK, so what should climate change be called?
posted by lukemeister at 4:17 PM on October 31
[1 favorite +] [!]
Climate Fucked
posted by oceanjesse at 2:52 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by lukemeister at 4:17 PM on October 31
[1 favorite +] [!]
Climate Fucked
posted by oceanjesse at 2:52 PM on October 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
Today, the IPCC released a ground breaking report on Climate Fucked activity...
posted by oceanjesse at 2:53 PM on October 31, 2013
posted by oceanjesse at 2:53 PM on October 31, 2013
I like global weirding, personally. But yeah, this doesn't seem to be different from Newspeak or euphemism.
It was changed from global warming to climate change to emphasize that it's not warm, nice and fuzzy— and also that, yeah, some times it will be colder in some places. Global extreming, I suppose, could work— but that might also sound like fun.
Framing for change is not easy, but the politics of language is an old story— not one that doesn't need revisiting, though.
posted by Maias at 3:11 PM on October 31, 2013
It was changed from global warming to climate change to emphasize that it's not warm, nice and fuzzy— and also that, yeah, some times it will be colder in some places. Global extreming, I suppose, could work— but that might also sound like fun.
Framing for change is not easy, but the politics of language is an old story— not one that doesn't need revisiting, though.
posted by Maias at 3:11 PM on October 31, 2013
Yeah I think there's plenty to gripe about with regard to buzzwords, jargon and euphemisms. But I'd imagine that the main complaint would be some variation on the notion that a given term is imprecise. Episode 6 mentions how "impotence" became "erectile dysfunction" because the former carries the connotation of a more general inability.
Again, often enough I feel legitimate criticisms can be levelled against many of these — marketing and politics, I'm looking at you — although in some cases I get the impression that in their crusade for semantic irreducibility critics tend to underestimate a term's social utility (e.g. "politically correct" euphemisms' value in striving for more inclusive language tends to outweigh any unwieldiness or lack of specificity), or people's ability to parse polysemy and ambiguity (e.g. "meme" can be applied to more things than "widely shared online content" but it's okay, we'll generally gather the intended sense from context).
But with "erectile dysfunction" all that's being said is that they changed the term to something more specific. Seems true to me. What's the problem?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:17 PM on October 31, 2013 [3 favorites]
Again, often enough I feel legitimate criticisms can be levelled against many of these — marketing and politics, I'm looking at you — although in some cases I get the impression that in their crusade for semantic irreducibility critics tend to underestimate a term's social utility (e.g. "politically correct" euphemisms' value in striving for more inclusive language tends to outweigh any unwieldiness or lack of specificity), or people's ability to parse polysemy and ambiguity (e.g. "meme" can be applied to more things than "widely shared online content" but it's okay, we'll generally gather the intended sense from context).
But with "erectile dysfunction" all that's being said is that they changed the term to something more specific. Seems true to me. What's the problem?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:17 PM on October 31, 2013 [3 favorites]
The use of "piracy" for IP infringement goes back to 1603, and the term originates because "pirate" was about the only applicable legal term of art for "wanton stealers of stuff who wish to exist outside the common law." The problem with the term is not simply that it's "bullshit," or at the very least, saying that and stopping is kind of silly and easily dismissed.
In the case of ADHD, there's no real complaint about the term itself, just about overdiagnosis, which would presumably happen whatever we called the disorder. Similarly, "biodiversity" isn't really a "fake term," just one where the author dislikes specific applications according to a frankly extremist standard. "Hurr hurr, you claim to like biodiversity but you don't like smallpox!" is not a particularly compelling argument; it's like those people who think it's terribly witty to point out that "all-natural" includes horseshit and arsenic.
The entry on "double dip" is simply an exercise in willful ignorance; does anyone genuinely not understand that it refers to "dips" in the line of graph? Does anyone really consider it a euphemism? No. Why, then, does the author make idiotic ice cream jokes and call the term "unspeak," then? What should we call a "double-dip recession," to be "intellectually honest" or "counter-ideological" or whatever the hell the goal is?
If you want to criticize "unspeak," you should at least know what the hell you're talking about. This list really just seems to be equal parts recycled criticism of euphemistic buzzwords and weird detours into an outright war on context and metaphor. At no point does it suggest learning or careful thought, or any attention to historical and cultural contexts.
If the dictionary site is anything to go by, pointing out unspeak is the epitome of unspeak.
posted by kewb at 3:46 PM on October 31, 2013 [6 favorites]
In the case of ADHD, there's no real complaint about the term itself, just about overdiagnosis, which would presumably happen whatever we called the disorder. Similarly, "biodiversity" isn't really a "fake term," just one where the author dislikes specific applications according to a frankly extremist standard. "Hurr hurr, you claim to like biodiversity but you don't like smallpox!" is not a particularly compelling argument; it's like those people who think it's terribly witty to point out that "all-natural" includes horseshit and arsenic.
The entry on "double dip" is simply an exercise in willful ignorance; does anyone genuinely not understand that it refers to "dips" in the line of graph? Does anyone really consider it a euphemism? No. Why, then, does the author make idiotic ice cream jokes and call the term "unspeak," then? What should we call a "double-dip recession," to be "intellectually honest" or "counter-ideological" or whatever the hell the goal is?
If you want to criticize "unspeak," you should at least know what the hell you're talking about. This list really just seems to be equal parts recycled criticism of euphemistic buzzwords and weird detours into an outright war on context and metaphor. At no point does it suggest learning or careful thought, or any attention to historical and cultural contexts.
If the dictionary site is anything to go by, pointing out unspeak is the epitome of unspeak.
posted by kewb at 3:46 PM on October 31, 2013 [6 favorites]
I'm frustrated at the sloppiness of the two episodes I watched (#1 and the Natural Disaster one). Also there seemed to be an oddly high number of scantily clad female bodies, but maybe that's the breaks when you use public domain clips?
Agreed with kewb and goodnewsfortheinsane that this needs to talk about metaphors and the social utility of fuzzy concepts in order to be helpful. I may need to figure out basic video editing to do the urban planning version of buzzword critique. Smart growth anyone?
posted by spamandkimchi at 3:52 PM on October 31, 2013
Agreed with kewb and goodnewsfortheinsane that this needs to talk about metaphors and the social utility of fuzzy concepts in order to be helpful. I may need to figure out basic video editing to do the urban planning version of buzzword critique. Smart growth anyone?
posted by spamandkimchi at 3:52 PM on October 31, 2013
Still puzzling over "erectile disfunction" as unspeak. Is it because "impotence" would have done just as well (and the former only appeared in 1955 according to the google ngram viewer (which seriously needs a log scale))?
posted by jepler at 4:06 PM on October 31, 2013
posted by jepler at 4:06 PM on October 31, 2013
OK, so what should climate change be called?
The War on Science.
posted by ArkhanJG at 5:05 PM on October 31, 2013
The War on Science.
posted by ArkhanJG at 5:05 PM on October 31, 2013
Still puzzling over "erectile disfunction" as unspeak. Is it because "impotence" would have done just as well (and the former only appeared in 1955 according to the google ngram viewer (which seriously needs a log scale))?
Because it is about dicks and manliness. If one is impotent, he's not manly. But if he has ED, he's still a manly man but his dick doesn't work. A blue pill fixes it.
posted by birdherder at 5:06 PM on October 31, 2013
Because it is about dicks and manliness. If one is impotent, he's not manly. But if he has ED, he's still a manly man but his dick doesn't work. A blue pill fixes it.
posted by birdherder at 5:06 PM on October 31, 2013
This is weird. It lists both "file sharing" (because it's really stealing) and "piracy" (because it's really illegal copying). There's also some ADHD medication denialism, and it criticizes Greenpeace for opposing drought-resistant GM plants, and then says Genetically Modified is a euphemism for Genetically Engineered.
Seriously. It seems like one angry persons seriously loaded opinions and hobbyhorses that are extremely inconsistent.
Right when i saw the intro blurb i was like... what do you want file sharing to be called?
The ADHD medication thing is really, really tiresome too.
posted by emptythought at 6:03 PM on October 31, 2013
Seriously. It seems like one angry persons seriously loaded opinions and hobbyhorses that are extremely inconsistent.
Right when i saw the intro blurb i was like... what do you want file sharing to be called?
The ADHD medication thing is really, really tiresome too.
posted by emptythought at 6:03 PM on October 31, 2013
I think Poole needs to sit down with (later) Wittgenstein some time. The meaning of a word is its use: Does it honestly make much of a difference if you call it "global warming" or "climate change" so long as you're referring to the increase in global average temperatures due to fossil fuel burning and deforestation, and all the attendant effects, and your audience knows that too? Similarly with, say, WMD: calling Saddam Hussein's capacity to make nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons WMD isn't going to sway you to support a US invasion of Iraq; what's going to sway you is the use of Saddam's potential WMD capacity to stoke fears that another 9/11 is going to happen soon unless we strike right now!
I also think Poole is too much in thrall to Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," which this series seems to be inspired by. The problem with political discourse of late isn't that it's awash in euphemism; it's that debate is usually conducted so poorly that the weaker argument frequently bests the stronger. The ticking time bomb scenario invoked to justify torture is pretty easy to understand, but distracts from the real issues involved and ends up supporting immoral acts. Similarly with the global warming debate or the health care debate: when you have sentiment triumphing over reason again and again (e.g., "death panels"), what specific words are used doesn't matter that much. What we really need is a dissection of sophistry, which is the real reason we can't have nice things.
posted by Cash4Lead at 8:38 PM on October 31, 2013 [5 favorites]
I also think Poole is too much in thrall to Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," which this series seems to be inspired by. The problem with political discourse of late isn't that it's awash in euphemism; it's that debate is usually conducted so poorly that the weaker argument frequently bests the stronger. The ticking time bomb scenario invoked to justify torture is pretty easy to understand, but distracts from the real issues involved and ends up supporting immoral acts. Similarly with the global warming debate or the health care debate: when you have sentiment triumphing over reason again and again (e.g., "death panels"), what specific words are used doesn't matter that much. What we really need is a dissection of sophistry, which is the real reason we can't have nice things.
posted by Cash4Lead at 8:38 PM on October 31, 2013 [5 favorites]
Climate Change => Opportunities to Make Big Bucks in the Later 2000s Selling to People Struggling to Stay alive
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:52 PM on October 31, 2013
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:52 PM on October 31, 2013
Concept is very similar to William Lutz's book Doublespeak. Interesting that it takes just a slightly different take on the topic...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 9:55 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 9:55 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is weird. It lists both "file sharing" (because it's really stealing) and "piracy" (because it's really illegal copying).
You mean its weird because he doesn't recognize one set of ideologues as the "good guys" and another as the "bad guys"? Instead he points out how both groups are very particular about the words they used to describe activities...
sharing = pro copying and distributing files in a manner proscribed by licensing agreements
piracy = against copying and distributing files in a manner proscribed by licensing agreements
posted by mary8nne at 3:59 AM on November 1, 2013
You mean its weird because he doesn't recognize one set of ideologues as the "good guys" and another as the "bad guys"? Instead he points out how both groups are very particular about the words they used to describe activities...
sharing = pro copying and distributing files in a manner proscribed by licensing agreements
piracy = against copying and distributing files in a manner proscribed by licensing agreements
posted by mary8nne at 3:59 AM on November 1, 2013
You mean its weird because he doesn't recognize one set of ideologues as the "good guys" and another as the "bad guys"? Instead he points out how both groups are very particular about the words they used to describe activities...
Then what should we call it? What is the "neutral" or "unloaded" term? Language is always going to come from somewhere, after all, and thus will carry connotations and leanings and so forth.
Given the polemical tone, this amounts to a demand for a language outside ideology, a place of linguistic neutrality free of feeling or allegiance where principle can be examined in a vacuum. But no such language exists, at least not in any usable form, and there are sides in the debate for reasons beyond supposedly "loaded" language.
More charitably, it asks us to be aware that language insistently retains its links to culture, and ideology seems a part of culture. Again, though, that awareness doesn't let us disqualify any terms we find "prejudicial" to one or another side of the debate.
More specifically, let's look at your two examples:
The "neutral" language evacuates the debate of its contents under the guise of enabling "honest" or "nonideological" debate. Deep down, it presumes itself the arbitera language coincident with some objective, accessible truth. Now that's an ideological presumption!
The "unspeak" label is simply how a certain kind of ideologue tries to seize control of the debate. As has been said repeatedly in this thread, "unspeak" is unspeak.
posted by kewb at 5:26 AM on November 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
Then what should we call it? What is the "neutral" or "unloaded" term? Language is always going to come from somewhere, after all, and thus will carry connotations and leanings and so forth.
Given the polemical tone, this amounts to a demand for a language outside ideology, a place of linguistic neutrality free of feeling or allegiance where principle can be examined in a vacuum. But no such language exists, at least not in any usable form, and there are sides in the debate for reasons beyond supposedly "loaded" language.
More charitably, it asks us to be aware that language insistently retains its links to culture, and ideology seems a part of culture. Again, though, that awareness doesn't let us disqualify any terms we find "prejudicial" to one or another side of the debate.
More specifically, let's look at your two examples:
sharing = pro copying and distributing files in a manner proscribed by licensing agreementsYou've replaced a term with a sentence, and even the language of that sentence seems "loaded." "Proscribed," for example, means "prevented by public authority." To say that a licensing agreement does this suggests that licensing agreements represent public authority; yet this weights the debate, because one side of the argument takes the position that licensing agreements and IP law are the circumvention of truly public authority and rights in favor of private interests. One could also argue that the phrase "in a manner" trivializes what both sides consider an issue of principle or right by reducing the whole problem to one of method. You may think that's all it is, but the actual argument is about concepts of property rights, economics, law, the balance of power, the role and extent of government, the relationships of technology and history.
piracy = against copying and distributing files in a manner proscribed by licensing agreements
The "neutral" language evacuates the debate of its contents under the guise of enabling "honest" or "nonideological" debate. Deep down, it presumes itself the arbitera language coincident with some objective, accessible truth. Now that's an ideological presumption!
The "unspeak" label is simply how a certain kind of ideologue tries to seize control of the debate. As has been said repeatedly in this thread, "unspeak" is unspeak.
posted by kewb at 5:26 AM on November 1, 2013 [1 favorite]
You mean its weird because he doesn't recognize one set of ideologues as the "good guys" and another as the "bad guys"? Instead he points out how both groups are very particular about the words they used to describe activities...
Nah, it's weird that what he says isn't even a consistent narrative. It's just "these are both wrong, anyways, moving on" and doesn't even do a good job at that. Both you and kewb are adding a lot of extra words and context he didn't give which makes him sound a lot more credible and logical than he really sounds. You're basically filling in his blanks. Why bother inferring what he didn't say?
This is weird. It lists both "file sharing" (because it's really stealing) and "piracy" (because it's really illegal copying).
This is a one or the other thing. And it's really REALLY hard to make any compelling argument for the first one. And no, I'm not just saying that because it's the side I support or whatever. That it's "stealing" really is the newspeak.
Theft requires removing the property from the original owner. At absolute most making a copy is something like theft of services or yea, illegal copying. Copyright infringement != theft. That entire train of thought is propaganda.
The second point about piracy is correct, but as I said, is diametrically opposed to the first. Stop reading a bunch of meaning in to what he's saying. It's a poorly thought out contradictory list, and the way he words each point is as if he hasn't said other things he has. It's like he has no short term memory or is trying to be as ~controversial~ as possible.
I absolutely agree with the point that he sounds like he's obsessed with Orwell. I'd even go so far as to say he sounds like a really pretentious college freshmen obsessed with Orwell who thinks he's saying something really profound.
I've had several teachers and professors who would fail this dude if this was some kind of project in a class.
posted by emptythought at 12:21 PM on November 1, 2013
Nah, it's weird that what he says isn't even a consistent narrative. It's just "these are both wrong, anyways, moving on" and doesn't even do a good job at that. Both you and kewb are adding a lot of extra words and context he didn't give which makes him sound a lot more credible and logical than he really sounds. You're basically filling in his blanks. Why bother inferring what he didn't say?
This is weird. It lists both "file sharing" (because it's really stealing) and "piracy" (because it's really illegal copying).
This is a one or the other thing. And it's really REALLY hard to make any compelling argument for the first one. And no, I'm not just saying that because it's the side I support or whatever. That it's "stealing" really is the newspeak.
Theft requires removing the property from the original owner. At absolute most making a copy is something like theft of services or yea, illegal copying. Copyright infringement != theft. That entire train of thought is propaganda.
The second point about piracy is correct, but as I said, is diametrically opposed to the first. Stop reading a bunch of meaning in to what he's saying. It's a poorly thought out contradictory list, and the way he words each point is as if he hasn't said other things he has. It's like he has no short term memory or is trying to be as ~controversial~ as possible.
I absolutely agree with the point that he sounds like he's obsessed with Orwell. I'd even go so far as to say he sounds like a really pretentious college freshmen obsessed with Orwell who thinks he's saying something really profound.
I've had several teachers and professors who would fail this dude if this was some kind of project in a class.
posted by emptythought at 12:21 PM on November 1, 2013
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