Flimsy Sanity: Ever Played the Game Gossip?

Flimsy Sanity

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. - Friedrich Nietzsche

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Ever Played the Game Gossip?

It's an oral history. It was passed down, word-of-mouth, father to son, from Adam to Seth, from Seth to Enos, from Enos to Cainan, for 40 generations, a growing, changing, story, it was handed down, word-of-mouth, father to son. Until Moses finally gets it down on lambskin. But lambskins wear out, and need to be recopied. Copies of copies of copies of copies of copies of copies of copies of an oral history passed down through 40 generations.
From Hebrew it's translated into Arabic, from Arabic to Latin, from Latin to Greek, from Greek to Russian, from Russian to German, from German to an old form of English that you could not read. Through 400 years of evolution of the English language to the book we have today, which is: a translation of a translation of a translation of a translation of a translation of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of an oral history passed down through 40 generations.

You can't put a grocery list through that many translations, copies, and re-telling, and not expect to have some big changes in the dinner menu when the kids make it back from Kroger's.

And yet people are killing each other over this written word. Here's a tip: If you're killing someone in the name of God — you're missing the message.
~ Songwriter Nick Annis

3 Comments:

  • At 12:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    FlimsySanity, yes!

    See
    http://oraculo.blog.com/blog/gadflying/330886/

    It's a point I've been making for years ...obviously with very limited success!

     
  • At 3:20 PM, Blogger Shephard said…

    Well stated.
    We were taught that in college, believe it or not. We were also taught that the King James version is one of the most notoriously warped translations. Factor in the editing at Constantinople and "god only knows" (LOL) how many other hands, and it all seems pretty foolish. The greedy leading the gullible.
    ~S

     
  • At 2:27 PM, Blogger porchwise said…

    And now, stepping on the stage for more insanity: Intelligent Design!

     

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