BJH1960 said
In “Unwanted posts removed at the Request of Thread Starters,” there are quite a few by the usual suspects, who have never met a conspiracy they didn’t like. See posts 322, 345, 349, 352, and 355.
I have to admit a continuing fascination with the conspiracy mindset. Things don’t just happen, no. There must be Dark Forces at Work Behind the Scenes. The depressing part is that some folks apparently believe anything they see on YouTube. And what medium has less stringent entrance requirements than YouTube? All you need is a camera and an account and a big mouth.
Again I ask. What is Religion but the greatest of all Conspiracy Theories? The Universe can’t just be the result of spontaneous, contingent physical processes, no. There must be Somebody At Work Behind the Scenes. What is Theology but a huge game of Fill in the Blanks and Connect the Dots?
Addendum: I’m not saying these “games” can’t be enormously entertaining, even rewarding affairs. I use the term in the Wittgensteinian, non-trivial sense.
Gullibility is en force.
Add real or feigned conviction to that big mouth, and you’ve got a winning combination.
I’m uncertain how many actually believe the rubbish they’re peddling and how many are just straight-out hucksters.
But what really troubles me is that those who subscribe to Bart’s blog, who for the most part have likely done so because they respect his scholarship and ability to disseminate scholarly opinion, should upon entering the Readers Forum have to encounter sensational, conspiratorial nonsense in blatant disregard of the rules.
I like that.
It staggers the imagination the things people are willing to believe without anyone reason whatsoever except that they heard it somewhere. And perhaps that the person they heard it from or at least someone that person knew seems to know what they’re talking about.
It is such a wonderful sounding word.
And French is ever so beautiful.
Unfortunately, when I had it 45 (!) years back, we largely memorized dialogues and studied grammar.
Looking back the only really bright side of the endeavor was the poems we learned by heart like ** you do not have permission to see this link ** the first stanza of which I can still recite.
My initial take was that the poet was so depressed he was unable to see hope in anything, even truth. I thought of Kariotakis’ line “even the sun, death within deaths.”
Perhaps, he’s speaking of a greater disilusionment than merely his breakup with Sand that extends to truth itself.
I’d love to hear what your thoughts are.
Robert said
I’ve spent a good part of the morning learning about Alfred de Musset in a lovely and intimate conversation with Lila (don’t tell Stephen). I’d love to send you a PDF of the conversation. Of course I’ve edited it to remove the amorous parts, but happily the word ‘debaucheries’ survived, but only with reference to the amorous pursuits of de Musset, not those of Lila.
Not to worry. I’ve accepted that Lila can never be wholly mine. No cherry as sweet as a debauched cherry, right? BWAHAHAHA…
Isn’t AdM saying that even though truth may rob us of our pretensions our grief and loss is better than our ignorance?
Robert said
Stephen said
Isn’t AdM saying that even though truth may rob us of our pretensions our grief and loss is better than our ignorance?Yes, but a bit of detail about his life & times as well as some quotations from other works of his peovide some additional perspective.
Let me know if this link works:
** you do not have permission to see this link **
Yes it works. Unless you have some objection I want to print it out and read it over my tea this afternoon at the coffee shop. No one else will see it.
Has anyone but me ever seen ** you do not have permission to see this link **? Scarlett Johansson gives a wonderful performance especially since all you ever hear is her disembodied voice. Strange that a movie this relevant is already 12 years old.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert