Comments on: Equal opportunity criticism (affirmative faction) http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/2008/02/15/equal-opportunity-criticism-affirmative-faction/ Secularism, religion, and the public sphere Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:54:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: John Whitelaw http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/2008/02/15/equal-opportunity-criticism-affirmative-faction/#comment-1228 John Whitelaw Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:30:19 +0000 http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/2008/02/15/equal-opportunity-criticism-affirmative-faction/#comment-1228 Are you sure bombast is your best weapon? Have you thought of trying the the plain-language-substitution approach? For instance, given that "transcendent" is usually just what the philosopher thinks of as "awesome", wasn't "shock and awe" really just short for the more precise concept of "shock and transcendence"? And isn't the Iraqi national resistance perhaps best understood in the philosophical milieu as a critique of that claim of transcendence? If you went at it that way, maybe people would have a better idea what the heck you're talking about. It's just an idea. Are you sure bombast is your best weapon?

Have you thought of trying the the plain-language-substitution approach? For instance, given that “transcendent” is usually just what the philosopher thinks of as “awesome”, wasn’t “shock and awe” really just short for the more precise concept of “shock and transcendence”? And isn’t the Iraqi national resistance perhaps best understood in the philosophical milieu as a critique of that claim of transcendence? If you went at it that way, maybe people would have a better idea what the heck you’re talking about.

It’s just an idea.

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