Re: CHAT: Profile of a Conlanger

Monkey God wrote:

> Irina Rempt wrote: "The concept "mental illness" is not operationally
> definable across cultures.  [snip] Furthermore, some undoubted mental
> problems are culture-specific. There is a very common delusion among men in
> some parts of Asia that their penises are shrinking, almost unknown in the
> U.S. and Europe except among immigrants.  Contrariwise, eating disorders
> (anorexia and bulimia) are rarely seen outside the U.S."
>
> And then there's this cultural delusional norm in the US that money is the
> only important thing in the world. And that the highest-paying jobs need to
> go to the stupidest, most badly educated, self-centered people, who
> subsequently are respected for the amount of sheer lucre they've
> accumulated. And people who work with the public (nonprofits) or for the
> state are considered idiots, and those jobs are designed to be run by
> idiots.
(Trying to gauge how much of this is pure satire, and how much you
mean for real...)

You know, I've never met (a) anyone who was obsessed by money
so much that it was the only thing important to them, or (b) anyone
who worked for a nonprofit organization who was considered an
idiot.  In fact, whenever the topic of nonprofit organizations has come
up, the people I've met have by-and-large always had a very positive
image of it, and the people who run them.  It takes more effort to work
yourself into a state that you'd criticize a charity!

I have met people who chose their major in college, etc., based on
how much money they could get, but they did so more often than not
based on the practical realization that it takes money to live, and you
might have to provide for a family down the road and such.  It just makes
things easier; they're just acting so as to make sure enough will be there
down the road, not that money is the only thing important to them.

Of course, as you probably already know, I'm an American.

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and
oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil
spirits at the dawn of day. - Thomas Jefferson
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