London Olympic Ceremony

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
because they may argue that its a vehicle for anothers imagination.

As seems to be the case WRT the lyric you posted.

-Removed-

I have no time to watch the television at present, I am engaged in a massive dri-wall
lining, coving and plastering job for my mother, ceilings, hall, stairway, top and
bottom landings. Have you ever held a 1200mm x 2400mm x12mm Gyproc
plasterboard to a ceiling while attempting to screw it in to the joists? Even with two
people, its agony.

yes my opinions are my own.

-Removed-

i dont waste hours here, i waste minutes. My mothers house not mine.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
This type of post for which you seem incapable of improving upon
seeks to reduce an intellectual argument to a tabloid one, focusing not on the actual
issue nor the content, but the personality behind it and belongs in some spam
repository. Sure you ignore the actual content, dont try to answer any of the questions
that are put to you, continue to drivel on about personalities, someone, somewhere
may care.

This question is still pending: what " intellectual argument" do you claim to have made with the Simon quote?

Originally posted by FMF
This question is still pending: what " intellectual argument" do you claim to have made with the Simon quote?

I think he's saying it speaks for itself, it speaks better than he could or needs to do, to those who are at least a little receptive. Personally I think it's pretty obvious. His reference to it calls the opening event worship of mammon, or something enough like that. I don't know if that counts as an intellectual argument.

Originally posted by JS357
I think he's saying it speaks for itself, it speaks better than he could or needs to do, to those who are at least a little receptive. Personally I think it's pretty obvious. His reference to it calls the opening event worship of mammon, or something enough like that. I don't know if that counts as an intellectual argument.

robbie is often so caustic and staunch in his condemnation of events, traditions, aspects of culture and even pieces entertainment for reasons that amount to some sort of infringement of the kind of spiritual 'purity' and unilaterally declared righteousness that he purports to represent here, day in day out.

Can he really be both condemning or smearing this event with such pomposity AND declaring it OK to a certain degree simply because he personally wants to watch the gymnastics?

I am not sure that this cherry picking - condescending others and yet effectively absolving oneself on the same page of posts - amounts to an "intellectual" stance. Do you? It's a pity he did not want to discuss it. Perhaps the reason for this, once again, is because what he says appears not to add up.

Originally posted by JS357
I don't know if that counts as an intellectual argument.

I think an instinctive tendency to almost always want to make quasi-religious or religious pronouncements on others' views or actions, and to then either clam up, unravel or lash out when this is questioned or disagreed with, are emotional reactions rather than intellectual reactions.

Originally posted by JS357
Personally I think it's pretty obvious. His reference to it calls the opening event worship of mammon, or something enough like that.

Well, this gets more and more peculiar. 🙂 The opening event was a wry overview of British culture, with some song and dance, followed by athletes from 200 countries celebrating the diversity and fellowship celebrated by the games. You "think it's pretty obvious" that this could be characterized as "worship of mammon"? ... i.e. wealth regarded as an evil influence, or if it's a NT reference, a personification of wealth and avarice as an evil spirit? I would have thought that such an obtuse and sneering 'observation' does not "speak for itself" at all. It warrants questioning, discussion and confirmation - if that is indeed what robbie meant.

Originally posted by FMF
Well, this gets more and more peculiar. 🙂 The opening event was a wry overview of British culture, with some song and dance, followed by athletes from 200 countries celebrating the diversity and fellowship celebrated by the games. You "think it's pretty obvious" that this could be characterized as "worship of mammon"? ... i.e. wealth regarded as an evil influen rrants questioning, discussion and confirmation - if that is indeed what robbie meant.

No, I "think it's pretty obvious" that his posting those lyrics means he thinks the opening ceremony represents "worship of mammon". I am telling you what I think he meant by it, partly to see if he would agree or disagree that I was understanding him correctly.

edit: By the way, a google search on the words:

"sounds of silence" meaning

brings up quite a few links.

One says "Regarding the line "Neon Gods". In the Book of Daniel (5:1-30) King Belshazzar and his entourage worship idols and a hand wrote a message on the wall telling the king of his fate.
- Jon, Cambridge, United Kingdom"

And elsewhere says "The interpretation is rather obvious if you think of todays society and look at the symbolic cues in the song. The Neon God for instance seems to me to obviously mean technology. People have come to depend on and worship technology in a sense... placing it as more important that anything else... making it a god."

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=796

So there we are.

Originally posted by JS357
I am telling you what I think he meant by it, partly to see if he would agree or disagree that I was understanding him correctly.

Worshiping idols? Worshiping mammon? Placing technology as more important that anything else? Making technology like God? The evil influence of wealth? King Belshazzar and his entourage? The olympic opening everemony? Surely robbie was not being so ludicrous! Or maybe his refusal to explain what he meant, means he knows he was being a bit ludicrous and is now hoping that his passive aggressive dodging is coming across as him being 'cryptic' and "intellectual" instead! LOL. 😵

Originally posted by JS357
No, I "think it's pretty obvious" that his posting those lyrics means [b]he thinks the opening ceremony represents "worship of mammon". I am telling you what I think he meant by it, partly to see if he would agree or disagree that I was understanding him correctly.

edit: By the way, a google search on the words:

"sounds of silence" meaning

brings making it a god."

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=796

So there we are.[/b]

You are not quite there JS357, in fact, there was nothing specific about it at all, it was
merely an abstraction, a reaction to seeing the reaction of those to a kind of neon
spectacle, man made in its entirety. I myself only caught a glimpse and have still not
seen the ceremony. That FMF and others thought that it must be religious is rather
amusing, that they think i am being cryptic or intellectual is funnier still. One could go
on about the nationalism, the sacrifices to sport at the exclusion of all else, the national
anthems as hymns in an idolatrous cathedral, luminaries in the guise of sports stars,
but why bother, its all been done before.

Interesting details about the sound of silence but once again, as soon as one offers any
type of definitive meaning, the symbolism loses its potency in a way, me thinks.

Originally posted by FMF
Worshiping idols? Worshiping mammon? Placing technology as more important that anything else? Making technology like God? The evil influence of wealth? King Belshazzar and his entourage? The olympic opening everemony? Surely robbie was not being so ludicrous! Or maybe his refusal to explain what he meant, means he knows he was being a bit ludicrous and is now ho ...[text shortened]... gressive dodging is coming across as him being 'cryptic' and "intellectual" instead! LOL. 😵

I am not hoping for anything FMF, sorry to disappoint you, but your posts really are a
reflection of you, rather than anything to do with me.