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>> ... the recent investigation into Donald Trump’s hair, [is] directly in opposition to the triumph of celebrity culture. >There's so much going on in that ph
by internaut 10y ago
>> ... the recent investigation into Donald Trump’s hair, [is] directly in opposition to the triumph of celebrity culture.
>There's so much going on in that phrase it's hard to know where to start.
I think I've figured it out. It's like reading Lacan or Derrida.
The author or speaker generates these statements that create a combinatorial explosion of possible meanings. The author then moves swiftly on while you're trying to work out what the fuck they are talking about.
Since you're still cogitating on whether they've said something profound or something ludicrous, you become the slow one. Eventually you resort to skimming their sentences as they are spoken or written, desperately attempting to extract sense from meaninglessness.
This is seen as victory by them. They are deep. You are dim.
This is like a programmer authoring code that takes up a lot of machine time and then ascribing sophistication to the program because why else would it use so many resources.
It is true that it is often difficult to follow somebody's argument when they are of sufficiently evolved intellect. The difference is that there exists a 'ladder', a key metaphor or strand of thought that connects all together, and once you find that element, everything else they were talking about on that topic begins to make sense.
The key is to resolutely pin them down on a particular point. The intellectual will, with sufficient prodding, be able to break it down using simple language without jargon. Metaphors. Pictures. Beginning from the beginning.
The pseudointellectual will flower into a fully developed argot that extends everything and explains nothing. If they cannot interpret their reasoning for another mortal it is likely they do not understand it themselves.
If they want to feel complicated, I say we leave them to their devices. Good luck building on that foundation.