You want to politically liberate yourself?

[debbierlus]

Free yourself from the language of labels.

First step.

[Unvanguard]

1. All language is "the language of labels." n/t

[WheelWalker]

3. High five

[juno jones]

4. There are ways of moving beyond certain limits of english language.

E-PRIME, abolishing all forms of the verb "to be," has its roots in the field of general semantics, as presented by Alfred Korzybski in his 1933 book, Science and Sanity.

From Robert Anton Wilson:
http://www.deepleafproductions.com/wilsonlibrary/texts/raw-eprime.html


The map is not the territory.

Some semantic fun with the english language! :)

[phasma ex machina]

7. Sweet. Thanks for sharing.

[WheelWalker]

9. That's right....

Mu

[Unvanguard]

10. If we actually meant our "is" sentences that way, that would be nice.

But we don't. For instance, people can disagree.

[Chan790]

15. ...

Not this sh*t again!

Wilson was a moral-relativist crackpot who opposed the existence of declarative statements. Note that I did not say:

• I think I recall Wilson as a moral-relativist crackpot who opposed the existence of declarative statements.
  
  or
  
  
• Wilson seems like a moral-relativist crackpot who opposed the existence of declarative statements.

Neither one of these, like any E-prime statement, is a simple statement of fact. That is the purpose of E-prime...to make it impossible to state facts, an obfuscation of language in furtherance of moral relativism.

Unfortunately for Wilson and Korzybski, facts exist and any alternative semiotic theory dedicated to denying or hiding that fact is and always will be invalid and inviable.

[juno jones]

16. I find it to be a toy, and posted it for entertainment purposes only.

Just to throw out a little mind-bending alternative because I love funhouse mirrors.

Language is my playground and I enjoy digging around in it. I agree with much you say, at the same time sometimes our assumption that a fact IS a fact because someonne said it IS can lead us astray as well.

Oh well, it tended to make sense when I heard Wilson lecture, perhaps I was too high at the time. :)

However, language IS a virus, and it seems to shape our worldviews in subtle and often permanent ways.

[WheelWalker]

2. Language IS labels

[debbierlus]

5. I can't wait to write the long version of this post.

We begin!

[saltpoint]

6. A ridiculous claim.

Syntax is signing.

[WheelWalker]

8. Mu !

[pscot]

11. Or Moo

as the case may be.

[UrbScotty]

12. K&R (nt)

[Odin2005]

13. uh, words ARE labels.

[Thickasabrick]

14. I'm thinking about just turning it off for awhile - wait for the DVD nt