Retreating into a dead language is the most idiotic thing I've heard in a while - unless this is a symbolic parody of how isolated much of the academic humanities is. Why not just stick w the outdated 1970s critical theory that everyone already regularly invokes?
Garnet Hertz On Sun, Nov 10, 2019, 11:44 AM Iain Boal <b...@sonic.net> wrote: > Eheu Sean, > > As you say, 'Obscurity, especially in latin, is not a guarantee of > anything.’ A training in Latin used to be regarded as a portal to the > full resources of the English language, which is in effect a post-1066 > Anglo-Norman creole. Historically this involved a training in “classics” > (no accident that “classics” is cognate with “class”) and typically > correlated with a privileged education. > > The Welsh critic and *tribunus plebis* Raymond Williams grappled head-on > with the problem of English as a two-tiered diglossia. (He was looking in > at English from the outside, approaching the language as a native Welsh > speaker.) He saw clearly the problems produced by a language with class > inscribed so deeply in the structure, and for that reason he suggested a > regular column in the *Tribune* newspaper on 'difficult' words, > especially those with polysyllabic Greek and Latin roots. The editors > turned the proposal down, and so Williams published *Keywords*, never > having had the chance to take on, in the pages of *Tribune*, what he > thought was the disastrous policy of George Orwell, who had suggested that > proletarians (or ‘nobodies’, in Morlock’s formula) stick to simple > Anglo-Saxon monosyllables, more honest and less liable to fall into > Stalinist obscurantism and gobbledegook. Williams considered this strategy > a bogus and condescending populism that was all too easy a recommendation > coming from the dissident Etonian and classical scholar Eric Blair. > Ironically, learning Latin was, for Williams, a means to the precise > antithesis of Morlock’s conceited proposal. > > Iain > > > On 10 Nov 2019, at 07:14, Sean Cubitt <s.cub...@gold.ac.uk> wrote: > > Eheu Morlock > > sadly you picked the wrong language: the UK premiere B Johnson has made a > habit of adding latin tags to his outrageous posh-boy persona behind which > hides a refusal to publish a budget, the official financial predictions for > Brexit, the results of an enquiry into alleged financial impropriety and > the results of a major enquiry into Russian interference and donations to > his party. Obscurity, especially in latin, is not a gurantee of anything > > perhaps ancient Greek . . . > > Sean Cubitt > Goldsmiths, University of London > (U of Melbourne from Jan 2020) > ------------------------------ > *From:* nettime-l-boun...@mail.kein.org <nettime-l-boun...@mail.kein.org> > on behalf of nettime-l-requ...@mail.kein.org < > nettime-l-requ...@mail.kein.org> > *Sent:* 10 November 2019 11:00 > *To:* nettime-l@mail.kein.org <nettime-l@mail.kein.org> > *Subject:* nettime-l Digest, Vol 146, Issue 17 > > Send nettime-l mailing list submissions to > nettime-l@mail.kein.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > nettime-l-requ...@mail.kein.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > nettime-l-ow...@mail.kein.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of nettime-l digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Latin as revolutionary act? (Morlock Elloi) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 09 Nov 2019 14:48:36 -0800 > From: Morlock Elloi <morlockel...@gmail.com> > To: nettime-l@mail.kein.org > Subject: <nettime> Latin as revolutionary act? > Message-ID: <5dc74244.8090...@gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > What would be consequences of using Latin language among > group/clique/cabal/underground/elite for discourse, publishing, idea > exchange, tweets? (let's ignore for the moment how does one get the > above set to learn Latin) > > First of all, the noise goes down, as there is intellectual effort > barrier involved. Feeble-minded, distracted, low IQ, vacuous, and other > nobodies are out. It would be like early Internet (1990s) - only nice > and interesting people, no rabble. Only more resilient, because the > 'price' of learning tongue will never go down, unlike computer equipment > and access. > > Second, the cross-pollution from deluge of mechanically augmented media > firehoses goes way down. Language is the medium, and, of course, the > medium is the message. It's much harder to influence those thinking in a > foreign tongue. > > Third, the isolated hermetic nature of such setup would allow thinking > to mature, being spared from cretinous cheering and booing from the > unwashed crowd. At the same time, it can use modern networking > technology to attract interest globally. > > > Perdidi unum in mediis soccus lauandi, et iam sentire perfecta! > > > > ------------------------------ > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > > End of nettime-l Digest, Vol 146, Issue 17 > ****************************************** > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
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