A T'Sou-ke councillor is calling out a comment by a South Island Conservative candidate, though he argues the clip was him "inartfully explaining" historical context.
I had someone tell me on the fediverse that having a diversity of languages is inefficient and we should celebrate everyone beginning to speak the same language and just you know just use AI to handwave away any friction blah blah blah… to which I responded a diversity of language makes you more powerful as a society… to which they confidently retorted something to the effect of “when has a niche language ever been powerful in war or otherwise?”.
It was very satisfying linking to the story of the Navajo Code Talkers, especially because they survived, this wasn’t a Tragic Indian Story, they served, they were respected for their immense power and skill at war, and then they went on to live among us even as we still yet could not find it in ourselves not to be racist against them… but no matter that speaks badly upon us not them because there they are in that picture, alive and living which is not just a symbol of hope, it is a symbol of their power and we should fear to forget it.
If you think we are weak because we speak different languages and because one idea or command is not necessarily immediately comprehended and accepted by everyone in the group due to vast tectonic differences and movements of people within society… then you are only admitting your own weakness… in war, in peace, in art, in comedic vision, in love… in everything.
Canada having indigenous languages as official ones would protect us against imperial powers since it would be harder for the elites to understand what we’re thinking.
Having Indigenous languages as official also helps underscore in monument that all art is translation and all translation is always fundamentally a lie, which is why the act of becoming skilled in translation is a process of learning to listen and knowing how to best twist the lies you make into the most harmless/loving approximation of the truth.
This idea that translation is a general problem of logic to be solved with algorithm, computer, beaucracy or AI is supremely dangerous and it is just fascism defined with the narrow terms of language.
Yes of course, could it accurately be described as representative of their language anymore if the agency is taken from them in the processing of recording it? Can we even know what the language is now not at some historical period in the past if we do not empower the native speakers of the language to flourish?
…and further if we ignore the language of the old and sick by retracting basic healthcare from them and casting them aside than we lose our capacity to sense mortality, age and sickness through language, if only the “healthy” decide what is recorded or said we know very little and in many cases what we do end up “knowing” is worse than knowing nothing at all… certainly we become weak in the exact way we projected onto those suffering… but here I am again falling unintentionally into confessing how much I love The Magic Mountain.
I had someone tell me on the fediverse that having a diversity of languages is inefficient and we should celebrate everyone beginning to speak the same language and just you know just use AI to handwave away any friction blah blah blah… to which I responded a diversity of language makes you more powerful as a society… to which they confidently retorted something to the effect of “when has a niche language ever been powerful in war or otherwise?”.
It was very satisfying linking to the story of the Navajo Code Talkers, especially because they survived, this wasn’t a Tragic Indian Story, they served, they were respected for their immense power and skill at war, and then they went on to live among us even as we still yet could not find it in ourselves not to be racist against them… but no matter that speaks badly upon us not them because there they are in that picture, alive and living which is not just a symbol of hope, it is a symbol of their power and we should fear to forget it.
If you think we are weak because we speak different languages and because one idea or command is not necessarily immediately comprehended and accepted by everyone in the group due to vast tectonic differences and movements of people within society… then you are only admitting your own weakness… in war, in peace, in art, in comedic vision, in love… in everything.
Canada having indigenous languages as official ones would protect us against imperial powers since it would be harder for the elites to understand what we’re thinking.
Having Indigenous languages as official also helps underscore in monument that all art is translation and all translation is always fundamentally a lie, which is why the act of becoming skilled in translation is a process of learning to listen and knowing how to best twist the lies you make into the most harmless/loving approximation of the truth.
This idea that translation is a general problem of logic to be solved with algorithm, computer, beaucracy or AI is supremely dangerous and it is just fascism defined with the narrow terms of language.
Obviously First Nations should be the ones writing signage, books and documents in their own languages.
Yes of course, could it accurately be described as representative of their language anymore if the agency is taken from them in the processing of recording it? Can we even know what the language is now not at some historical period in the past if we do not empower the native speakers of the language to flourish?
Language is a living thing!
That is why it’s so crucial for elders to get decent healthcare so they can teach the young.
…and further if we ignore the language of the old and sick by retracting basic healthcare from them and casting them aside than we lose our capacity to sense mortality, age and sickness through language, if only the “healthy” decide what is recorded or said we know very little and in many cases what we do end up “knowing” is worse than knowing nothing at all… certainly we become weak in the exact way we projected onto those suffering… but here I am again falling unintentionally into confessing how much I love The Magic Mountain.
https://ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/Castorp