Posts by Keir Leslie
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
I think there is a problem in that while literally understood, a conspiracy theory is merely a theory which explains things by pointing to a conspiracy, the most common examples are wacky conspiracy theories. Wacky conspiracy theories are so very common that I feel quite justified in assuming a conspiracy theory is likely to be wacky until I see supporting evidence otherwise.
But that the theory requires positing of a conspiracy doesn't tell us much about the truth of the theory --- all explanations of 9/11 involve a conspiracy (as against JFK theories, which don't all involve conspiracies. But there's no reason to prefer non-conspiratorial to conspiratorial explanations of assassinations see Sarajevo). The phrase `conspiracy theory' isn't really a useful one.
The main problem is that true conspiracies aren't considered Conspiracy Theories, and so people misjudge the frequency with which they are true.
I also don't really think that the conspiracy theorists do have to prove that their conspiracy is correct to be of interest, because merely disproving the official theory is actually very very important. See again the Show Trials.
-
No, I stick with anglicised (& frenchified), being a term more precise and yet more general than just translating, because it is both the translation and the language that it is important.
(After all, were i to be called the Duc d'Orleans, I should anglicise as the Duke of Orleans, where duc is translated as duke; likewise nieuw vs. new.)
On English maps Zeeland is labelled Zeeland.
Yes; and yet the Dutch have changed their orthography since the naming of New Zealand, which rather suggests they aren't the hottest spellers, and further we should arguably refer to the dialectal name for Zeeland.
Also I should argue that the kind of transformation involved in the change from New to Nlle is different from that in the change from Whanganui to Wanganui.
-
I think we're forgetting that our nation's name is a mispelling of Zeeland.
Except there aren't any Dutch people getting offended, are there?
(And I also am unsure of how true it is to say `misspelt' when clearly New isn't Nieuw misspelt; it's Nieuw Anglicised and so I would argue with Zealand. Nouvelle Zelande isn't a misspelling of New Zealand but the French name for New Zealand. I don't think you can claim that for Wanganui, which is pretty much just a misspelling.)
-
But the thing about conspiracy theories is that there really are a whole bunch of actually existing conspiracies: there's the conspiracy to invade Iraq, the conspiracy to overthrow Allende, the conspiracy to overthrow Castro, etc etc.
So believing that the US government is engaged in nefarious secret activities isn't at all daft; it is merely a question of which nefarious secret activities you think it is up to.
Which is to say, there's not a simple good conspiracy vs. bad conspiracy theory line, and yes, people get very epicyclic about some conspiracy theories, but that doesn't tell us very much about any given claim.
So I don't particularly like conspiracy theory language. (And by the way, how long after the war was the existence of Ultra first made public? It is possible to keep secrets in some cases.)
-
any conspiracy theory
You mean, even the one about the network of Islamic fundamentalists spanning from a cave in the Hindu Kush to Hamburg to a flight school in Florida?
'cause I thought that was a pretty far-fetched conspiracy, were it not for the actually happening part.
(Also, the Bush admin was involved in all sorts of dodgy conspiracies --- invading Iraq torturing people etc. Which rather makes thinking they were up to all sorts of other dodgy shit understandable, even if not right.)
-
Hokitika citizens & police are not unknown for being very creative in their dealings with outoftowner wankers.
Thing is, it isn't the out of towners that are being wankers; it's the Dunedin students. Which is rather the interesting point; the problem's not the Ensoc people, for once; it's something entirely to do with Dunedin,
Which is a problem because I really do not see Ensoc giving up rights just because Dunedin students can't handle their liquor --- and, you know, see all the guff about students turning into pillars of the community? The guys running Ensoc are pillars of the community already; the chair of Ensoc is an ex officio member of the Canty IPENZ branch c'ttee, they organise charity events, etc, They aren't your idiot dickhead students exactly.
-
The next year, anyone who joins the Undie 500 knows what they're signing up for.
What, challenge a bunch of drunk & clever aggro young men to a biff? There's no way that could go wrong...
-
The Alps would kill most of the cars, but that would be half the amusement factor. Finishing would actually be an achievement.
It'd be funny, yes. Not too many pubs on the way to Hokitika though.
-
Because it starts in Christchurch given that's where University of Canterbury Engineering is, and then where the hell else can you go in the South Island?
People have suggested going elsewhere, but one of the problems with NZ is that there are very few places to go.
-
If I organised 500 of my friends to do the same I imagine the cops would stop us by Lincoln and tell us to go home or be arrested.
And that would be a gross infringement on your human rights, and I'd hope to hell you'd give the cops shit.
The problem is that the Undie itself is a fine thing --- I mean, watching them all set off, there's skill and ingenuity and fun in the cars; it's the drunken idiots in (and from!) Dunedin that fuck it up, and they should have the book thrown at them, but it really isn't fair to punish Canterbury engineering students because Dunedin has a dysfunctional culture.
(And seriously, Peter Chin did not handle this well.)