Scot Lehigh reviews Stephen Miller’s* book, “Conversation — A History of a Declining Art”:
The enticements of the virtual world and a cornucopia of personal-entertainment diversions have pushed discourse to the side.
Aided by the Internet, more and more people are joining what Miller calls ”anger communities,” like-minded individuals who empower each other’s pique and reinforce shared prejudices.
Meanwhile, in a polarized time, an inability to entertain opposing views civilly has made certain topics – politics, for example – treacherous terrain, and thus ground best avoided.
All right, well, what’s the alternative? Miller celebrates “raillery”, which he defines as “good-humored, intelligent wit and banter”:
Raillery … “is an agreeable gaiety of spirit, which makes conversation cheerful, and which binds the company when it is good-natured but which disturbs it when it is not.”
Let’s have some raillery.
*(Full disclosure: Stephen’s the dad of a friend.)
Well done. 🙂
…but raillery nonetheless:
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In response to Ms. Healey timely proposal for pension reform, Mr. Patrick’s Campaign spokesmen noted that “Patrick has opposed moves to shift public workers’ from pension systems to 401(k) style plans.” [quote Globe]
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Off record, he further added that Patrick thought the internet would never catch on; that indoor plumbing was overrated, and that buggy whips were once a thriving business which may yet return….
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Seriously, how can one oppose a shift to 401(k) type plans. Has the private sector been so wrong?
After this past week, mine is more a 301k.
… Bleeping SRI’s are killing me!
But, well, we already have “401(k)-style plans”. They’re called 401(k)s. And don’t forget about the IRAs and the SEP-IRAs and the Roth IRAs and…
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Pension systems are like insurance, at it seems to me that arguing against them is kind of like saying, “Well, you ought to put aside $100 each month, so that way if you get into a car accident, that sum you’ve set aside will cover your expenses.”
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It’s a good thought, and I’d argue that we all should be saving for that rainy day, but that absolutely does not obviate the need for insurance.
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We need both types. We need pensions, and we need 401(k)s. And we have both. If we change it so everything is “401(k)-style”, we elevate the risk while not offering much more in return.
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Ask yourself if you would have wanted to retire in the summer of 1929, and what you would have done six months later when your 401(k) lay in ashes.
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We need both insurance (pensions) and rainy-day funds (401(k)s), and we have both. Why change this?
I know a guy who was run out of town on a raillery once. Said it hurt like mad.
A raillery once bit my sister.
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Mind you, raillery bites can be pretty nasty…
Disclaimer: I majored in raillery in college. I minored in ‘tude. 🙂 It’s what “I do.” It’s a gift.
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I look forward to much raillery from kindred spirits. 🙂
Damn, I thought this was going to be a post on extending the commuter line!
More Reillery, less Patrickery?