Re: WHITAKER'S LAWS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

smaceach@polar.bowdoin.edu
Tue, 28 Jan 1997 10:31:36 -0600

bwhit@conterra.com wrote:
>
> As a good PC, you can't tell the difference between successes and your
> own moral judgements. In answer to my question about successes, you
> gave me a restatement of your faith.
> Nothing you academic bureaucrats adocate ever WORKS.

"Successes..." Well, that should be fun. I make the moral judgement
that slavery is a Bad Thing; therefore, the end of slavery was a success.
I make the moral judgement that Jim Crow laws were a Bad Thing;
therefore, the extension of civil rights to African-Americans was a
success. Now, in Bobby's World, those may not be looked upon as
successes, but I can't do anything about that, can I? Most of society
appears to be on my side on this one.

> I can't believe you're provincial enough to think professional slang
> impresses anybody.

Well, I had work to do and didn't want to take the time to translate
all this stuff into itty-bitty words for you. My apologies. Here
are a few, so you're not too confused:

faunal analysis: we look at bones we find on sites now.
lithic analysis: we look at stones we find on sites now.
gender studies: we think about women in the past now.
ethnoarchaeology: we watch people make stuff now.
settlement studies: we look away from sites now.
processualism: we think about science now.
post-processualism: we think about history now.

There are a couple of two-syllable words there, but I couldn't do
anything about that. Blame the English language -- you often seem to
have something against it.

> Professional slang does not substitute for reality. Your "modern
> anthropologists have proven all races are equal in innate abilities" was
> pure carp.

Nope, sorry Bobby, it's _your_ ideas that are fishy on that topic, not
mine. You are simply not equipped to argue this one. And 'professional
slang' is simply a way of expressing complicated (although not
necessarily complex) issues concisely.

> But not ours.

Just out of curiousity, Bobby, who is 'ours'? You seem to be a bit
old for those Clearasil Demons at National Vanguard. KKK, maybe?
Or just those old-timey folks at Southern Renaissance, or whatever
it's called?

Scott
______________________

Scott MacEachern
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Bowdoin College
Brunswick, ME 04011
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