[Buddha-l] Re: Magic

[Chan Fu]

On 6/25/07, Richard Hayes <rhayes at unm.edu> wrote:
> On Sunday 24 June 2007 17:22, Chan Fu wrote:
>
> > > Isn't the phrase "sick society" redundant?
>
> > You meant, of course, oxymoronic...
>
> No, I meant "redundant." Once one has said "society," it goes without saying
> that it is sick. Oxymoronic would suggest that there is an apparent
> incompatibility between sickness and society.

Don't be silly. I suggested that "sick society" was an oxymoron
for the same reason you wrote, "Once one has said 'society',
it goes without saying that it is sick." In other words, I considered your
pronouncement oxymoronic in that there is no special connection
between society and sickness, but you implied the gross generality
that the word "society" implies sickness and thereby created the
oxymoronic loop.

Speaking of which, we could start an oxymoron contest. My first
entries would be,  "wise leader", "great president", "enlightened buddha",
"tolerant christian", "faithless muslim",  "people's congress",
"big  sale",  "limited opportunity" - all for the same implicative reasons
that you might similarly consider such phrases redundant.

"Thought, without the data on which to structure that thought,
leads nowhere." -- Vic Stenger