Back in the days when I thought about going to law school most who were going into law were English majors in undergrad. Not sure if that's still the case, but when you think about it, law is words, words are law. And what words mean, all of the possible meanings, and how they are constructed, all of the possible ways they are constructed make a big, big difference in how they are interpreted as law. Like how "and," is significantly different in law than ", and", "shall" and "may" are distinctions with difference. Remember the, "it depends on what the definition of "is" is" parsing of a certain past lawyer president? Non-lawyer readers mock. Lawyers and judges nod their heads in agreement.
Studying English as a major introduces one to linguistics. Which is what George Orwell based his future (present?) dystopian "War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength and Freedom is Slavery" Newspeak on, linguistics can make each of those concepts true.
And now you understand why the Marxist Noam Chomsky became a professor of linguistics. You can repeal the US Constitution and all notions of individual freedom and liberty it protects in plain English without firing a bullet by redefining what the words in it mean. Revolution by nonviolent means of controlling language. Unless, of course, "words are violence" these days. Hmmm?
And judges rise in the ranks to higher and higher courts based on how cunning and flexible they are at linguistic gymnastics. The Olympians become Supreme Court justices.
excellent observation! You might appreciate an article from 1986 by Robert M. Cover, "Violence and the Word," 95 YALE L.J. 1601 (1986).
A quote from the first paragraph: "Interpretations in law also constitute justifications for violence which has already occurred or which is about to occur. When interpreters have finished their work, they frequently leave behind victims whose lives have been torn apart by these organized, social practices of violence. Neither legal interpretation nor the violence it occasions may be properly understood apart from one another."
I poked around your Stack to learn more about who appreciated my observation and found that my curiosity has overlapped with your life's academic and legal pursuits.
While I'm not a lawyer I've written more law in my career than most who practice and interpret it. I've met and worked with accomplished lawyers who've taken up civil liberties cases involving indigenous peoples, the lead attorney for Ward Churchill, David Lane, on his termination from CU over free speech issues. This isn't to say my values are in alignment with either of them, they mostly aren't. And while I've enjoyed cocktails and fascinating conversation with David Lane I found his defense of medical tyranny in 2020 reprehensible as a civil liberties attorney and lost all respect for him as I do for all frauds and phonies; I could overlook his far-left values, but not his indulgence in totalitarianism. Which, truth be told, is a prerequisite for applied Marxism as it exists outside academia.
And perhaps of interest to you is a Stack I wrote in 2022 about Russell Means, a transcript of a speech he gave that Mother Jones covered in 1980. It's where I learned a lot that destroyed preconceptions I had of him before I read his words in his own voice. Much of it applies to the insanity of our world we see unfolding around us today. I'd be curious about your obervations as they relate to his speech and my write up about it if you cared to offer them?
Small world! I have met Ward and think the brouhaha about him was an early straw in the wind of ‘identity politics’. I don’t know David Lane, but what you say about him makes sense to me.
I will definitely look at the links you sent… and get back to you, but not until I’m done with a project due on Jan 11…. much appreciated! I met Russell a couple times… his was an up and down career…
That is the most acute painfully accurate description ever! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 It conjures up a visual of Peters riding the sewage wave on a surf board wearing his cool aviator shades and a mask of course.
Jan Dickmeyer, as I was reading your comment, Fox News was reporting, “President Biden is Underwater with Polls!” I’m not sure I can finish drinking coffee and reading comments at the same time. I need a ‘Coffee Bib’ to make it through!
Thats a shocking visual you just conjured up. Maybe he is riding the Poopline break instead of the Pipeline (north shore Oahu for the non- surfers among us). or is that Obama as he is hanging there this week.? gives a whole new meaning to Hang Loose. Aloha.
Ha! Perfect Chris. Doesn’t one of these ‘billionarish’ persons want to recycle poop into drinking water for we less then poop preoccupied to partake of? 🤣
Milwaukee's been turning its sewage sludge into fertilizer for sale for decades. Wonder how much $$$ the city has made from monetizing their crap? Enough to cover cost of water treatment?
"...long diarrheaic stream of pandemic psychosis."
Six words entirely summarizing the past 4 years. Excellent work, counselor! 🏆
Jeff is THE BEST with words. No wonder he’s an attorney.
Except he is an attorney whose words bring clarity rather than confusion! 👍🏻
We in FL are lucky to have him in our population, Jeff is a privilege!
Amen!!
With all the poo…..
Blue-collar attorney? 😂
Wouldn’t it be ‘brown-collar’?)
Amen!! What a awesome feeling too!!
Back in the days when I thought about going to law school most who were going into law were English majors in undergrad. Not sure if that's still the case, but when you think about it, law is words, words are law. And what words mean, all of the possible meanings, and how they are constructed, all of the possible ways they are constructed make a big, big difference in how they are interpreted as law. Like how "and," is significantly different in law than ", and", "shall" and "may" are distinctions with difference. Remember the, "it depends on what the definition of "is" is" parsing of a certain past lawyer president? Non-lawyer readers mock. Lawyers and judges nod their heads in agreement.
Studying English as a major introduces one to linguistics. Which is what George Orwell based his future (present?) dystopian "War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength and Freedom is Slavery" Newspeak on, linguistics can make each of those concepts true.
And now you understand why the Marxist Noam Chomsky became a professor of linguistics. You can repeal the US Constitution and all notions of individual freedom and liberty it protects in plain English without firing a bullet by redefining what the words in it mean. Revolution by nonviolent means of controlling language. Unless, of course, "words are violence" these days. Hmmm?
And judges rise in the ranks to higher and higher courts based on how cunning and flexible they are at linguistic gymnastics. The Olympians become Supreme Court justices.
excellent observation! You might appreciate an article from 1986 by Robert M. Cover, "Violence and the Word," 95 YALE L.J. 1601 (1986).
A quote from the first paragraph: "Interpretations in law also constitute justifications for violence which has already occurred or which is about to occur. When interpreters have finished their work, they frequently leave behind victims whose lives have been torn apart by these organized, social practices of violence. Neither legal interpretation nor the violence it occasions may be properly understood apart from one another."
Thank you for sharing that, I'll dig into it.
I poked around your Stack to learn more about who appreciated my observation and found that my curiosity has overlapped with your life's academic and legal pursuits.
While I'm not a lawyer I've written more law in my career than most who practice and interpret it. I've met and worked with accomplished lawyers who've taken up civil liberties cases involving indigenous peoples, the lead attorney for Ward Churchill, David Lane, on his termination from CU over free speech issues. This isn't to say my values are in alignment with either of them, they mostly aren't. And while I've enjoyed cocktails and fascinating conversation with David Lane I found his defense of medical tyranny in 2020 reprehensible as a civil liberties attorney and lost all respect for him as I do for all frauds and phonies; I could overlook his far-left values, but not his indulgence in totalitarianism. Which, truth be told, is a prerequisite for applied Marxism as it exists outside academia.
And perhaps of interest to you is a Stack I wrote in 2022 about Russell Means, a transcript of a speech he gave that Mother Jones covered in 1980. It's where I learned a lot that destroyed preconceptions I had of him before I read his words in his own voice. Much of it applies to the insanity of our world we see unfolding around us today. I'd be curious about your obervations as they relate to his speech and my write up about it if you cared to offer them?
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/russell-means-mother-jones-interview-1980/
https://freedomfox.substack.com/p/teaching-an-old-fox-new-tricks
Small world! I have met Ward and think the brouhaha about him was an early straw in the wind of ‘identity politics’. I don’t know David Lane, but what you say about him makes sense to me.
I will definitely look at the links you sent… and get back to you, but not until I’m done with a project due on Jan 11…. much appreciated! I met Russell a couple times… his was an up and down career…
I'll bet he's real expensive but you're almost guaranteed to win!
From what I have been told he was a writer first.
That is the most acute painfully accurate description ever! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 It conjures up a visual of Peters riding the sewage wave on a surf board wearing his cool aviator shades and a mask of course.
Jan Dickmeyer, as I was reading your comment, Fox News was reporting, “President Biden is Underwater with Polls!” I’m not sure I can finish drinking coffee and reading comments at the same time. I need a ‘Coffee Bib’ to make it through!
🤣
That is rich Oma🤣
Thats a shocking visual you just conjured up. Maybe he is riding the Poopline break instead of the Pipeline (north shore Oahu for the non- surfers among us). or is that Obama as he is hanging there this week.? gives a whole new meaning to Hang Loose. Aloha.
Peters 🤣🤣🤣 Also, Comrade Fauci
Ha! Perfect Chris. Doesn’t one of these ‘billionarish’ persons want to recycle poop into drinking water for we less then poop preoccupied to partake of? 🤣
Milwaukee's been turning its sewage sludge into fertilizer for sale for decades. Wonder how much $$$ the city has made from monetizing their crap? Enough to cover cost of water treatment?
Michigan has done the same thing for decades,gives a whole new meaning to waste water run off!!
Robert L. Peters?
One of biden’s alias.. he used it in emails, I believe.
🤣🤣🤣Just visualizing that word picture!!
Holding an ice cream cone which gets splattered with ....
Consider it a “loose stream” since 2020
😵💫🥴🥴🥴
Except the counselor forgot the quotes around "pandemic." He does that...