Tag Archive for 'language'

Jackson’s Journal – On Freedom and Conditioning (Hat Toss)

jackson published on May 9, 2011 in superforest journal, technology and zeitgeist. 18 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

(image via theblackmelvyn.com)

Gooood morning SuperForest!

I’ve been thinking a great deal about the idea of freedom, which, in my eyes seems to be a synonym for the words love, and happiness. If you are free, you are love, and you are happy.

So what is standing in the way of my happiness, if anything is standing in the way at all?

That has been my meditation point lately.

(image via flickr)

I begin by acknowledging my conditioning. My patterns have been conditioned by many external forces. An analogy could be to look in the mirror and notice to your surprise that you are wearing a variety of stacked hats upon your head, and some of those hats are large and floppy enough to get in ones eyes and obscure ones vision.

(image via flickr)

So I stand before the mirror and I examine my many hats, taking each one off and praising it before setting it down. Here firstly is my “American” hat, which dictates that I be “independent” and strive for success. In this case success is defined as the accumulation of goods, money, or power. A very interesting hat! I must thank it for giving me my drive and my rebellious streak, my aversion to standing in lines and my love of a good steak now and then.

(image via flickr)

Next is my “Male” hat. This hat represents all of the male conditioning I have been gifted over my life. Be strong, be macho, hunt, be silent, protect, absorb pain and injury without comment, bury ones feelings. Another interesting hat! This hat gives me wonderful perspective on what my culture dictates a male should act like, while giving me further insight on what lies outside the male norm and also what females are supposed to act like.

I go on and on, removing hats. Here now my “education” hat, which stipulates that I respect and revere authority, not stick out, look with contempt on those less educated than I, strive to set myself apart from the rest, be judged according to my own merits and not the merits of my place within a group.

(image via flickr)

Next my “class” hat, which teaches me that I am superior to those poorer than myself, and dictates that I behave in certain ways. The biggest possible upset to my class hat is not to be poor, for that is forgivable, but to be poor AND accept any form of assistance, public, private or otherwise. I am a rich, white, American, I should be independent, pull myself up with my own boot laces, carve out a place for myself in the landscape. No help is allowed while wearing my class hat. People who are welathier than myself are my superiors.

I go on removing hats, until there is one left.

Now I understand on an intellectual level that I have been conditioned by my environment to behave in certain ways, to feel certain ways, to think in certain ways about a variety of external stimula, but what took me by surprise was the last remaining hat: Language.

I am an American. I speak English (plus a smattering of other languages), and I subconsciously expect the rest of the world to speak English as well. English is fast becoming the de facto lingua franca of this planet. If you cannot speak English, modern thinking goes, you will never make any real money.

What is amazing to me is the realization that besides speaking English, I also THINK in English. My very source code for communication both external and internal is English.

So, what’s the big deal? I think in English. So what?

What if I told you that if you speak and think in English you are conditioned towards racism, inequality, hierarchy, and egoic behavior. Inescapably conditioned. Until you realize the edges of your conditioning and are able to gain perspective and step back to admire the conditioning at an arm’s length away.

Here is just a taste, a beginning, an petite hors d oevres to tempt your palette: Consider the words BLACK and WHITE.

Every child in America is taught that there are black people and there are white people. Up until a short while ago (and sadly still to this day) children were taught that white people were superior to black people. This is not news. Now, children are taught that white people and black people are equals, but consider the languaging of that statement.

White -

a : free from color b : of the color of new snow or milk; specifically : of the color white c : light or pallid in color <white hair> <lips white with fear> d : lustrous pale gray : silvery; also : made of silver
2
a : being a member of a group or race characterized by light pigmentation of the skin b : of, relating to, characteristic of, or consisting of white people or their culture c [from the former stereotypical association of good character with northern European descent] : marked by upright fairness <that’s mighty white of you>
3
: free from spot or blemish: as a (1) : free from moral impurity : innocent (2) : marked by the wearing of white by the woman as a symbol of purity <a white wedding> b : unmarked by writing or printing c : not intended to cause harm <a white lie> <white magic> d : favorable, fortunate <one of the white days of his life — Sir Walter Scott>
4
a : wearing or habited in white b : marked by the presence of snow : snowy <a white Christmas>
Here we see words like: free, light, fairness, good, free from spot or blemish, favorable, fortunate.
Let’s examine BLACK -
1
a : of the color black b (1) : very dark in color <his face was black with rage> (2) : having a very deep or low register <a bass with a black voice> (3) : heavy, serious <the play was a black intrigue>
2
a : having dark skin, hair, and eyes : swarthy <the black Irish> b (1) often capitalized : of or relating to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin <black Americans> (2) : of or relating to the African-American people or their culture <black literature> <a black college> <black pride> <black studies> (3) : typical or representative of the most readily perceived characteristics of black culture <trying to sound black> <tried to play blacker jazz>
3
: dressed in black
4
: dirty, soiled <hands black with grime>
5
a : characterized by the absence of light <a black night> b : reflecting or transmitting little or no light <black water> c : served without milk or cream <black coffee>
6
a : thoroughly sinister or evil : wicked <a black deed> b : indicative of condemnation or discredit <got a black mark for being late>
7
: connected with or invoking the supernatural and especially the devil <black magic>
8
a : very sad, gloomy, or calamitous <black despair> b : marked by the occurrence of disaster <black Friday>
No matter how lofty your moral outlook, no matter how high your levels of compassion or enlightenment, if you are using English as your primary means of communication, especially when teaching or communicating to children, you are enforcing innaccurate stereotypes and hurtful untruths in the most insidious way imaginable, by covertly conditioning children to separate people along an arbitrary spectrum of skin color, with “white” being the most favored, and “black” being reviled.
So long as we use the English words white and black and yellow and red to describe human beings, we are condemning them to the very fate that the dictionary describes above. Darker complexioned children will think of themselves as sinister, soiled, devilish, heavy, less-than, and whiter complexioned children will be taught be feel superior.
How nuts is that?
I am consistently amazed at how deep the conditioning rabbit hole goes. The further I hack my way into the jungle of my own interior garden, the more astounded I am at the discoveries made therein.
So, I remove the last hat.
Behold, hatless, I am perfect love!
Cheers to my many hats, and to the hatters who have behatted me! Thank you for the lessons and instruction. Gratitude for the perspective on myself.
For more information and perspective on this line of thinking, I highly recommend Jack Tafoya’s book “How the English Language Controls the World.” Reading this book for me has been like going to have lunch with an eccentric Grandparent who spends the entire meal babbling gibberish only to end the meal by lucidly saying one of the most astounding and thought provoking insights imaginable. It makes all of the gibberish worth it, and by the time you’ve had lunch with the guy several times, the gibberish starts to make sense, then it starts to stick. Cheers, Mr. Tafoya!
Love to All,
Jackson
(image via flickr)

Zero One Chalk Board

melissa published on February 13, 2011 in art, build, celebrity, technology and zeitgeist. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Prisencolinensinainciusol: Adriano Celantano’s Funky Gibberish

patricia published on December 18, 2009 in celebrity. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

HiHi SuperForest

I bet you’ve got a pretty clear idea in your head of what you think ‘typical’ sounds of ’French’, ‘Italian’, ‘Dutch’ or other languages sound like, but have you ever wondered what your native language might sound like to non-speakers of it?   It’s a weird exercise trying to imagine as I’m not sure it’s possible to divorce the sounds from the meaning to get a clear idea. Well, Adriano Celantano’s 1972 masterpiece of gibberish funk of “what English sounds like to foreigners” is here to help. Enjoy!

Oll Raight! Funk transcends language

Reminds me of my attempts at singing along in wildly approximated Italian (I think in French you can use the phrase “yaorteuse“) - though clearly with a higher funk quotient. And a harmonica!

I would happily curl up on the sofa and watch an entire musical of this, no lie.

Love

P

(via)

Jennifer’s Language Page Presents! – Please and Thank You in 270+ Languages!

jackson published on May 26, 2009 in celebrity and technology. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

picture-92(image via flickr user linma_i)

SuperForester Bee just sent this in…

Here, thanks to Jennifer’s Language Page is how to say…

Please

and

Thank you

In 270+ languages… Handy.

A great big Gui lah hui te ha (in Akha!) to Miss Jennifer for thoughtfully compilling the list.

"As Famous As The Dodo."

jackson published on October 27, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

From wikipedia:

“The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about 20 kilograms (44 lb), living on fruit and nesting on the ground.

The dodo has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century. It is commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurred during recorded human history, and was directly attributable to human activity.

The adjective phrase “as dead as a dodo” means undoubtedly and unquestionably dead. The phrase “to go the way of the dodo” means to become extinct or obsolete, to fall out of common usage or practice, or to become a thing of the past.”

Okay, so “dead as a dodo” used to mean that something was gone, baby, gone. Ne’er to return.

Now, it really should mean: “So famous for being absent that it actually comes back to life, albeit in different form.”

Meaning: The dodo is biologically extinct, but culturally bigger than ever.

Witness the above picture, the Muji pop-out DIY dodo.

The Muji dodo is just the most recent entry into a gargantuan heap of dodo-related gear.

There are plush toys:

T-shirts:

Record labels and websites:

Aimee Mann albums:

Porcelain figurines:

Calendars:

Coffee cups:

It goes on and on. These were just the first and quickest things I could find.

Now, “as dead as the dodo” should mean gone AND forgotten, not gone and endlessly reproduced in every conceivable form…

Let me think… Is there a dodo musical?

There is indeed!

Dodo food products? Ummmm… no.

Alright, I’m going to get to work on “Cap’n Jackson’s lightly breaded and fried Dodo Sticks *” and y’all get to work coming up with a new phrase that means what “as dead as the dodo” should mean, m’kay?

How about “as dead as the broad-faced potoroo?” Maybe the problem is that once you call attention to something’s absence, well, it sort of ceases to be entirely absent.

You at home come up with a new phrase, tell it to us and we’ll all spread it around!
One day, you could be “as famous as the dodo.”

Fun with language!

Love to All,

Jackson

* (“Dodo meat” is actually sustainably line-caught herring)

Visualizing Kinship

jordan published on September 25, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .


As I stated before, my theme for this week is Kinship with all life. And I can think of nothing that better represents that theme (visually at least) than Gregory Colbert’s Ashes and Snow:




The show encompasses over 60 expeditions to almost every continent and more than 16 years in the making (and ongoing). Ashes and Snow has been viewed now by over 10 million people worldwide, making it the most attended exhibition by a living artist in history. All in all an epic endeavor, the success of which I believe must be attributed to the power of its message.

And if that’s not cool enough, the show is housed in The Nomadic Museum, a sustainable and transportable structure, made originally out of recycled shipping crates and most recently, out of sustainable bamboo in Mexico City (the largest bamboo building in the world, to date!).

Emily Dickinson once wrote that great poetry can knock your head off. This does it for me. Tune in later for more in my series of kinship with all life…

-jordan

Kinship With All Life

jordan published on September 24, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

The title of this post will be my theme for the week. It also happens to be the title of the first book my grandmother gave my father, and the first book (and same love-worn copy) that my father gave to me.

It is a wonderful book with an important message: that there is a universal language of love that transcends and translates amongst all living things. And with an open mind (and heart) we can communicate, and commune, with all life (animal and human).

This is something I’m sure most animal lovers or pet owners at one time or another have experienced, and it’s a message that’s personally had a lasting impact on my life. As a largely ‘civilized’, urban dwelling, technologically advanced species, we often forget our true context in the world, or lose touch with that special connection to nature.

This book is a wonderful reminder.

It’s available here at Amazon or from the publisher.