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  • Posted by Lucky 4 years, 6 months ago
    Thanks again to Walter E. Williams this time as the author of this article.

    My comments:
    - Awarding marks according to the labor input rather than the achievement is straight Marxism.
    - Chomsky's views about universal elements in all human language would negate the proposition about correct English being racist. But Chomsky is wrong.
    - The prime function of language is usually given as communication. If thoughts are not communicated, why bother? Complying with formal grammar helps this, and certainly adds to an impression of professionalism.
    - Another way to look at what they, the post-modernists/progressives/marxists, are doing is that it actually encourages poor language. Poor language adds victimhood cred.
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    • Posted by LibertyBelle 4 years, 6 months ago
      I think that the prime function of language is to get one's own thoughts in order. Communication is also useful.
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      • Posted by Lucky 4 years, 6 months ago
        LibertyBelle half a C ago I came across this for the functions of language-
        1. Communication- conveying ideas, instructions and thoughts to others
        2. Problem solving- as you said, getting thoughts in order
        3. Emotional relief- what you say after hitting your thumb with a hammer and when hurling bad language at others
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        • Posted by LibertyBelle 4 years, 6 months ago
          What do you mean when you say, "Half a C"? 50 years? All three of those are valid, of course. I think that when language was invented (and it may have been invented more than once, in different places), it may have started as a combination of the first two.
          (An inarticulate cry or howl may not have been a word, at first; then, later, when one got the ideas of "offensiveness" or other such things, it may have turned into a sort of curse, or swear word.)
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    • Posted by $ 4 years, 6 months ago
      I see another sign of this in the profligation of "colorful metaphors" as Spock would say. To me, foul language is the sign of an uncultured mind and it seems to be prevalent in baser society - especially rap music. Elevate your mind = elevate your language.
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      • Posted by $ pixelate 4 years, 6 months ago
        I agree. The proliferation of cursing and its apparent acceptability, is by design. When I am working to make an argument, I refrain from cursing and keep it conceptual, trying hard to avoid making it personal. So many podcasts and YouTube channels offer a host that is comfortable cursing. If you have a good point or argument, the cursing only works to debase that point or argument. This is one more reason that I find Dave Rubin's YT show, and Jordan Peterson's lectures compelling. They are considerate, passionate, and use complete sentences; they refrain from using foul language.
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      • Posted by exceller 4 years, 6 months ago
        Rap!

        The manifestation of the intelligence level of some groups. I won't name them. Of course I am a racist for pointing it out.
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        • Posted by $ pixelate 4 years, 6 months ago
          A is A. Words have meaning ... Music, at least the way that I was taught decades ago, has a basic set of requirements. One of them is melody. Rap lacks melody. It is not music. I point this out when in polite company. My observation is often met with discomfort. Some (many?) people cannot handle the truth.
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          • Posted by bobsprinkle 4 years, 6 months ago
            But Big Brother says 2+2=5.....
            On another point, you are correct there is no melody in rap. There is only a "beat" that appeals to some other instincts. Rock n Roll combines melodies and a beat.....long live rock n roll.
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            • Posted by LibertyBelle 4 years, 6 months ago
              Rock&roll does not have much melody. Older music has much better tunes.
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              • Posted by bobsprinkle 4 years, 6 months ago
                About 20 years ago, I kind of "fell into" a hobby of collecting vinyl record albums as I attended garage sales and estate sales. I accumulated over 8000 albums. My initial passion was 60's rock. Then, while looking thru possible purchases I saw other records that prompted a "I wonder what this is like" response. Many of those purchases were a great surprise. I loved 'em. Several favorites include Dinah Washington Duke Ellington and Albert King. Dinah sang some beautiful late night melodies. Albert played and sang great Blues. The Duke speaks for himself. Some of my purchases were bulk. This included one genre that I just cannot get into. Opera. If I have no idea what the lyrics are saying, I just cannot get into it. I have maybe 100 or so opera albums that anyone can have. You must pay shipping. They are Heeeavy.
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                • Posted by LibertyBelle 4 years, 6 months ago
                  In music, it is the melody, harmony, and yes, rhythm, which are important---not so much the words. But often operatic records come with translations, which one can read while they are playing. (And though this may not be the listener's main motive, it is a good way to pick up the language, too.)
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              • Posted by exceller 4 years, 6 months ago
                Of course it does.

                Beatles, Foreigner, Beach Boys, The Eagles, just to name a few.

                Don't make the mistake to compare it to classical music. It is a different genre.
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            • Posted by exceller 4 years, 6 months ago
              In rock beat is a tool. It amplifies the music and secondary to the melody.

              In rap, there is nothing else but the beat and a monotonic cadence of text that best can be described as the sound of tennis shoes in the drier (as one of our colleagues here characterized it perfectly earlier).

              Not to mention the kind of "lyrics" rehearsed that are not fit for publication.
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        • Posted by $ 4 years, 6 months ago
          Of course you are. Just because it happens to be certain ethnic groups (and that primarily in large - Democratic run - cities) which overwhelmingly are the audience doesn't seem to matter much.
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 4 years, 6 months ago
    Correct grammar "racist"?--No, it is racist to assume that black people are incapable of learning to speak/write correct grammatical English.
    ---Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed Huckleberry Finn, and read it over and over. But Twain's intention was not to convert all Americans to speak like Huck; he was not presented as an ideal speaker, he was an ignorant boy, raised in a racist society and had a racist father, and, despite his handicaps (emphasis: handicaps), learned to rise morally above them.
    I suppose it is all right, occasionally, to let one's hair down and use sloppy grammar. I do, sometimes: "he don't", "I ain't", etc. But I do not do that when I write a letter to the editor of a newspaper. People need to know what correct grammar is, and, especially when expressing ideas, they need to be able to do so with precision.--And if one is supposed to wear oneself out in getting to college, only to be told that grammar is "optional" and unnecessary, what in the h**l is the use in going?
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 4 years, 6 months ago
    Think about this: proper language is sliding away. Why? Because with smartphones that make it possible to dictate text, and have text messages read aloud to you, literacy is becoming optional. It would be trivial to create an app that could scan written signs or statements and speak them to you.

    The population of emojis is becoming almost as numerous as the Chinese language, with its 40,000 characters, so it's possible to create messages using emojis to the knowledgeable that are more like hieroglyphics.

    Cursive writing is disappearing from many schools, treated as unnecessary art. That shows a lack of respect, or at least indifference to the written word.

    An illiterate society is easily controlled, since they can't discover whether the government is telling them lies or not. That society also likely has little respect for drive and initiative, and so long as their basic needs are provided, aren't likely to complain too much. Think about it.
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    • Posted by $ 4 years, 6 months ago
      Proper language is also a sign of a disciplined mind. Those are getting pretty rare despite the 7 billion people on the planet...
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      • Posted by Dobrien 4 years, 6 months ago
        A sharp disciplined mind considered as cool. What if it was an aspirational goal . Those with conscious mindful actions become rollmodels.
        Who is John Galt ? Hmmm.
        Go Reardon Go Francisco Go Dagney
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  • Posted by $ Stormi 4 years, 6 months ago
    I took a couple of those IDS courses, and they wer good back in the day. When the head of the Science dept. found I could write about science, I was asked to change my major to science. I already was completing two majors, and science was a minor, as I had taken two each semester, to bacuse I liked it. She said no one in her science classes could expalin what they were learning in words, and I had to change my major. I did not. But, that says a lot, as this dept. head felt expressing even science in words was important.
    One of my majors was English, and I saw that ed majors in a few required Eng. courses, had the worst grades in the class in English. Now, we are to accept that they must only feel about math, just try at English, and thye can't communicate with verbal methods with the people with and for whom they work. It just gets worse and worse.
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    • Posted by $ brightwriter 4 years, 6 months ago
      Look up the PRAXIS exam, the examination series used by most states for aspiring teachers to qualify for teaching licenses. I could have passed it in fourth grade. The blind cannot lead the blind, and the ignorant cannot lead the ignorant.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 4 years, 6 months ago
    Really? "They hired a professor to teach other professors to grade students based on their “labor” rather than their writing ability. " Uh, I think Heinlein killed that whole idea in Starship Troopers when he discussed "value" and said "that a bad chef could take wholesome dough and apples, already having value, and turn it into an inedible mess, value zero, while another chef could create a confection of great value". Ergo, you could put all the effort in the world into writing and still produce gibberish, but by these idiots standards get an "A" for trying, and yet someone who is correct and accurate, might get a "C" because of their perceived "effort". How would they measure such? By the number of words? The number of mistakes?. Might as well graduate with a participation diploma......
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    • Posted by $ 4 years, 6 months ago
      All you have to do is say that you spent twenty hours on a two-page paper to get an "A"...

      While really much of what you did was plagiarize from the Internet...
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 4 years, 6 months ago
    Face it, anything that is not of the loony left is racist these days.
    And the more socialist you are makes you more worthy to live on this getting sillier and sillier planet.
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