I just started reading Rene Girard’s The Scapegoat. Just a few pages in, it’s proving to be worth the time.<\/p>\n
A disease with a name seems on the way to a cure, so uncontrollable phenomena are frequently renamed to create the impression of control. Such verbal exorcisms continue to appeal wherever science remains illusory or ineffective.<\/p>\n
-Rene Girard, The Scapegoat, p.4<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“Verbal exorcisms” is a useful phrase – a handy synonym to “linguistic hand-waving”.<\/p>\n
In a somewhat-related instance, I was reading over the documentation on my daughter’s glaucoma medication tonight and came across this line:<\/p>\n
The precise mechanism of the ocular hypotensive action of TIMOPTIC-XE is not clearly established at this time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That’s the long version of “we’re not really sure how the hell it works”.<\/p>\n
That’s OK though, because it does work.<\/p>\n
Contrast that with this recent statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve:<\/p>\n
“To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with the dual mandate, the Committee expects to maintain a highly accommodative stance for monetary policy.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Which is the long version of “Things are bad, but we’re going to look busy”.<\/p>\n
Calling the economic situation in America a “recovery” only makes any sense if it’s former height of growth and glory was REAL and not imaginary markets and numbers on a banker’s letterhead. Calling it a “recovery” is an attempt to establish control over something we do not have control over. Instead, like so much of the world has always known – this is the NEW NORMAL. “Recession” was a better word, though it still granted the former fake glory days legitimacy they didn’t deserve. “Depression” is one that nobody wants to touch with a ten-foot pole but accurately names what people on the ground feel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just started reading Rene Girard’s The Scapegoat. Just a few pages in, it’s proving to be worth the time. A disease with a name seems on the way to a cure, so uncontrollable phenomena are frequently renamed to create the impression of control. Such verbal exorcisms continue to appeal wherever science remains illusory or … <\/p>\n