Thursday, March 9, 2017

CNN Takes Affected Journo Lingo Back to the Neanderthals

The Rabbit's Hatch Reporter of the Day advises us Neanderthals may have been 'self-medicating' and, right away, we're into millspeak, the tawdry and meaningless language of the Millennials.

'Self-medicating' has typically been a term used by Establishment types to judge those they perceive to have left the reservation.  For example, those who blow the ganja are self-medicating and we're bad, bad people.

The RHRoD trapped herself within her own limited command of the language and the regulars have endured a great deal of my adoration for Noam Chomsky so this is one more piece of that.

Watson:  her own language is inherently self-limiting?

Holy shit, Watson.  You really might make it to detective.


Turns out, Neanderthals were just like us. When in pain, they self-medicated.

A new study that focused on the hardened dental plaque of four Neanderthals -- two in Spain and two in Belgium -- indicates they may have turned to plants to relieve pain.

One young Neanderthal in Spain appeared to treat a dental abscess with medicinal plants, highlighting an ability to self-medicate long before pills came into existence, according to the study.

- CNN:  Neanderthals may have self-medicated long before pills, study shows


The blazing racism of the article is ...

Watson:  what bloody racism?

The way the Neanderthals are presented is, at best, patronizing.  Why not write the piece to celebrate the wonder of it.  Wow, man, fucking Neanderthals discovered aspirin before Modern Man did it and ain't that a hell of an achievement.

Aspirin is one of the best and safest pharmacological products in the global pharmacy and Neanderthals seemingly found it first.  Seems to me those ancient hairy brutes deserve some major cred for that.


I saw the original release of the paper on the matter and thought it was kind of cool but didn't think y'all would get all that sexed-up over it so I passed on by.  I still don't see the topic as all that sexy but that bit about 'self-medicating' from the RHRoD got my attention due to my perception many are lost in their own language.

There's no need to go to depth in the definition of 'liberal' but I know the chance any realistic definition exists is near zero.  That's the type of self-limitation in this context since it's impossible to talk about liberalism when people don't know accurately what the word means.

It's the same thing as trying to describe a skyscraper to an Eskimo when he doesn't have a word for such a thing and probably doesn't even believe such a thing is possible.  Whether the word is absent or has been transmogrified to the point of meaninglessness comes out the same.


The temptation to get all tent revival about Noam Chomsky is sometimes strong because his work and thinking have been so important.

Watson:  you're not worthy

Nope (sob).

No comments: