“Another good thing about living in New Orleans these days, according to some: it’s a great refuge from the recession. The gyrations of the Dow, the collapse of General Motors, the prospect of regulating credit default swaps – even the collapse of the housing markets – mean little to most New Orleanians. The city operates at such a low level of economic activity that it never really prospers in good times or suffers in bad.”
The Way of the Bayou in the NYT, from my parents. Many are fond of attributing to their cultures -those of their cities, states, regions- the characteristics of their personalities, and I’m sure Stephen Pinker would reject it all out of hand, but: this article explains a significant portion of my worldview. It also explains why, despite its diminishing fortunes, New Orleans will always be an important city: it is the largest American city in which the war against “dollar and clock” has been won.
“New Orleanians have been guardians of tradition and masters of living in the moment — a lost art. Their preference for having more time than money was at the heart of what made that city so much fun to visit and so hard to leave.”
Long live the anti-revolution; long live the moment!
“It explains why ‘Close the fucking door,’ ‘What the fuck?,’ Holy Fuck!,’ and ‘Fuck You!’ violate all rules of English syntax and semantics -they presumably replaced ‘Close the damned door,’ ‘What in Hell?,’ ‘Holy Mary!,’ and ‘Damn you!’ when religious profanity lost its zing and new words had to be recruited to wake listeners up.”
Steven Pinker, on the evolving taboos of language, in
The Atlantic.
“Borlaug, father of the “Green Revolution” that used agricultural science to reduce world hunger, has been credited with saving a billion lives, more than anyone else in history.”
The Moral Instinct. Interesting article in the NYT by Steven Pinker.
Update: I didn’t really praise this article enough; Pinker is such a lucid writer that you don’t notice how comprehensive and deep his presentation is until later. Check it out.
…”Today, the emotional power of religious swearing may have dimmed, but the psychology behind it is still with us. Even a parent without an inkling of superstition would not say “I swear on the life of my child” lightly. The mere thought of murdering one’s child for ulterior gain is not just unpleasant; it should be unthinkable if one is a true parent, and every neuron of one’s brain should be programmed against it.”…
