A letter to a 6th grader.
August 23, 2010 11:54 AM Subscribe
In a 2002 letter to a 6th grader, Obama's Harvard Law professor sees phantom limb syndrome as an optimal way of life.
"As we pass through childhood each of us, a storehouse of alternative ways of becoming a person, imagines many different courses of action and of life he may later take. However, we cannot be everything in the world. We must choose a path, and reject other paths. This rejection, indispensable to our self-development, is also a mutilation. In choosing, as we must, we cast aside many aspects of our humanity. If, however, we cast them aside completely, we become less than fully human. We must continue somehow to feel the movements of the limbs we cut off. To learn how to feel them is the first major work of the imagination."
Quoted on Slate via some blogger via the Harvard site of Prof. Roberto Mangabeira Unger. A brisk and absurdly thoughtful piece.
"As we pass through childhood each of us, a storehouse of alternative ways of becoming a person, imagines many different courses of action and of life he may later take. However, we cannot be everything in the world. We must choose a path, and reject other paths. This rejection, indispensable to our self-development, is also a mutilation. In choosing, as we must, we cast aside many aspects of our humanity. If, however, we cast them aside completely, we become less than fully human. We must continue somehow to feel the movements of the limbs we cut off. To learn how to feel them is the first major work of the imagination."
Quoted on Slate via some blogger via the Harvard site of Prof. Roberto Mangabeira Unger. A brisk and absurdly thoughtful piece.
This post was deleted for the following reason: framing matters - if you're going to draw some sort of Obama connection don't be coy SAY WHAT YOU MEAN, otherwise leave it off, it's distracting and confusing and detracts from what might otherwise be an interesting essay. -- jessamyn
Interesting piece, but what does this have to do with Pres. Obama?
posted by m@f at 12:00 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by m@f at 12:00 PM on August 23, 2010
Yes, I was wondering that too. Is there some point in dragging Obama into it other than that he's dragged into everything now?
posted by blucevalo at 12:01 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by blucevalo at 12:01 PM on August 23, 2010
Obama.
posted by verb at 12:03 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by verb at 12:03 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
What's this about Obama being a Muslim?
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:03 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:03 PM on August 23, 2010
Why was the Obama reference necessary in the framing?
Having Obama tacked onto it is just a way to let Republicans know to not read it.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 12:04 PM on August 23, 2010
Having Obama tacked onto it is just a way to let Republicans know to not read it.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 12:04 PM on August 23, 2010
Perhaps a commentary on Obama's unique understanding of Constitutional law?
posted by Joe Beese at 12:05 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by Joe Beese at 12:05 PM on August 23, 2010
Obama was referenced because he is a terrorist Muslim and this is obviously a coded call for jihad:
"We must continue somehow to feel the movements of the limbs we cut off."
"A mummy begins to form around each of us, diminishing our reach and our vision by accommodating them to our circumstance. We begin to die many small deaths."
"By rebelling against our belittlement by the alliance between chance and society, we cease to be little. We become great: unshaken, unsubdued, unterrified."
Cutting off limbs, dieing many small deaths, rebellion--obviously a diabolical plot to brainwash 6th graders into the evils of terrorism.
posted by leftcoastbob at 12:07 PM on August 23, 2010
"We must continue somehow to feel the movements of the limbs we cut off."
"A mummy begins to form around each of us, diminishing our reach and our vision by accommodating them to our circumstance. We begin to die many small deaths."
"By rebelling against our belittlement by the alliance between chance and society, we cease to be little. We become great: unshaken, unsubdued, unterrified."
Cutting off limbs, dieing many small deaths, rebellion--obviously a diabolical plot to brainwash 6th graders into the evils of terrorism.
posted by leftcoastbob at 12:07 PM on August 23, 2010
Speaking of Obama, I was just thinking about posting to this thread that mentions Obama.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:07 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:07 PM on August 23, 2010
I'm only here for the unicorn comment fables.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:07 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by shakespeherian at 12:07 PM on August 23, 2010
I vote we stop the obama derail, acknowledge the framing was poor, and try as a community to focus on the merits of the fpp despite its poor wording.
posted by shmegegge at 12:08 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by shmegegge at 12:08 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Barack "Doc Ock" Obama has phantom tentacles from a childhood accident in Indonesia, which makes his limbs two-thirds Muslim.
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 12:08 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 12:08 PM on August 23, 2010
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posted by asockpuppet at 11:59 AM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]