What a dangerous word is ALL. Holds a knife to a throat that word. And All's accomplice, ALWAYS. Mean, nasty ALWAYS. They sleep well at night. No conscience at all. You might say they have a surety that they are Always right. Their pals, NONE and NEVER confirm that for them CONSTANTLY. They are usefully sycophantic, those two.

SEVENTY YEARS I'VE BATTLED THESE WORDS.

I thought by now the world would have made some progress. Nope. Dang! There's another one. NOPE. And I just used that word. Hard to distance yourself from the gang and their cousins: EVERY TIME, EVERY OCCASION, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, and CONTINUOUSLY.



I wish everyone in the world had my speech teacher in high school. Did a whole week on critical thinking and then held us to critical thinking as we went on to other topics. Not just stuff that helps one get out of a cult, but the good stuff. The stuff that helps you in the end see your fellow humans for the disparate individuals they are. Taught us to see the power of the tagmemics, of words.

That was 1966.

2021 and I still see swirling around me is a tornado of THOSE words.

You don't have to add ALL every time. Often the adverb is applied in absentia.

For instance, "the Boomer's ruined the economy for the next generations." Nobody adds the phrase, "Well, not all of them." But there I go--I used the word, NOBODY. Not easy this.

I guess I am lucky to live in a very diverse community and work with and love a group of people who I see as not being exactly like everyone else from their ethnicity. I do the hiring though, and you have to be fun to work here. Easy going. Fun and easy going have no idea what an ethnicity is so we ended up disparate. You don't ALWAYS have to be fun though. Just sometimes.

A few times I hear from a distance when they think I can't hear, when I'm not supposed to, "D&D is not like most white people." At least I heard a MOST and not an ALL. That makes me very happy. People using the gateway word, Most, which will hopefully introduce them to SOME, and A FEW, and POSSIBLY and all the wonderful individual words that never add up to the ugly phrase "You just can't trust ANY (your chosen ethnicity or group here--- they all work for this sentence) people.


Disparate. A lovely adjective to see the world through. 1 : containing or made up of fundamentally different and often incongruous elements. 2 : markedly distinct in quality or character.

Sticks and Stones may break your bones, but words can bring down the world. Some words need to be on a leash. Maybe even with a spiked collar?

You're right about that. It would make a good topic for a church sermon, don't you think?

I heard the boomers (of which I am one,) maligned again this morning on the news. Evidently we are the bad guys who want everyone to go back to the office, instead of working remotely. My experience has been that it's just the opposite. The younger workers want to go back, and the older workers are happy to stay at home. But as you point out, it's never "everyone" in a given group.

I keep trying to tell myself that the milder, more moderate response is the better response. I've been failing on that of late, but I will strive to do better.

Observe closely and see:

Most (not all) folks are varying degrees of miserable (to wit attempted remedies alcohol opiates); have never learned to think with precision; so of necessity must lump things into undissected block categories of ALL, wherein all the supposed evils of their sad lives are blamed. You know -- the everything-is-a-culture-war types, for one example. The "you did it to me" laudable victimhood types.

Of course whatever generation-gender-race-class-sexuality-mask-nomask-vax-novax-politics nonsense is going to be blamed because when you can't think properly and so can't dissect a problem to engineer actionable solutions and thereby better your life -- what are you left with?


Whining!
Whining and abdication of responsibility.


They're not happy but their self-impaled chosen weltanschaung misery is self-imposed.
It's just not my problem. (Could say "I don't care" but that sounds harsh)(Wait a minute: I don't care)

Why care at all what these say and feel (because most certainly they can't think)?
Work instead on crafting a fulfilling life in whatever way is defined by you.

It is a choice.

You just rang up my cash register with that
post.

Dear friends are selling and moving out of town--retirement.
The house went into a bidding war--almost forty offers in five days. They got 50% over asking. Not kidding. And the house was L.A. expensive to begin with.

I was so curious who got their place. They said very young family with a kid. So did Dad and Mom buy it for them? No. The guy started his own little trucking company and built it up the hard way--reinvesting in the company and working hard and now they are there.

I love theses stories. Every time I hear someone say it is impossible now to get a good job and nothing is fair and you have to have a Master's what I hear is what you said in your post.



PS Another of my least favorite words is DESERVE, as in I deserve this (just because I exist).

ALL white people are racist. That’s the first premise of critical race theory. It doesn’t matter if you accept that premise or not. It’s not up for debate. In fact, debate itself is evidence that all white people are racist. Further, ONLY white people can be racist.


Here is an article from April outlining how one Canadian Government department is grappling with the problem of systemic racism:

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/only-white-people-can-be-racist-inside-global-affairs-anti-racism-course-materials

Headline: Only white people can be racist: Inside Global Affairs' anti-racism course materials

Sub-headline: "Objectivity" and "worship of the written word" are being taught to Canadian diplomats as markers of "white supremacy"

Snippet: “Promoted by public intellectuals such as Robin DiAngelo or Ibram X. Kendi, [critical race theory is] an approach that in recent years has found its way into the highest echelons of power in the United States, and now features in mandatory training for tens of thousands of U.S. bureaucrats and corporate employees. And now, it’s required training for Canada’s diplomats. Below, a taste of what antiracism training looks like at the sharp end for Government of Canada employees.”

At least white grievance is still alive and well. Oy.

Human Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ALL white people are racist. That’s the first
> premise of critical race theory. I

No it isn't. But don't let reality get in the way of a good rant.

There's no reason to change now.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2021 04:06PM by Tyson Dunn.

So an incendiary newspaper publishes an inflammatory article, and you either took it at face value or are presenting it as such.

That seems either naive or disingenuous. Which are you?

Tyson

Always use weasel words

Actually the All and Never words are great words. So are all the weasel words. They are two edged that can be banal and evasive or give understanding that we don't know as much as we think we do. No reason to follow some cute trend and demonize them.

My point is not so much the words that I emphasized usage, but how we look at each other, how we see each other. What is the value of looking a little deeper.

The novel I am reading now is about people forced into an unusual situation. Out of their comfort zones. Stuck together they get to know each other. Everything changes as the facades and self protections slide to the floor. Often a common plot device, yes. Would be nice if the same was more common in real life.

That's all I want. I'll leave the establishing of each other's guilt to everyone else. I have enough of my own regrets to keep me busy for a while.