Fearman's definitions
Actually written before the Revolution, by the Okhrana or secret police of the old Tsarist regime, round about the year 1900. Popularised by the later Communist leadership, the Nazis and others. Up there with the environmentalist "Chief Seattle" speech, the volley of excuses for the 2003 war in Iraq, Piltdown Man and the Donation of Constantine as one of the great fakes of history.
If you are suffering from insomnia, might I recommend you read this copy of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion?
by Fearman July 14, 2007
Get the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion mug.Postmodernism: pseudo-intellectual Trojan Horse of tyrants everywhere in the western world. Began in Arts faculties in various universities under "thinkers" like Derrida, Baudrillard, Foucault and Irigaray, and spread like a cancer into at least the "soft" sciences, if not further afield.
Works insidiously by establishing in the minds of the faithful that there are no ultimate truths in either a moral or a scientific sense, and dressing up bullshit in flowery language. Postmodernism pretends to be a guarantor of pluralism (a concept far better served, btw, by rational debate), and is in love with concepts such as the "transgressive" and the "paradigm shift". Unfortunately these matters are brought up in the midst of reams and reams of tendentious twaddle which constitute a dreadful waste of perfectly good trees, and the most notable effect of postmodernist (un)thinking is not the freeing of anyone's mind from conservative tyranny, but the scrapping of the very idea of objective truth. Once this happens, of course, what follows (outside the ivory towers of academia) is that the game goes, set and match, to the fellah with the biggest guns. Many conservative factions claimed that September 11 spelled the end of postmodernism. Ohhhh nooo, postmodernist twaddle was only just getting its boots on.
To take an (admittedly anachronistic) example of what is essentially the same thing:
"A new and magical understanding of the world is on the rise, one based on will rather than truth. There is no truth, in either the scientific or the moral sense."
- Adolf Hitler
Works insidiously by establishing in the minds of the faithful that there are no ultimate truths in either a moral or a scientific sense, and dressing up bullshit in flowery language. Postmodernism pretends to be a guarantor of pluralism (a concept far better served, btw, by rational debate), and is in love with concepts such as the "transgressive" and the "paradigm shift". Unfortunately these matters are brought up in the midst of reams and reams of tendentious twaddle which constitute a dreadful waste of perfectly good trees, and the most notable effect of postmodernist (un)thinking is not the freeing of anyone's mind from conservative tyranny, but the scrapping of the very idea of objective truth. Once this happens, of course, what follows (outside the ivory towers of academia) is that the game goes, set and match, to the fellah with the biggest guns. Many conservative factions claimed that September 11 spelled the end of postmodernism. Ohhhh nooo, postmodernist twaddle was only just getting its boots on.
To take an (admittedly anachronistic) example of what is essentially the same thing:
"A new and magical understanding of the world is on the rise, one based on will rather than truth. There is no truth, in either the scientific or the moral sense."
- Adolf Hitler
They didn't find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but Blair says they still except to find them and he walks in hope! How beautifully in line with the creed of postmodernism!
A recent postmodernism-infected view of the war in Iraq explained that Bush and Blair were "creating new realities" for the rest of the world to study.
A recent postmodernism-infected view of the war in Iraq explained that Bush and Blair were "creating new realities" for the rest of the world to study.
by Fearman July 16, 2007
Get the postmodernism mug.Not to be confused with the lower-case-initialled word, Cracker is a kick-ass police drama series from the UK starring Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid in the Potter movies) as a criminal psychologist in the employ of Her Majesty's Police. He is Scottish (of course) and grimly determined to have show-down after show-down with his wife over his additions to gambling, cigarettes and alcohol. Has a bit on the side with Sergeant Jane Penhaligon (whom he refers to as "Panhandle"), played by Geraldine Somerville (Lily Potter in the movies). He is deeply pessimistic and cynical and possessed of an ineluctable Celtic perception (sans tinsel and cliched stuff; think of the real Scotland) of the fundamental bleakness of the human condition. Sarcastic as hell. Unforgettable.
Oh, yes, the criminal cases are kind of interesting, too.
Oh, yes, the criminal cases are kind of interesting, too.
Did you catch Cracker on the tube the other night? Did you see the bit where Coltrane's smarmy colleague jumps off the roof?
by Fearman July 16, 2007
Get the Cracker mug.Pseudoscientific diagnosis most often made of people by their narcissistic parents, in conjunction with airheaded social workers, so that the parents don't have to accept personal responsibility for ten to twenty years of filling the kid's head full of dysfunctional bullshit. Also useful, in our age of postmodernist relativism where science is seen as at once useful and deeply suspect, for purposes of claiming financial aid. The kids could probably do with the aid, but society doesn't need the quackery. Those who make a mint out of selling the notion of this condition often rope in a few undeniable autistic savants to their argument so as to confer a thin veneer of respectability on the whole enterprise.
Incidentally, the very use of the word syndrome is pseudoscientific when used in the field of psychiatry. In medicine or any real science, a syndrome is defined as a wide range of symptoms, not all of which may be present in any one patient, which can be proven to link back to a common cause. To take two examples: Down's Syndrome results from a doubling of the sex-linked X chromosome in a person's genotype. It manifests in a range of symptoms including a flattened facial structure, a slant to the eyes, above average muscular development and below average intelligence, not all of which will necessarily manifest in any one person with the syndrome. Likewise, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, manifests in any of a large number of otherwise usually rare opportunistic infections once the body's immune system has been disabled by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Again, not all of these show up in any one case; again, there is a common underlying cause.
After decades of research, psychiatrists remain divided on how the human mind works. There are various conflicting schools of thought (Freudians, Jungians, Adlerians, gestalt therapists, a plethora of others); beyond some empirical research on brain chemistry, neural functioning and other areas related to hard science, the teaching on the workings of the mind get rather hazy rather fast. In other words, we don't really know for certain how the mind works in the sort of detail that would enable us to talk about "common origins" for the extremely wide range of symptoms allegedly linked to this so-called syndrome. The word "syndrome" is simply used in this case because the naive and misguided think it sounds impressively scientific. The very fact that the parameters of Asperger's are so broad and vague pretty much tells you what this whole racket is really about; selling people a bill of goods. However, in the majority of cases, given the plasticity of the human mind in early development and the lack of any explanation of how this "syndrome" is supposed to arise, the above definition is, I would offer, likely to be at least as good as any.
Incidentally, the very use of the word syndrome is pseudoscientific when used in the field of psychiatry. In medicine or any real science, a syndrome is defined as a wide range of symptoms, not all of which may be present in any one patient, which can be proven to link back to a common cause. To take two examples: Down's Syndrome results from a doubling of the sex-linked X chromosome in a person's genotype. It manifests in a range of symptoms including a flattened facial structure, a slant to the eyes, above average muscular development and below average intelligence, not all of which will necessarily manifest in any one person with the syndrome. Likewise, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, manifests in any of a large number of otherwise usually rare opportunistic infections once the body's immune system has been disabled by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Again, not all of these show up in any one case; again, there is a common underlying cause.
After decades of research, psychiatrists remain divided on how the human mind works. There are various conflicting schools of thought (Freudians, Jungians, Adlerians, gestalt therapists, a plethora of others); beyond some empirical research on brain chemistry, neural functioning and other areas related to hard science, the teaching on the workings of the mind get rather hazy rather fast. In other words, we don't really know for certain how the mind works in the sort of detail that would enable us to talk about "common origins" for the extremely wide range of symptoms allegedly linked to this so-called syndrome. The word "syndrome" is simply used in this case because the naive and misguided think it sounds impressively scientific. The very fact that the parameters of Asperger's are so broad and vague pretty much tells you what this whole racket is really about; selling people a bill of goods. However, in the majority of cases, given the plasticity of the human mind in early development and the lack of any explanation of how this "syndrome" is supposed to arise, the above definition is, I would offer, likely to be at least as good as any.
Johnny and Mary Stewart could never get their asses out of bed in the morning and Mary filled little Billy's head with nonsense about how the world is full of people out to get him. When he was bullied in school she told him to ignore it. Now she's gadding about telling everyone he has Asperger's Syndrome. Surprise surprise.
by Fearman July 29, 2007
Get the asperger's mug."Doctor" Gillian McKeith, known for her interest in the alleged medical value of feces in particular and the excremental nature of the woman and her advice in general. Much given, under the pretext of caring for people's health, to tearing them to bits on British TV for failing to live up to the the ideals of either mainstream medicine or, when that fails, those of Prince Charles. Possibly an indirect reference to the unrelated SF drama "Doctor Who".
by Fearman July 31, 2007
Get the Dr. Poo mug.The best meat ever slaughtered. Just ask Martin Scorsese's mom. Illegal in various parts of the world due to the concerted actions of animal-loving, cow-marrying, non-GM-tofu-eating, homeopathy-addicted losers, who believe that if only the calves lived just a little longer they would write the Great Mid-Atlantic Bovine Novel.
Veal. Yum yum. Boomshakka!
by Fearman August 3, 2007
Get the veal mug.Contrary to the old codgers who said it was the conservation of angular momentum, apparently it's down to fat bottomed girls. Let's not forget their importance. Otherwise, just think about it, you'd never get up in the morning. Thank ya Freddie, you've gone and made a big physics student of me.
by Fearman August 3, 2007
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