User contributions for Root

6 March 2023

• 01:5901:59, 6 March 2023 diff hist +100‎ N Red State ‎ Created page with "One of the 50 states which tends, predominantly, to vote Republican in state and national elections." current
• 01:5801:58, 6 March 2023 diff hist +252‎ N Red Pill ‎ Created page with "An expression featured in the movie "The Matrix", used, in the movie, to represent a decision to live outside of the Matrix, a programmed virtual reality, or, alternatively (interpreting the metaphor) a decision to embrace and live in reality as it is." current
• 01:5801:58, 6 March 2023 diff hist +96‎ N Red ‎ Created page with "An outdated political term, referring to a member of the Communist Party or one of its cognates." current
• 01:5701:57, 6 March 2023 diff hist +402‎ N Reality ‎ Created page with "The word has two primary meanings. 1) Reality is a figment of the imagination (of, for example, a philosopher, a scientist or a theologian). 2) Reality is whatever the top politician (for example, a president, a king, an emperor or a chairman) says it is. There is, of course, an antiquated meaning of the word, something like "reality is what hits you in the face when you're not paying attention."" current
• 01:5601:56, 6 March 2023 diff hist +1,324‎ N Realist ‎ Created page with "A forbidden word. In the antiquated sense, a realist is someone who believes reality (in the antiquated sense) is coherent, governed by mathematical laws. There are three kinds of realist, the classical, the modern and the post-modern. The classical realist is someone who believes reality was created by an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise God, who invented the laws of reality, including the laws of nature. The modern realist is an agnostic, who believes that natur..." current
• 01:5501:55, 6 March 2023 diff hist +960‎ N Racist ‎ Created page with "Someone who disagrees with the social or political innovations of ethnic minority life mandated by the progressive movement. This definition supersedes that of Merriam-Webster, which is "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race." The main problems with this definition are: (1) it levies two determinative requirements where one would suffice, (2) it uses t..." current
• 01:5401:54, 6 March 2023 diff hist +1,086‎ N Progressivism ‎ Created page with "Progressivism denotes the political philosophy that leads to human progress. It is forbidden to question what this means or to ask for a coherent list of principles that characterizes it. (You can ask for a list of such principles. You just can't demand that they be self-consistent.) Progressives will insist on the moral purity of their historical genesis, emphasizing the role played by classic muckrakers, like Lincoln Stephens, Ida Tarbell or Upton Sinclair, political..." current

5 March 2023

• 23:0923:09, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,887‎ N Pro-life ‎ Created page with "One of those elusive terms that is claimed by almost everybody. Consider the following opposition positions: Conservative "pro-life": Finding important - possibly even essential, inherent or sacred (as in blessed by God) - value in innocent human life, in particular the life of an unborn or recently born child. Progressive "pro-life": Finding important - as in supported, desired or sacred (as in blessed by Government) - value in any human life, at any age. In particula..." current
• 23:0623:06, 5 March 2023 diff hist +355‎ N Presentism ‎ Created page with "Judging the past by the standards of the present. ''Wikipedia'' has two articles on "presentism". The term here refers to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_historical_analysis)| Presentism - literary and historical analysis] Bill Maher commented on this in a "Real Time" episode... <center><youtube>schuzjknjYE</youtube></center>" current
• 23:0523:05, 5 March 2023 diff hist +3,019‎ N Postmodern Fable 3 ‎ Created page with "'''Biblical Prolog (''Luke 10:30-34'')''' A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, an..." current
• 23:0223:02, 5 March 2023 diff hist +13,885‎ N Postmodern Fable 2 ‎ Created page with "'''Biblical Prolog (Genesis 11:1-4)''' Now the whole earth had one language and few words. And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scatte..." current
• 22:5822:58, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,966‎ N Postmodern Fable 1 ‎ Created page with "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel out on campaign; and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbat. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And on..." current
• 22:5722:57, 5 March 2023 diff hist +717‎ N Post-structuralism ‎ Created page with "So, what do you do if you flunked philosophy and science? If you have a political/ideological bent, and perhaps a flair for glib phrases, you invent "post-structuralism", a substitute for hard knowledge which excuses its ignorance with claims that "no one really understands anything anyway, because they just can't, that's why." If you find the work of Derrida, Foucault, et. al., too difficult to endure because of its imprecision, you might take refuge in the work of Wit..." current
• 22:5622:56, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,404‎ N Polysemantic ‎ Created page with "Having multiple meanings. This is one of the more obscure words in the English language. This is the adjective form. The noun form, polysemant, is even more obscure. Examples of polysemantic words include the following * Liberal * [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism Neoliberal] * Conservative * Progressive * Tolerance * Homophobic * Xenophobic * Pro-Life * Freedom * [https://en.wi..."
• 22:5422:54, 5 March 2023 diff hist +363‎ N Political Correctness ‎ Created page with "Political correctness is a term used generally by skeptics who stand at least partly aloof from post-modern progressivism. True believers regard the term as hostile and its usage politically incorrect. Since if you are reading this you probably have personal experience giving or receiving a charge of political incorrectness, I see no further need to elaborate." current
• 22:5422:54, 5 March 2023 diff hist +58‎ N Plutocracy ‎ Created page with "Rule by the class of people who have the most possessions." current
• 22:5322:53, 5 March 2023 diff hist +4,756‎ N POE ‎ Created page with "There are surely many other possible acronyms and many possible names for the Party of Empire. That we should end up with an acronym like POE is perhaps coincidental. We could not reasonably call its platform poetic, though we might consider its ideological underpinnings manifestly macabre. In truth, it is not clear that it has an official structure, like most parties do, but may exist purely as an abstraction of important phenomena or as an hypothesis advanced in an at..." current
• 22:5122:51, 5 March 2023 diff hist +4,713‎ N PAC Man ‎ Created page with "If you happen to be a geek, or know one well, you may know that the Japanese company, Namco, created one of the first arcade games, known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man Pac-Man]. Arcade games, once transitioned into an electronic digital media environment, were the first video games. Pac-Man was a rudimentary eating-head (as opposed to "head-eating") icon. It preceded the talking heads idea (which was pioneered by the Sci-Fi character known as [https://en.wiki..." current
• 22:5022:50, 5 March 2023 diff hist +93‎ N Oligarchy ‎ Created page with "Rule by a small group of people who agree with each other that no one else should have power." current
• 22:4922:49, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,023‎ N Obamoncology ‎ Created page with "Obamoncology is the sub-discipline of Oncology devoted to excising the cancer of capitalism from society. In a brilliant alliance between Mr. Glibb and Dr. Prepper, the American economy has been brought under sedation through the application of local anesthetics applied to various and sundry economic organs. The subject is not yet comatose, but is already largely unaware of what is happening. Some of those organs have been removed, and replaced by government agencies. t..." current
• 22:4722:47, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,208‎ N Nomocracy ‎ Created page with "The standard definition of Nomocracy is "government by the rule of law or a legal code." It should be noted, however, that the interposition of a large bureaucracy interpreting law effectively diminishes the purpose and intent of the rule of law, since the interpretation, if the legal code is overwhelmingly complex (the standard raison d'être for the bureaucracy) the interpretation becomes increasingly arbitrary. On might plot a graph of the relationship between the si..." current
• 22:4522:45, 5 March 2023 diff hist +799‎ N Nominalist ‎ Created page with "A forbidden word. A nominalist, in the antiquated sense, is someone who believes that the laws of nature are figments of a person's imagination. In that sense, they are purely arbitrary. Reality, itself, to the nominalist, has no such laws governing it. The idea of nominalism arose when philosophers noticed that not all humans (or dogs, or cats or horses) are exactly alike, and that it is deucedly difficult to define precisely what a human being is, so they stopped tryi..." current
• 22:4322:43, 5 March 2023 diff hist +635‎ N Newspeak ‎ Created page with "Newspeak is an archaic term, invented by George Orwell, to prophesy our post-modern linguistic usage, whose fundamental purpose is to control the social and political narrative. One may view the purposes and, to some extent, the form of Newspeak as a likely endpoint for post-modern language. By the time this endpoint is reached, of course, society will be in a process of economic implosion and ultimately degenerate into social chaos. Orwell was not a social economist and..." current
• 22:4222:42, 5 March 2023 diff hist +496‎ N Mother ‎ Created page with "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the term "mother" meant something. Or so the story goes. Few people, today, are sure what that meaning may have been. There is a rumor that an endangered species of humans, called Christians, have a concept of "mother" that is connected in some mysterious way with another concept they call "Church." When the curator of the World Museum of Natural History was queried as to what this might be, however, its response was "I dunno...." current
• 22:4122:41, 5 March 2023 diff hist +482‎ N Moral Relativism ‎ Created page with "A forbidden term. In the antiquated sense, moral relativism is the belief that morality is in the eye of the beholder. This makes it a tad difficult to explain why it is immoral to impose one's morality on someone else. It also makes it a tad inconvenient for governments (or, more generally, social elites), which are in the business of imposing some morality on everyone, or different moralities on different constituencies, whichever is more politically convenient or nec..." current
• 22:4022:40, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,106‎ N Monarchy ‎ Created page with "A monarchy is a government led by a monarch (usually a king or a queen). Monarchies vary according to the degree to which tradition or constitution exert a limitation on the power of the monarch, and whether there are or are not other governmental bodies representing specific civil groups, such as nobility, clergy, intelligentsia, the military class or common people. The actual title of the monarch may vary, as well, with some monarchies ruled by tsars or Caesars, some b..." current
• 22:4022:40, 5 March 2023 diff hist +446‎ N Misogynist ‎ Created page with "Someone who fails to promote the social innovations of female life mandated by the progressive movement. This definition supersedes that of Merriam-Webster, which is "one who hates women." This definition is too specific and too difficult to apply in most political contexts. In particular, it is too closely connected to its Greek roots. The new definition can be applied at will in new circumstances, as defined by the progressive leadership." current
• 22:3822:38, 5 March 2023 diff hist +48‎ N Minor Attracted Persons ‎ Created page with "A nicer sounding term that replaces "pedophile"." current
• 22:3722:37, 5 March 2023 diff hist +402‎ N Marriage ‎ Created page with "Although there are a variety of classical definitions of marriage, depending upon the seriousness with which the union is regarded (for example, some consider it to be a contract, while others consider it to be a covenant), there is no clear-cut definition of marriage, nor even an irreducible common denominator, acceptable to all the disparate elements of the post-modern coalition. Sorry about that." current
• 22:3622:36, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,600‎ N Manel ‎ Created page with "An all-male panel at an academic conference or colloquium, or on a TV quiz, news or talk show, or any other public venue where women are known to have an opinion but are conspicuously absent from a featured panel discussion. See [https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/manel Manel]. Not to be confused with the Indie-pop band of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manel ''Wikipedia'']. Not to be confused with the Catalan form of the name [https://en.wiktio..." current
• 22:3422:34, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,548‎ N Libertarian ‎ Created page with "Libertarians, in the intent of the word (if there is such a thing) are people who believe that the power of government should be minimized in order to maximize human freedom. In other words, today's libertarians used to be called liberals years ago, before liberals discovered that the benefits of big government outweigh the disadvantages. Some people are confused by the meaning of the word "libertarian" because so many libertines who want the power of government to..." current
• 22:3222:32, 5 March 2023 diff hist +648‎ N Liberal ‎ Created page with "The term "liberal" means different things to different people. Some folks who are classical progressives (i.e., in the mold of Margaret Sanger, as Hillary Clinton once described herself) and who might prefer not to emphasize their belief in eugenics might call themselves "liberal". Just as a libertine might call him or her self "libertarian" (perhaps not knowing the meaning of the term), a classical progressive might call him or her self "liberal". ''Wikipedia'' (still..." current
• 22:3122:31, 5 March 2023 diff hist +222‎ N Let's go Brandon ‎ Created page with "Wikipedia has a fairly accurate summary of the inception and use of the expression "Let's go Brandon". For an amusing example of the use of "Let's go Brandon", see [https://fb.watch/9O8uisTevy/ Mike Rowe's Facebook post]." current
• 22:3022:30, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,812‎ N Legal Realism ‎ Created page with "The preferred term for "legal instrumentalism," which is forbidden to be used. Legal realism is the philosophy that the law, and, more specifically, its interpretation, must serve (i.e., be instrumental to the cause of) human progress. As such, it is thought to be malleable in an organic sense, provided it is reposed in capable hands. In that sense, it doesn't actually matter what the incipient principles of a legal framework are, as long as they can be properly shaped..." current
• 22:2822:28, 5 March 2023 diff hist +18‎ N Left-Wing ‎ Created page with "See Right-Wing" current
• 22:2722:27, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,499‎ N Language Games ‎ Created page with "The idea of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language-game language games], in the abstract, originated from early 20th century philosopher [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein Ludwig Wittgenstein]. He presented a model of human discourse within a given culture (understood in the broadest sense), noting that some players have more influence on the use and development of a language than others. As such, he regarded them as competent game players. From his pers..." current
• 22:2622:26, 5 March 2023 diff hist +57‎ N Kleptocracy ‎ Created page with "Government by kleptomaniacs who operate on a broad scale." current
• 22:2522:25, 5 March 2023 diff hist +161‎ N Kakistocracy ‎ Created page with "Rule by the morally and intellectually clueless. Kakistocracy is the preferred method of government of most of the world's nations and multinational-collectives." current
• 22:2322:23, 5 March 2023 diff hist +833‎ N Kafkaesque ‎ Created page with "Any legislative or socially, economically, educationally or journalistically prescriptive scheme that is dissonant with respect to the progressive movement's latest programs. This definition is admittedly provisional, since it cannot be assured of covering all the important criteria of the moment. Nevertheless, it supersedes the definition in Merriam-Webster, which is "of, relating to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings; especially : having a nightmarishly com..." current
• 22:2222:22, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,021‎ N Judeo-Christian ‎ Created page with "If you really don't know what this term refers to, I can recommend the article on Wikipedia: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judeo-Christian Judeo-Christian]. If you already have a sense of what this term means, you may also be aware of the drift in public discourse toward substitution of the term [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions Abrahamic] for Judeo-Christian. Let's face it, the lowest common denominator between the various branches of Judaism and..." current
• 22:1922:19, 5 March 2023 diff hist +316‎ N Catholic expert ‎ Created page with "A Catholic expert is anyone with credentials from a recognized Catholic institution of higher learning who happens to agree with the journalist who has consulted him or her on a topic of current interest. The most prized Catholic expert is a Jesuit priest or an erudite-sounding nun with a long list of degrees." current
• 22:1722:17, 5 March 2023 diff hist +4,958‎ N Jesuit ‎ Created page with "The term Jesuit used to signify a member of the order of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Jesus Society of Jesus], as founded by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_of_Loyola St. Ignatius of Loyola]. Today, although many Jesuits' Catholic identity may appropriately be considered in doubt, Jesuit priests of the post-modern progressive mold are in the front of many journalistic rolodexes (and their PDA/smartphone counterparts) as "Catholic experts." In..." current
• 22:1622:16, 5 March 2023 diff hist +3,827‎ N Isonomia ‎ Created page with "Wikipedia has a fine trace of the usage of the term isonomia. In essence, isonomy, or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isonomia isonomia], means "equality before the law", or, to use a traditional term "equal justice." This is a term that is not readily found in common usage, even though there are a number of crude approximations of the meaning in common postmodern usage. These approximations tend to be confused with notions of economic, social and political equality, amon..." current
• 22:1422:14, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,383‎ N Islamophobia ‎ Created page with "The word Islamophobia, in spite of its etymological pedigree (which is very thin compared to that for homophobia), broadly denotes any failure of total, evangelically supportive approval of what would classically be referred to as a [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia Sharia] lifestyle. In political or social discourse, use of the term tends to be most effective when the user genuinely (or, at any rate, convincingly) feels aggrieved or morally outraged because of som..." current
• 22:1322:13, 5 March 2023 diff hist +322‎ N Intersectionality ‎ Created page with "The application of Venn Diagram logic to Identity Politics. According to the theory, the more subgroups of oppressed people one belongs to or identifies with, the more points scored in the great battle for compassion, recognition, votes, political favors, etc., as long as one does not espouse conservative principles." current
• 22:0922:09, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,261‎ N Independent ‎ Created page with "The term Independent (with a capital "I") refers to a question of party affiliation, not, as some suppose, a question of emotional or intellectual independence. Indeed, many, if not most, members of the grouping known as "Independent" are anything but independent thinkers. Since it's sexy to say "I'm an Independent," lot's of people who normally vote Democratic call themselves Independent. These people are actually "liberals," but the term "liberal" isn't sexy...." current
• 22:0722:07, 5 March 2023 diff hist +966‎ N Identity Politics ‎ Created page with "A paradoxical approach to forming coalitions in a political party or movement. The basic idea is that many people belong to or identify with a particular minority group that has suffered injustice or even oppression in the past, and that all such people can benefit by combining into a powerful political coalition. The difficulty naturally arises, however, that people who see themselves as victims tend to regard other people with jealousy. As long as everyone can agree o..." current
• 22:0622:06, 5 March 2023 diff hist +377‎ N Husband ‎ Created page with "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_and_Steve Adam and Steve] got married. As bridesmaids, they chose Bob and Ted. The groomsmen were Carol and Alice. When it was all over, Adam and Steve flipped each other to see who would be declared the husband and who the wife so that there would be no confusion when one or the other passed away and the survivor began to collect benefits." current
• 22:0422:04, 5 March 2023 diff hist +3,008‎ N Human Rights ‎ Created page with "According to the old definition, human rights are endowed by God to his human creations as a consequence of his human creations sharing in his image and likeness. It entailed the rights of acting in conformity with one's conscience and pursuing such goods as happiness/good fortune and eternal salvation, whatever THAT means! This definition is clearly outdated, however, since not all human cultures sprang from the traditions of the Hebrew scriptures (in particular, the T..." current
• 22:0322:03, 5 March 2023 diff hist +330‎ N Hinge of History ‎ Created page with "An alternate, and academically updated name for the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius. It expresses the idea that inexorable changes in demographics and education guarantee that every progressive cause célèbre will soon triumph in the public square. Of course, that assumes that the collapse of civilization doesn't happen first." current
• 22:0222:02, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,245‎ N Homophobia ‎ Created page with "The word homophobia, in spite of its etymological pedigree, broadly denotes any failure of total, evangelically supportive approval of what would classically be referred to as an unchaste lifestyle. In political or social discourse, use of the term tends to be most effective when the user genuinely (or, at any rate, convincingly) feels aggrieved or morally outraged because of some real or imagined slight. There is no requirement that the object of the homophobia epithet..." current
• 22:0122:01, 5 March 2023 diff hist +567‎ N Heterosexism ‎ Created page with "Heterosexism is the corollary face of the term homophobia. In its widest application, heterosexism is the mindset imputed to anyone who regards heterosexuality as in any sense normative for human populations. More specifically, heterosexism is ascribed to anyone who prefers adopting couples to be heterosexual or regards homosexuals, as such, as inappropriate role models, or the homosexual lifestyle as an inappropriate path for generic character building. Heterosexis..." current
• 21:5921:59, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,907‎ N Hermeneutic of Suspicion ‎ Created page with "In reviewing this definition, I realized I needed to express it in terms that postmodern people could understand. So, here goes... The hermeneutics of suspicion is the perspective that today's woke people have toward the scriptures and towards other foundational elements of pre-postmodern society. Okay, now that I've said that, I can perhaps explain what it is to people who are not yet woke. The expression ''hermeneutics of suspicion'' can be traced to [https://en.m.w..." current
• 21:5821:58, 5 March 2023 diff hist +410‎ N Grift ‎ Created page with "Grift is actually an old (in postmodern terms) word. It's usage, however, has reemerged in the past few years and is now quite popular. It is used as a noun (and, in that case, equates to "graft") or a verb. In the latter case, according to Dictionary.com, it can be used as a transitive or as an intransitive verb. Wiktionary classifies it as a slang term. I have yet to see it used as a transitive verb." current
• 21:5721:57, 5 March 2023 diff hist +418‎ N Grand Old Party ‎ Created page with "The term, "Grand Old Party," or, simply "GOP," is a kind of nickname for the Republican Party. It is intended to express a certain affection, and belief in the age, pedigree and viability of the party. History, it may be said, has yet to rule on the suitability of this expression. Nevertheless, its use is clearly consistent with the general tendency of "grade inflation" within the contemporary, post-modern culture." current
• 21:5521:55, 5 March 2023 diff hist +629‎ N Government ‎ Created page with "A civil institution, tasked (in theory) with representing the interests of the people in establishing good order supporting economic and social interaction. In a society where people cannot agree on what constitutes "good order" or "the interests of the people," the reins of government tend to be dominated by two main interest groups, which can be distinguished according to who they benefit and why. See, for example, Republican and Democrat. See also bureaucrac..." current
• 21:5421:54, 5 March 2023 diff hist +10,258‎ N Good ‎ Created page with "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the term "good" had something to do with virtue, and, even, dare I say it, holiness. Good, like the term realist, has a classical, a modern, and a post-modern definition. Jesus declared that only God is "good." Classical philosophers found such definitions too rigorous, however, and they proposed a variety of alternate definitions. Thus, we have the followers of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus Epicurus], who belie..." current
• 21:5221:52, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,706‎ N Globalism ‎ Created page with "One of the more intriguing words in use, today. The first thing to note is that the connotations attaching to the term today are not reflected in the dictionary definitions. For example: : Dictionary.com defines globalism as "the attitude or policy of placing the interests of the entire world above those of individual nations." : Merriam-Webster.com defines globalism as "a national policy of treating the whole world as a proper sphere for political influence." The Mer..." current
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• 21:2921:29, 5 March 2023 diff hist +4,245‎ N Female priesthood ‎ Created page with "Female priesthood, as currently conceived in mainline monotheistic religions, is a cultural and historical aberration. There is a fascinating article in Wikipedia on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination_of_women ordination of women] which, if the reader is patient and thorough in reading and "drilling down" to source articles, clearly demonstrates the following points of interest to this issue: : Not every instance of ordained priesthood covered in the article is ac..." current
• 21:2821:28, 5 March 2023 diff hist +3,660‎ N Gender Equality ‎ Created page with "The idea behind gender equality in the post-modern era is that all genders are equal in all respects. What does "equal" mean, you ask? Given the evident differences among genders (in pre-post-modern times, one would have said "between genders") the term "equal" is clearly problematic. Are apples and oranges equal? Yet gender equality is a prerequisite concept for equal justice under the law in the eyes of progressives. In practice, this leads to many distortions...." current
• 21:2621:26, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,465‎ N Gender ‎ Created page with "More than any other term in the English language, the term "gender" is notoriously difficult to define. Once upon a time, the term "gender" was a kind of generic term applied to the classification of male vs. female. In many languages, however, gender came to be applied to inanimate objects with no discernible connection with sexual function or orientation. As if this were not confusing enough, a consensus built within polite society to agree to label a man "female," o..." current
• 21:2321:23, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,338‎ N Freedom ‎ Created page with "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the term "freedom" referred to a capacity to pursue the good without interference from tyrants. Nowadays, paleos refer to this as "freedom for" to distinguish it from "freedom from." What's confusing about all of this is the use of the term "good." Like the term realist, the term good has a classical, a modern and a post-modern definition. The impact of this is to give the term "freedom" three definitions. We h..." current
• 21:1921:19, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,000‎ N Free Thinker ‎ Created page with "The term free thinker is an artifact of modern thought, and is prototypically defined (at least in precursor form) by the thought of Rene Descartes, who believed that everything should be questioned, even belief in God, and should only be accepted on the basis of logic and reason. Descartes, rather conveniently, was able to invent all sorts of reasons to justify his Christianity. Others, of a more skeptical bent, who followed him, such as Voltaire and Nietzsche, found su..." current
• 21:0521:05, 5 March 2023 diff hist +4,245‎ N Female Priesthood ‎ Created page with "Female priesthood, as currently conceived in mainline monotheistic religions, is a cultural and historical aberration. There is a fascinating article in Wikipedia on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination_of_women ordination of women] which, if the reader is patient and thorough in reading and "drilling down" to source articles, clearly demonstrates the following points of interest to this issue: : Not every instance of ordained priesthood covered in the article is ac..." current
• 21:0321:03, 5 March 2023 diff hist +493‎ N Father ‎ Created page with "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the term "father" meant something. Or so the story goes. Few people, today, are sure what that meaning may have been. There is a rumor that an endangered species of humans, called Christians, have a concept of "father" that is connected in some mysterious way with another concept they call "God." When the curator of the World Museum of Natural History was queried as to what this might be, however, its response was "I dunno. Yo..." current
• 21:0221:02, 5 March 2023 diff hist +2,622‎ N Family ‎ Created page with "The post-modern world has determined that the classical definition of what constitutes a "family" (comprising a father, mother and one or more offspring - with an "extended family" covering more than two generations) is hopelessly out of date and utterly unworkable. It isn't simply that, in an age of a declining institution of marriage, less than half of "families" satisfy that definition, the whole idea that a father and mother have any kind of special rela..." current
• 21:0121:01, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,100‎ N Entitlement ‎ Created page with "Entitlement can refer to a legal code (or clause), a social contract or a legally or socially sanctioned expectation. It can also refer to a narcissistic frame of mind aided and abetted by a culture, that indeed largely defines a culture. It can refer to something as trivial as a gratuity "earned" by a faithful patron of the corner pizza parlor, as large as a retirement pension or as comprehensive and ephemeral as "happiness" or even "eternal salvation." The late note..." current
• 20:5720:57, 5 March 2023 diff hist +4,728‎ N Elites ‎ Created page with "Every society is stratified in some manner. The simplest definition of elites is the people who occupy the highest stratum, and who have the greatest and deepest influence on the shape of society and of events. Of course, that's a fairly bookish definition, and it is probably of no help in identifying who the world's elites, in fact, are. If we think in terms of movie scenes, if we assume the dominance of Western nations and if we assume that "money talks", we can per..." current
• 20:5620:56, 5 March 2023 diff hist +447‎ N Economic Stimulus Package ‎ Created page with "In the words of the early 21st century American President, Barack Obama, an economic stimulus package is a spending package. It follows from this (and the law of verbal association) that any spending package qualifies as an economic stimulus package. Clearly, any spending package induces some economic stimulus. Since it would be undemocratic to consider the ratio of stimulus to spending to be a matter of any importance, we will not do so here." current
• 20:5420:54, 5 March 2023 diff hist +926‎ N Doublespeak ‎ Created page with "(For a detailed historical analysis of the term, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak ''Wikipedia's'' article on Doublespeak].) Doublespeak is a term used to label any politically-motivated abuse of language. Unfortunately, "abuse of language" is often not recognized when it exists and often imagined when it doesn't. This wiki is dedicated, in large measure, to exposing and lampooning such semantic chicanery. While early use of doublespeak could reasonably b..." current
• 20:5120:51, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,533‎ N Dog Whistle ‎ Created page with "According to ''Wikipedia'', [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics Dog-whistle politics] is "political messaging employing coded language that appears to mean one thing to the population of the general public at large while also simultaneously having an additional, different, or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup." This is, of course, a perfectly legitimate definition, at least on its face. The analogy, of course, is to the original dog whistl..." current
• 20:5020:50, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,537‎ N Deplorables ‎ Created page with "The official list of categories of individuals subject to censure and/or "cancellation" (last updated on December 7, 2019, the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a more direct historical attempt at cancellation). (See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call-out_culture Call-out culture], Wikipedia's historical review of the current terminology for censure and "cancellation".) Viz... : Racist : Bigot : Homophobe : Misogynist : Transphobe [https://en.wikipedia..." current
• 20:4920:49, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,425‎ N Demisexual ‎ Created page with "I haven't been able to find a definition of "demisexual" that makes logical sense. The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives a noun definition and an adjective definition. Neither definition is implicit in the component terms "demi" and "sexual" combined. It's as if the people who introduced the term could not find an appropriate component to clarify a distinct type of sexuality. Let's take a look at the details. Here's the noun definition: "a person who feels sexual att..." current
• 20:4520:45, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,329‎ N Deconstruction ‎ Created page with "Deconstruction referred initially to a modern effort of philosopher Jacques Derrida to dig beneath the paradoxes that often arise in analyzing reality according to such traditional polar opposite concepts as (1) nominalism vs. realism or (2) discrete vs. continuous reality (for an interesting discussion of the current debate among theoretical physicists concerning the nature of ultimate reality, see [http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v307/n6/full/scientifi..." current
• 20:4420:44, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,513‎ N Crunchy Cons ‎ Created page with "Short for "crunchy" conservative (not how some cannibals regard convicts), the term refers to a new wave of conservatism that is not doctrinaire, can carry on a coherent conversation with just about anyone (of whatever political stripe) who can also carry on a coherent conversation, can tolerate the lives of people whose moral compass differs from their own but who recognize the grave dangers of totalitarianism of any political stripe and the moral and political blindnes..." current
• 20:4220:42, 5 March 2023 diff hist +575‎ N Corruption ‎ Created page with "I have tried to argue here (i.e., on this Wiki) that the corruption of language is a growing problem in our post-modern society. Obviously, there are other forms of corruption. Indeed, one can make the case that the body politic is riddled with disease, and the growing incidence of that disease bespeaks of an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in the face of diseases in the political, social, governmental and economic realms. Even science, academia, the [https://en.w..." current
• 20:4020:40, 5 March 2023 diff hist +50‎ N Corporatocracy ‎ Created page with "Government by corporations or corporate interests." current
• 20:3920:39, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,155‎ N Conservatism ‎ Created page with "Conservatism is a reactionary political philosophy that retards or impedes progress, and is liable, if allowed to reign unchecked, to result in the obliteration of all life on planet earth. Even to the typical conservative, the term conservatism tends to be problematic, since people who claim to be conservative do not generally agree on what that means. There is even a major strain of conservative philosophy that insists conservatism is not reducible to a set of princi..." current
• 20:3720:37, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,179‎ N Compassion ‎ Created page with "Compassion is an emotion experienced by the ant in regards to the plight of the grasshopper. It is an essential component of the curious symbiosis joining these two species. It enables the grasshopper to live in comfort without taxing abilities or virtues it does not possess, and the ant to live a life of toil that is blessedly short. One of the more subtle examples of the balance of nature, it, alas, suffers from certain defects which nature seems powerless to correc..." current
• 20:3520:35, 5 March 2023 diff hist +234‎ N Bureaucracy ‎ Created page with "A professional class of functionaries responsible for the day-to-day operation of government, probably invented by the Chinese philosopher, [http://en.wikipedia.com/wiki/Confucius Confucious], but lacking his focus on moral operation." current
• 20:3420:34, 5 March 2023 diff hist +102‎ N Blue State ‎ Created page with "One of the 50 USA states which tends, predominantly, to vote Democrat in state and national elections." current
• 20:3320:33, 5 March 2023 diff hist +273‎ N Blue Pill ‎ Created page with "An expression featured in the movie "The Matrix", used, in the movie, to represent a decision to continue to live life in the Matrix, a programmed virtual reality, or, alternatively (interpreting the metaphor), a decision to reject reality and live in a programmed fantasy." current
• 20:3220:32, 5 March 2023 diff hist +948‎ N Bipartisanship ‎ Created page with "In general, bipartisanship is the art of inviting the opposition party into discussion regarding major legislation, if it should prove to be politically expedient to do so. It may also include listening to the opposition and even in rare cases adopting their suggestions. More specifically, bipartisanship refers to the natural tendency of both parties to trade special favors in order to keep their special constituents happy. The spirit of bipartisanship is most in ev..." current
• 20:3120:31, 5 March 2023 diff hist +658‎ N Bigot ‎ Created page with "A person who disagrees with any part or aspect of the social innovations of the progressive movement. This definition supersedes the Merriam-Webster definition: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance. The problem with the Merriam-Webster definition is that it is politically neutral and, perhaps..." current
• 20:3120:31, 5 March 2023 diff hist +4,565‎ N Big tent party politics ‎ Created page with "Big tent party structure is all about buliding coalitions prior to an election, rather than after. As a result, those political parties that can articulate the most appealing slogans tend to win, however glib or misleading those slogans may be in reality. Parties in such a system do their best to exalt their own slogans while vilifying those of their opposition. Actual principles of life or governance are, in such a system, either minimized or denied in practice, if n..." current
• 20:3020:30, 5 March 2023 diff hist +938‎ N Basket of deplorables ‎ Created page with "Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's characterization of Presidential candidate Donald John Trump's supporters in the 2016 race for the U.S. Presidency. In this basket, Ms. Clinton placed anyone she considered to be "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic – Islamophobic – you name it" (and how's that for a start on a basket of epithets?) in a speech delivered at "an LGBT campaign fundraising event in New York City on September 9", according to ''Wikipe..." current
• 20:2920:29, 5 March 2023 diff hist +684‎ N Autocracy ‎ Created page with "A system of government in which the instruments of government are controlled by a single individual, known variously as a pharaoh, an emperor, a king, an autocrat, a czar (or tsar), a Caesar (from which czar is derived), a premier (not to be confused with a "prime minister"), a first citizen (e.g., Napoleon), a dictator, a führer (German for "leader", suggesting that German titles are remarkably unpretentious, at least on the surface) or party "chairman" (when gover..." current
• 20:2820:28, 5 March 2023 diff hist +4,992‎ N Authority ‎ Created page with "Authority is one of those terms derived from Latin that do not follow the usual rules of such word formation. Composed of "author" plus "-ity", a term based on the Latin "auctōr" with the ending "itās" (see "Origin of authority" in [https://www.dictionary.com/browse/authority authority]). Thus, "-ity" is normally combined with an adjective to form a noun. Dictionary.com gives examples jollity, civility, and Latinity, as derived from "jolly", "civil", and "Latin" (ta..." current
• 20:2720:27, 5 March 2023 diff hist +764‎ N Assault Weapon ‎ Created page with "A rifle that looks like an actual [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle assault rifle], but isn't an assault rifle, for the simple reason that, like most personal weapons, it has a semi-automatic mode of firing but, unlike an actual assault rifle, does not have an automatic mode (sometimes referred to as a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burst_mode_(weapons) burst mode] to distinguish it from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_firearm#Full-automatic_firearm_t..." current
• 20:2520:25, 5 March 2023 diff hist +130‎ N Aristocracy ‎ Created page with "Rule by the high born. Up until the 19th century, this was the preferred method of government for most of Europe and the Americas." current
• 20:2420:24, 5 March 2023 diff hist +373‎ N Alt-Right ‎ Created page with "A so-called "movement" started by a white supremacist named [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Spencer Richard B. Spencer] which has become a sort of terminological dumping ground for a wide variety of so-called right wing positions. Like the philosophy of Mr. Spencer, the "movement" if there actually is one, seems to lack intellectual coherence." current
• 20:2320:23, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,595‎ N 10 Second Sound Bite ‎ Created page with "10 Second Sound Bite: One of the chief techniques, in the toolkit of postmodern professional journalists, for grabbing the attention of viewers and/or listeners to a broadcast, cable or streaming news program and for providing an opportunity to influence or shape the opinions thereof. (See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_bite sound bite] for further details.) The 10 second sound bite is a technical improvement over the 15 second sound bite. The latter already ena..." current
• 20:2120:21, 5 March 2023 diff hist +1,950‎ N A Free Lunch ‎ Created page with "A Free Lunch: There are two countervailing trends in American culture that define a divide so deep it is probably unbridgeable. There's the part of America that declares [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_ain%27t_no_such_thing_as_a_free_lunch "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!"], and then there's the part that insists that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_meal#United_States every child in school be provided with a free lunch]. Generation after generation,..." current
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