Oh, yeah… OH, yeah!
(Pssst! Those are not really animals, just people acting like animals. And to think I used to put on a coat and tie for the experience of flying.)
Buses are getting better than planes now…however, I’m sympathetic to the JetBlue flight attendant, and I think the customer who stood up illegally and whacked the attendant with his bag needs to get hauled off before the cameras and into jail for a while, too…
Speaking as someone who flies a LOT, there’s not a US airline that I like anymore. When I can, I take Virgin America. Midwest got bought by someone else, alas. Most of the rest treat passengers like cattle and have planes that are dirty and poorly serviced.
There’s always the train. ViaRail in Canada is still pretty good. Not fun for trips across the country, but from Toronto to Montreal, say, it’s perfect.
I don’t fly anymore for all of the same reasons stated above. And I can’t wait until the “open carry” folks start fighting for their rights on the airlines too. I mean – who could say no?
You actually prepare lectures? I just get up there and wing it. Not.
I’ve got a new book coming out in the fall, so I’ve spent the summer working on last details – proof reading and index and such. It’s actually quasi-philosophic – you might find it interesting.
Well, I’m discussing a philosophical question – or at least a question philosophers have discussed – but from a literary point of view – that is, the nature of the self. I start with Descartes, and stories built on a Cartesian view of the self; then Hegel, and stories built on a Hegelian view of the self (and I throw in Aristophanes’ view of the self as represented in Plato’s Symposium) and stories built on that model; then a “Freudian” view of the self and stories built on that model; then George Herbert Mead’s social self – and in the second part of the book I work through Mead’s model using the concept of what’s called case grammar in linguistics, which allows me to give accounts of the various positions of the self in society – all with examples from literature. Partly I’m trying to show that the binary conceptions of the self that are so common – self and other, subject and object – are insufficient to describe the variety of experiences of being a self, and partly I’m trying to show how thinking can be done through literature.
DrC – I will have to look up Bandura and Bern. I did look at some psychologists, but I missed these. I will look them up. I really liked Roldolfo R. Llinás, “I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self”, but it didn’t really add anything to my argument, so it ended up in a footnote, along with a few others. The self is just endless, and everybody has something to say….
As you know, I’m mostly a literary person, and the book will appear in a series on the theory of narrative. I’m certainly not a philosopher and even less a psychologist. I’m not really a narrative theorist, either – this is just a hobby, but it was an interesting project. I’m sure we can figure out a way to give you enough hints to find it – but it doesn’t come out till November, so don’t hold your breath. Or you can wait for the movie version….
lonecat over 13 years ago
I was on that flight – that’s me in the back at the left….
Dtroutma over 13 years ago
South or southeast Asia?
BillOpusGarfield over 13 years ago
My new love is a flight attendant; I wonder if she’s ever had a day like this? LOL Thanks, Mr. Oliphant, for another great laugh!
myming over 13 years ago
bus or plane - it’s just the same…
spehnec over 13 years ago
Oh, yeah… OH, yeah! (Pssst! Those are not really animals, just people acting like animals. And to think I used to put on a coat and tie for the experience of flying.)
HowieL over 13 years ago
Andragogue - you must also be burdened with the memory of air travel being fun, efficient, and easy!
myming over 13 years ago
no more - “fly the friendly skies”…
Motivemagus over 13 years ago
Buses are getting better than planes now…however, I’m sympathetic to the JetBlue flight attendant, and I think the customer who stood up illegally and whacked the attendant with his bag needs to get hauled off before the cameras and into jail for a while, too… Speaking as someone who flies a LOT, there’s not a US airline that I like anymore. When I can, I take Virgin America. Midwest got bought by someone else, alas. Most of the rest treat passengers like cattle and have planes that are dirty and poorly serviced.
lonecat over 13 years ago
There’s always the train. ViaRail in Canada is still pretty good. Not fun for trips across the country, but from Toronto to Montreal, say, it’s perfect.
DRSRISINGER over 13 years ago
I’ve never had a bad travel experience in Canada. It is the civility of the natives. Why can’t we be like the Canadians?
WarBush over 13 years ago
^Cause we’re ahmurcans!
lindz.coop Premium Member over 13 years ago
I don’t fly anymore for all of the same reasons stated above. And I can’t wait until the “open carry” folks start fighting for their rights on the airlines too. I mean – who could say no?
lonecat over 13 years ago
You actually prepare lectures? I just get up there and wing it. Not.
I’ve got a new book coming out in the fall, so I’ve spent the summer working on last details – proof reading and index and such. It’s actually quasi-philosophic – you might find it interesting.
lonecat over 13 years ago
Well, I’m discussing a philosophical question – or at least a question philosophers have discussed – but from a literary point of view – that is, the nature of the self. I start with Descartes, and stories built on a Cartesian view of the self; then Hegel, and stories built on a Hegelian view of the self (and I throw in Aristophanes’ view of the self as represented in Plato’s Symposium) and stories built on that model; then a “Freudian” view of the self and stories built on that model; then George Herbert Mead’s social self – and in the second part of the book I work through Mead’s model using the concept of what’s called case grammar in linguistics, which allows me to give accounts of the various positions of the self in society – all with examples from literature. Partly I’m trying to show that the binary conceptions of the self that are so common – self and other, subject and object – are insufficient to describe the variety of experiences of being a self, and partly I’m trying to show how thinking can be done through literature.
Lt_Lanier over 13 years ago
Where’s that Steve Slater?
lonecat over 13 years ago
DrC – I will have to look up Bandura and Bern. I did look at some psychologists, but I missed these. I will look them up. I really liked Roldolfo R. Llinás, “I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self”, but it didn’t really add anything to my argument, so it ended up in a footnote, along with a few others. The self is just endless, and everybody has something to say….
As you know, I’m mostly a literary person, and the book will appear in a series on the theory of narrative. I’m certainly not a philosopher and even less a psychologist. I’m not really a narrative theorist, either – this is just a hobby, but it was an interesting project. I’m sure we can figure out a way to give you enough hints to find it – but it doesn’t come out till November, so don’t hold your breath. Or you can wait for the movie version….