Nuance in discourse is as imperilled as chalk cliffs and sandy beaches beset by climate change storm surges. Such is the state of spoken English that all you need to know are the buzzwords. As long as you can use them in a way that sounds like it fits the “zeitgeist”, you can safely avoid inconveniences like informed debate.… Read the rest
Nothing can be done about youth being “wasted on the young”, but squandering the power of moral outrage on the ridiculous is waste to the nth degree. Beset as we are by screeching to ban books for “woke” agendas, universities more focused on ensuring students don’t feel “uncomfortable” than in sparking critical thinking and a Press willing to quote lies in the name of “balance”, it’s time to rehabilitate the Luddites, if only in spirit.… Read the rest
“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.” The chances of enjoying that 16th century insight from philosopher Francis Bacon are slim to nil in today’s world. But a little more peace and quiet would go some way to starving the ignorance with which society is progressively bloating.
Not only is there too much noise of every kind, many people seem to find it not just tolerable, but necessary.… Read the rest
The loons have been talking more frequently of late, the haunting call known as the “wail”. One of four sounds loons use to communicate, ornithologists believe its few notes speak volumes. Human communication, by comparison increasingly brings to mind the first lines of Harry Nilsson’s signature song: “Everybody’s talking at me/I don’t hear a word they’re saying/Only the echoes of my mind”.… Read the rest