Prescriptivism

I've just finished a module on my English language course that talks about the "prescriptive approach" to language use, which is basically the view that one variety of language is by nature better than the others, e.g. an RP accent is the proper way to talk and everyone should aspire to speak like that, innit.

Where there is diversity in accent and grammar some people will argue for a "correct" and an "incorrect" way of speaking.

This made me think about church denominations. There is a truckload of diversity (if diversity can be measured in truckloads) of theology, ritual, decor and cuisine among denominations. Cuisine is potentially the most divisive (how's your post-service coffee???).

As well as having different practices, we also have different views as to how significant these differences are. There are undoubtedly denominational prescriptivists, who wish that every church was "proper" like theirs. The opposite view to this is descriptivism, which is much more post-modern and less likely to cause conflict - "do your own thing" philosophy.

I have a tendency towards prescriptivism, especially regarding theology, but I have to constantly assess whether my opinions are based on holy conviction or selfish pride. I'm one of those people that enjoys being right far too much.

iGoogle

Just set iGoogle as my homepage. I think widgets are a good idea, I can now see my email, time and date, to do list, daily quotes, news and daily Bible verse all on one screen. I'm now wondering whether this will actually save time, or whether I'll be more distracted. According to researchers from Stanford University media multitasking doesn't work - it gives the impression of efficiency whilst not being remotely efficient. Clever.

I managed to resist the powerful temptation to add the "joke of the day" widget. Just.

Thirsty Philosophy

Every Monday night I play football, and occassionally I remember to take a bottle of water with me. When I don't, the first thing I do when I get back is drink a cold glass of Ribena. Mmm.

I've got into the habit of having short philosophical discussions in my head as I drink. It goes like this:

I'm really thirsty gulp this is good I love Ribena gulp how come it feels so good? gulp there can't be many more experiences gulp as pleasurable as this gulp having a drink when you're really thirsty gulp what is pleasure? gulp where does it come from? shlurrrrp

And then I have a second glass, which is never as satisfying as the first.

Maybe it's not so much a philosophical question as a biological one, but I'm no good at biology.

Video Games

Went out for a curry on Friday night at the Ramna, Shrewsbury, and had a very pleasant chicken Rogan Josh.

Despite having little stomach room left even for drinks, our group of heavily spiced gentlemen descended on a nearby pub, wherein I engaged in a conversation about video games. I love video games. Personally, I think that Final Fantasy VII is the best game ever, but that is open to debate.

Some people are viciously critical of them, (notably Cruella DeVille in the real-life film version of 101 dalmations - bear that in mind. If you hate Nintendo now, you'll be killing puppies for their fur one day) and they have a number or reasons; games sap your brain, they promote violence, they waste time etc. In fact I have felt guilty about my love of games for a while, as one might feel guilty about killing ants in the garden just for fun.

Now, I am not going to come up with a list of reasons why video games are, in fact, the most amazing invention ever and supremely beneficial to mankind, because that is just not true. However, there are a number of reasons why video games can and should be appreciated:

1) They are fun (it's ok to do things that are fun, yeah?)
2) They can be social (I had great fun beating Dave at Fifa)
3) There is some great art in games (Prince of Persia, Just Cause, Titan Quest, come on...)
4) They are educational! Ok, so, most of them aren't, but there has been a dramatic rise in the number of "edutainment" based games available - Brain Training et al.
5) They are part of our culture (the video games industry is about to surpass the music industry in terms of spending)

But, at the end of the day, they are not really useful. There is potential for a huge amount of time wastage. So enjoy responsibly, I guess.

Basic Human Rights

Human rights are interesting, mainly because a "right" is something that you assume is universally applicable and mandatory, yet the declaration of human rights was only invented by humans relatively recently. Unless we have God-given rights that humans merely discovered. That's another discussion.

Either way, it is good that we have some kind of notion of "rights" because there are so many people who have a standard of life that is unnacceptable, and we need to encourage ourselves and each other to not tolerate poverty. We can do this by refering to the "human rights" that are not being met.

However, in our western consumer society we have developed our own set of "rights" that we feel are mandatory for us; the right to watch television, for example, the right to pudding, the right to get drunk and not be told it is a bad idea, and now (as asserted by MSN) - the right to own a pair of matching shoes for every outfit! A basic human right, allegedly.

Whilst the MSN article is written with tongue and cheek in very close proximity, I'm sure there are people who would genuinely be offended if you recommended that they don't buy any more shoes until their old ones break (although cobblers do still exist! You know, cobblers. The people that mend shoes!) What is most infuriating about these unwritten rights of consumerism is that they take our attention away from the people whose basic rights (the right to eat, the right to not get shot etc.) are not being met.

We are more concerned about our freedom of entertainment to worry about other peoples' freedom.

New Poll

The poll on the right was inspired by this YouTube clip.

I love it when Dawkins says, "You mean true for you is different from true for everybody else? [can't catch this bit] Something's either got to be true or not."

I also enjoy it when O'Reilly says, "If people follow Jesus then the country's gonna be better."

Music

I spent some time today working on tracks for an instrumental/electronic album and got in quite a musical mood. So much so, that I felt compelled to buy some tunes off Amazon that I'd wanted for a while. An eclectic mix... Christina Aguilera, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Cannonball Adderley.

Music must be some kind of special blessing from God. It's just sound structured in a certain way, but it can convey so much and sound so good. I'm listening to Free Bird at the moment, and resisting the urge to crank the speakers up.

So I searched for references to music in the Bible and got 106 results. This one stood out for me; "Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I will sing to the LORD, I will sing; I will make music to the LORD, the God of Israel." - Judges 5:3. Is that the equivalent of Brian May playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace?

There is power in music, but even more power in music that is created expressly to worship God. I'd like to see a bit more diversity in this - jazz worship, dance worship (for a massive urban worship tune check out the Kingdom Skank) or maybe metal worship? Hear this, you politicians! I will shred to the LORD, I will wail; I will unleash a squealing, facemelting guitar solo to the LORD, the God of music!