Challenges
Too good to be true
In a profile in The New Yorker the foreign affairs columnist of the New York Times Thomas L Friedman is being described as the most influential columnist in America.
I wonder whether he is so influential thanks to his love for folksy platitudes (I’m not the first one to notice this) or despite his habit to spice up his columns with trite remarks.
Just a few examples from one of his recent columns:
“But when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.”
“Barack Obama surely has one of the toughest leadership challenges any incoming president has ever faced.”
“You put this much leverage together with this much global integration with this much complexity and start the crisis in America and you have a very explosive situation.”
“Right now we need to throw everything we can at this problem to make sure this recession doesn’t spiral down into a depression. This is no time for half-measures.”
Whenever you think you have found true love think of Friedman: “When something seems too good to be true, it usually is.”
Whenever you run into my mother think of Friedman: “You have a very explosive situation.”
Before having sex think of Friedman as well: “This is no time for half-measures.”
Dens
"Capturing the Friedmans" was an excellent movie.Sometimes the thin line of reality seems to evaporate.
Mr. Friedman
The reason Mr. Friedman is perceived as influential might be related to his style.Using platitudes and presenting them as the absolute truth.
There is also something snobby in his columns. When he makes passing references to where he is or has been or whom he talked with. He always seems to want to deliver a message, his objective is to be influential.
I like his columns though. They are highly readable which has to do with the structure I guess.
Arnon blow up the money
You probably should not get to involved in the philosophical freedom and money thing debate. Both don't exist in a way. But we do exist and find our own way between the meaning of life and everyday practise. I run marathons, work and read a lot of books. I have to care for 4 children, 2 of them are "my own". I survive and can do anything I want to do 'cause of the energy we're putting in our family. We are not alone. We are happy togehter.Peter
Dens
And will Adam then spit out his piece of the forbidden fruit, or cut the tree, or...?Maybe the tale of the forbidden fruit should be read as it is, as a simple story. The story of a ridiculous, but yet a trespassing act (eating an apple!) and the harsh consequences of this act. The harsh consequence to be that Adam starts blaming Eve and Eve starts blaming an occasional passing snake ... Everybody starts blaming everybody; everybody can become victim or persecutor. The awareness of evil, the end of paradise, my guess.
Dear Bernard
If we are to return to paradise (like Dens stated) and stay there as our last goal, the story of the forbidden fruit has to change, otherwise the whole thing (including the blaming) starts all over again. Talking about evil...Garden of Eden
I made a drawing this summer depicting Adam leaning against the tree with the apple in his hands wich he offers to Eve. His penis has become the snake and points at Eve's triangle. Eve looks with amazement at the apple. No fig leaves.That's how I look at Genesis.
Mieke
I would like to see the picture you drew, your description sounds very interesting.In the first grade (I was 6 or 7) my mother was phoned by my teacher. She wanted to know in what way the bible was dicussed at our house. I had told in the classroom that Eve must have made babies with her son and Maria had a baby every year. If she would take "de pil" that would stop.
If I understand correctly, the price for intercourse, in those early days, was an apple.
Bernard
The apple of forbidden knowledgeI do not think there is much knowledge hidden in sex. That is why I did not buy my teacher’s explanation that the ‘original sin’ is about sex. (See my guess above). But my guess is as valid as yours.
