tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618037273976945887.post6551520899971562769..comments2023-10-28T01:17:48.577-07:00Comments on Blues is My Middle Name: Apples of GoldJohn Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04253189433784659729noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8618037273976945887.post-63488238659261234802011-03-04T02:42:36.445-08:002011-03-04T02:42:36.445-08:00What a joy! I have much I common with you on this ...What a joy! I have much I common with you on this one. In fact, when I wrote what I laughingly describe as 'my memoirs' I called them 'Word by Word' and they began with the comment: 'I have always loved words.......' The older I get the more important they become - not particularly the pedantry of 'good grammar' (important though that is)but rather the clarity of what is being said and its implications. I constantly find myself 'analysing' what politicians and the like say, testing it for logic, contradiction, integrity, clarity etc. I have always felt that the Tony Judt comment is so true: '..... For many centuries in the western tradition, how well you expressed a position corresponded closely to the credibility of your argument. Rhetorical styles might vary from the spartan to the baroque, but it was never a matter of indifference: poor expression belied poor thought. Confused words suggested, at best, confused ideas. There is now a glib "popular" articulacy based upon shoddy prose and quality of argument and when words lose their integrity so do the ideas they express.' Judt was right - we see it everyday in the debating chamber at Westminster and read it on most of the national press and other media outlets.Tony Bealehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00978321300348757188noreply@blogger.com