A thread to ask about cultural stuff you should know

[OneFrenchEgg]

Ok so there's loads of stuff other people know and stuff I know.
Where do I start with Noam Chomsky and why? Is he left wing? Why is he so relevant?

It's called neoliberalism because it's considered to be a revival of the idea of 19th century "classical liberalism".

In the Victorian era liberalism wasn't just associated with civil liberties but also with economic liberties and small state that did not interfere too much in the affairs of the individual.

In the 70 there were a group of right wing thinkers who felt that Western societies had drifted too far towards socialism and argued that they needed to get back to the free market ideas of the classical liberals, hence their ideology becoming known as "neoliberalism".

Thank you@Renamedyetagain.

'Corporatism' is a way of forming public policy in many northern European countries and the EU - c.2000 it was viewed in the UK as the 4th way of determining public and social policy. And not to be confused with capitalist Corporations.

I can't remember what the other 3 main types of UK decision-making were, although it all was quite interesting at the time, but having involuntarily become a recipient of various interpretations and implementations of Social Policy think since then my interest has somewhat dwindled.

very interesting explanations of the pre thatcher and thatcher eras, thank you, I remember those from my teens/early 20s, there was definitely a narrative of 'selfish TUs asking for too much' in the winter of discontent/3 day week period
but when thatcher took on the miners I think that was heard less (at least by me) as the destruction of the communities and the ideological basis of what she was doing was very plain

on a different note, re 'cultural capital'
I grew up in a very ordinary suburban WC family, but somehow acquired what I thought was a very modest acquaintance with 'nature'
as a child I had various books and was encouraged to eg press flowers- at school we had 'nature tables' and 'nature walks'- which I now think just happened when the teacher fancied getting out of the classroom.
Result being, I can recognise many trees, wildflowers, birds, etc, which I always thought everyone could.
I inadvertently offended a colleague years ago by expressing surprise she didn't know the difference between a swallow and a house martin
I do think my life is richer for this knowledge - and i wonder how rare it really is?

I guess it varies between city, suburban, and rural tbf.
My own childhood is no useful reference to anything, but I automatically took my own children out looking to identify trees, birds, wildflowers, butterflies, bees, insects and nature generally, what's edible and what's poisonous, partly because it seemed a good idea and partly because it was free. Pressing leaves and flowers, and making imprints and prints was part of the fun.

But I think that may have changed a bit. I'm meeting a lot of young people who know all about climate change but are actually very disconnected with nature, and lots that see bees and wasps, spiders and ants, etc as anxiety provoking and to be run from at best and killed at worst. However they can tell me about apps for identifying plants and wildlife.

TBF house martins are becoming quite rare in comparison to how many used to be around, so your colleagues age might be relevant.

I do think my life is richer for this knowledge - and i wonder how rare it really is?

It's entirely normal in my larger family, which contains lots of farmers and also academic botanists and herpetologists and the like. There were a lot of outside walks as a child, and if we saw something we didn't know, we would look it up when we got home - and we had the books to do so.

But I also discovered at work, when we went on lunchtime walks round the site, that me saying things like, "oh, the orchids are out!" or, "doesn't the loosestrife look lovely when it's flowering," or pointing out particular birds or fungus is just going way over their heads.

In my new job, I'm joining a wildflower walk on site next week, led by the local wildlife Trust, but I suspect that will be preaching to the converted, those who turn up. Should be good, though. It's the best time of year, and there's lots out, like pyramid orchids.

Offside rule:

When the ball is passed forward there must be at least one defender between your team and the goal.

I remember a guy on my degree course (science based with science prerequisite) who was convinced that sparrows were baby pigeons.

Well, I suppose squab and sparrow both start with s...

I grew up in a small town where most people had a garden. My DM had a total expectation that I'd be able to recognise common wildflowers, butterflies, birds. I had posters up on how to identify them.

I thought this was totally normal until I accidentally asked DH (who comes from a very similar background to me) if he could help me work out what flower we were looking at.

And then it turned out that he could identify grass and dandelions and that was it. His parents had never mentioned this so he hadn't a clue.

😮
I'm hoping it wasn't biology

@SheilaFentiman

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/lauren-slater/opening-skinner-s-box/9780747568605?gadsource=1&gbraid=0AAAAADZzAIAMPfmczp8Eb1zxY34ktJh4X&gclid=CjwKCAjwmrqzBhAoEiwAXVpgosccDtRkdfS3YYAJWJIT87uyjeWKhjpvVjXzIF3NCX1vjmqI1QbGNhoCMKkQAvDBwE#GOR001686322

Ooh thank you

Noam Chomsky's just died! Did this thread set something off?!

Noo! Maybe he got too excited to be on MN?

Where are you seeing this news, @aramox1 ?

I've just seen it on Twitter, but not yet on BBC

Nooooo.
Blimey.

The New Statesman is now covering it.

Oh no :(

Oh no 😢. Maybe it's nice he was being talked about and celebrated though? Most posts have been really positive about him.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he un-died shortly.

It also explains why I never truly learned my multiplication tables past 7 😂

Fake news He's still alive.