shattering paradise - or, the difference between an 'economic migrant' and an 'expat'

As Gaby Hinsliff writing in today's Guardian suggests, influencers have sold the world a fantasy Dubai – and now it’s gone in a puff of missile smoke:

The city was portrayed as an aspirational place to live, but now those who moved there are realising the precarity that comes with being an economic migrant.

Who could have guessed that living a few hundred miles as the drone flies from Tehran might have risks? Certainly not the anonymous hedge funder who fumed to the Financial Times that “the trade was not that you were getting exposed to geopolitics”.

But if it’s hard to sympathise with the super-rich, as they discover that there are some things money can’t buy, then they are not the only Britons trapped in the Gulf. The deal Dubai offered economic migrants – which is what Britons seeking a better life in the Gulf are, much as some will hate the label – was a kind of real-life Truman Show: a sunny, shiny, sterilised low-crime haven for anyone itching to get rich or stay that way, sustained by stiff penalties for anyone publicly shattering its illusions.

Today's London Standard points out that influencers in Dubai have been warned they face prison for posting material about the conflict with Iran.

And earlier in the week, the Daily Mail's Guy Adams looked at The inside story of how the hollow Dubai dream has come crashing down... as expats are sent mysterious menacing warnings from the UAE government which hint all might not be as well as it seems.

Here we are looking at the world of the 'expat' - and a decade ago, the BBC was considering the difference between an expat and an immigrant:

The word expat is loaded. It carries many connotations, preconceptions and assumptions about class, education and privilege — just as the terms foreign worker, immigrant and migrant call to mind a different set of assumptions.

But what makes one person an expat, and another a foreign worker or migrant? Often the former is used to describe educated, rich professionals working abroad, while those in less privileged positions — for example, a maid in the Gulf states or a construction worker in Asia — are deemed foreign workers or migrant workers. The classification matters, because such language can in some cases be used as a political tool or to dehumanise — as the debate around the word “migrant” suggests.

It's not just 'semantics', it's also a question of law: Expat vs Immigrant vs Migrant vs Refugee vs Asylee Defined | American Visa Law Group

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rage-bait

Did you know that the Oxford Word of the Year 2025 was rage bait?

Do you know what rage-baiting is all about?

In a very long entry, Wikipedia tells us:

In internet slang, rage-baiting (also ragebaiting, rage-farming, or rage-seeding) is the manipulative tactic of eliciting outrage with the goal of increasing internet traffic, online engagement, and revenue, as well as attracting new subscribers, followers, or supporters.[1][2][3] This manipulation occurs through offensive or inflammatory headlines, memes, tropes, or comments that provoke users to respond in kind.[4][5][6][7]

For the most up-to-date and colloquial definitions, we can go to Urban Dictionary: rage bait

But what's the effect been? Here's a video looking at How Ragebait RUINED the Internet

And why is it happening? Here's a BBC report on What is rage-baiting and why is it profitable?

It's still very much in the news today.

From Maynooth University this week: The problems with coining terms like 'rage bait' and 'brain rot'

From Brussels two days ago: Rage-bait: Meet the influencers calling Brussels the 'worst city in Europe' just for views

And from Fordham University yesterday: When is Rage Bait Too Much?

Finally, is there the same use and interest in your own country?

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flowers in history, art and culture

If you're looking for a comprehensive look at the subject, there is the excellent piece: Flowers in Art History: A Comprehensive Guide Through Different Eras — Ellermann Florist and Flower Delivery

In Europe the 'craze' for a particular flower started with the Tulip mania which swept Holland in the 1630s: Tulip mania (Dutch: tulpenmanie) was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels... The introduction of the tulip to Europe is often attributed to Ogier de Busbecq, the ambassador of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who sent the first tulip bulbs and seeds to Vienna in 1554 from the Ottoman Empire.

[picture from Wikipedia: A tulip, known as "the Viceroy" (viseroij), displayed in the 1637 Dutch catalogue Verzameling van een Meenigte Tulipaanen ("Collection of a Crowd of Tulips"). Its bulb was offered for sale for between 3,000 and 4,200 guilders (florins) depending on weight (gewooge). A skilled artisan at the time earned about 300 guilders a year.[1]

Staying in Holland, the Dutch Golden Age produced some fabulous paintings of flowers - such as this: Dutch flower painting: In detail | Dutch Flowers | National Gallery, London.

And the most famous flower painting of them all was painted by a Dutchman: BBC Four - Painting Flowers, Sunflower, Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: The unknown history - BBC Culture

But what about flowers in other cultures?

In communist China, the sunflower was the symbol of the people always turning their heads to the sun that was Mao: Ai Weiwei – Sunflower Seeds | Artist Interview | Tate - YouTube and Sunflower Seeds by Ai Weiwei Explained: Art, Activism, and Symbolism.

In Ukraine, it is the symbol of their country - and is the yellow of their sunflower-and-sky flag: The Meaning Behind Ukraine’s National Symbols - PostcodeUkraine.org

There's also a whole lot of culture behind cut flowers - and it's quite a big thing: What Are Cut Flowers: History, Meaning, and Arranging Guide - Plant Grower World.

If we are looking for the most exquisite tradition in arranging cut flowers, then we must turn to Ikebana: Ikebana (生け花, 活け花, 'arranging flowers' or 'making flowers alive') is the Japanese art of flower arrangement.[1][2] It is also known as kadō (花道, 'way of flowers'). The origin of ikebana can be traced back to the ancient Japanese custom of erecting evergreen trees and decorating them with flowers as Yorishiro to invite the gods.

You can (in English) Learn the Basics of Ikebana although it does need years of study. Here's something a bit more: IKEBANA, Japanese style flower arrangement (English Version) 〜生け花〜 Japan Vlog - YouTube and Ikebana Explained: 7 Essential Principles of Japanese Flower Arrangement - YouTube

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parodying websites

Parody is often linked to dissent and satire, as well as irony - and today it is very much part of the current issues around populism, culture wars and woke.

One example of parody would be the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

And in the news, we have: Comedy duo create Band Aid parody, Spicy Burlesque Parody 'The Empire Strips Back' and Die Hard musical parody showing at Norwich Puppet Theatre.

And back to the politics, it is suggested that 2025 was the year the far-right became a parody of itself.

This also brings us to the world of the parody website - for example: The Onion and ClickHole - Because All Content Deserves To Go Viral.

Whereas website spoofing might be legally questionable, as the Spoof website service suggests, it can actually work as a piece of political activism. In many countries, you can legally make a parody website:  Under US law a parody often counts as fair use, but it must be a “true parody” — that is one that seeks to comment on or criticize the original, not just a work that modifies the original to be funny.

The latest parody website parodies the United States' most prestigious performing arts venue, formerly known as The Kennedy Center - YouTube. The actual website is currently offering a Queue-it system because it is unable to manage the traffic wanting to enter it...

From the 'Trump-Kennedy Center', we do get this press release: Kennedy Center Board elects President Donald J. Trump as Board Chair | Kennedy Center Or as the USA Today news website asks: Did Trump rename the Kennedy Center after himself? Yes, that and more. Which has meant that artists cancel Kennedy Center shows after the Trump name change.

Also in today's news, we learn that a South Park writer has already purchased ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’ website domain to troll the president:

A former South Park writer bought two website domain names in order to troll Donald Trump after predicting the president’s move to rename the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Toby Morton saw that the writing was on the wall before the writing was on the wall, and purchased TrumpKennedyCenter.org and TrumpKennedyCenter.com back in August.

Earlier this month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the world-famous performing arts center would be renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center after a unanimous – but potentially illegal – vote from the institution’s new board, made up of members hand picked by the president. The move has already prompted public protests, as well as multiple artists to pull out of performances scheduled at the center in the coming weeks and a lawsuit that claims that the name change is unlawful as it can only be approved by Congress.

Morton, who has credits with the satirical cartoon and Mad TV, is known to have bought political domains in order to turn them into satirical. He told The Washington Post that he had purchased the Kennedy Center names after guessing the president’s plans.

And here is HOME | Trump Kennedy Center... [which does say at the bottom of the home page: 'THIS WEBSITE IS PARODY']

It's all a bit of a mess, with suggestions that Trump's White House, Kennedy Center moves could hurt the GOP in 2026, in that Trump’s ‘Marie Antoinette thing’ could cost Republicans in midterms.

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yinka shonibare, artist

The future is African whether in language [Nigeria is the third largest country when it comes to English speakers] or music or politics. 

But also when it comes to art - with an exhibition happening at London's Tate Modern on Nigerian Modernism

As a review on the BBC says, Nigerian Modernism gets recognition, as "a transfer of the old ideas, old items, old technologies, old thought into a different, modern time". It is "projecting the present, and showing the way towards the future".

Certainly when it comes to art and culture, there are all sorts of adventures in art at the British Museum - from Status Symbols (1200 - 1400 AD), Ife head to The First Global Economy (1450 - 1600 AD), Benin plaque - the Oba with Europeans to The World of Our Making (1914 - 2010 AD), Throne of Weapons.

Another place to go for art in London is the Royal Academy and its summer exhibition - and back in 2014 it was British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare at the Royal Academy.

Ten years later, and Shonibare was a gorgeously recognisable artist, although some critics say he's simply doing the same thing.

Judge for yourself in a new BBC documentary: In My Own Words - Series 2: Yinka Shonibare - BBC iPlayer [and a comment about being an artist at 25:50]

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6-7 or parasocial or enshittification - what makes a good word of the year?

How do we add new vocabulary in English dictionaries? 

The problem is that the UK does not have an official language - nor does it have an official dictionary.

So, it's really a matter of choice as to what is put into dictionaries - or, rather, a matter of choice of those out there who are using the English language.

Looking at the online dictionary.com, it asks and answers the question: How Does A Word Get Into The Dictionary?

This is one of the most common questions we get—and it’s a great one.

The answer involves one of the most misunderstood things about dictionaries, so let’s set the record straight: a word doesn’t become a “real word” when it’s added to the dictionary. It’s actually the other way around: we add words to the dictionary because they’re real—because they’re really used by real people in the real world.

In other words, our lexicographers add a word to the dictionary when they determine that:

• It’s a word that’s used by a lot of people.
• It’s used by those people in largely the same way.
• It’s likely to stick around.
• And it’s useful for a general audience.

All four of these points are important. Our lexicographers look for use not just by one person, but by a lot of people. Of course, many words have different shades of meaning for different people. But to be added to the dictionary, a word must have a shared meaning (that is, it must communicate a widely agreed-upon meaning from one person to the next). If everyone used a word in a completely different way, we wouldn’t be able to give it a definition, right?

But what about how dictionaries claiming that x is 'word of the year'?

It's probably about marketing: getting the name of the dictionary out there. And it works! 

The Daily Mail says the internet is divided as Dictionary.com unveils its 2025 word of the year - or as The Independent tells us, ‘6-7’ is named 2025 Word of the Year: Here’s what it means...

Alternatively, as reported in the E L Gazette, the Cambridge Dictionary names parasocial as the Word of the Year.

This social media and Gen Z/Alpha derived vocabulary was critiqued in last year's choice, as reported in the Guardian: ‘What many of us feel’: why ‘enshittification’ is Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year:

“The gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.”

Take your pick!

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the addiction economy

Some questions about how we behave:

Should we ban smoking? And should we allow the use of opium for personal recreation?

Are we too trusting of the promises of technology? Are we aware of the creepy ways video games are trying to get us addicted?

Is diet or exercise better for us - and especially for children?

This is the 'addiction economy' - as featured in the New World/European:

Everyone is addicted to everything

Big tech is using the ‘nanny state’ arguments pioneered by the tobacco and alcohol industries to convince us that their freedom to sell equates to our freedom to choose. The opposite is true

Joe Woof - 8 October 2025

Where does your brain go when you see an obese person eating a pastry in public? Or a drunk friend making a fool of themselves and passing out, yet again, at a party? What about the smokers on their drips outside the hospital, still lighting up? Or the person who gambled away their savings, lost family, job, self-esteem, and yet carries on in the hope of winning it back? Or the depressed, anxious young person who spends hours on their phone looking at who knows what and doesn’t seem to see the connection?

Everyone is addicted to everything - The New World

…

Hilary Sutcliffe and Joe Woof are the co-leads of The Addiction Economy initiative.

This initiative is not about heroin addicts in doorways or ‘the war on drugs’.  It’s about how and why mainstream addictive products have been allowed to flourish for the benefit of companies at the expense of the rest of us. And how to stop them. The Addiction Economy describes those industries who knowingly and unashamedly erode our ability to control our usage of their products beyond the point at which it harms us.

Our White Paper exploring the 5 Drivers of the Addiction Economy draws cross-sectoral lessons and we explore how they play out in 9 industries: 4 physical - unhealthy and ultra-processed foods, cigarettes, alcohol and vapes and 5 digital, social media, gambling, pornography, computer games and chatbots .

We also explore how the widespread focus on the lack of will power of individuals derails policy action and hampers effective unaddiction strategies.

The Addiction Economy

It's very much about how children are targetted:

“Just Say No’ isn’t working. Do we need a new approach to teaching about addictive products in schools? YES! — The Addiction Economy

And others have been looking at this phenomenon too:

Addiction Economy | No Mercy / No Malice

The Economics of Addiction: Turning a Profit on One of America’s Greatest Problems – Michigan Journal of Economics

Here's a video to finish:

The Addiction Economy - YouTube

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clichés, pragmatics and how we use language to connect us beyond the actual words used

What is the purpose of language? Do words carry meaning? Is language communication?

These are questions Michael Rosen looks at in his excellent weekly programme on BBC Radio 4 - and this week, it's: Word of Mouth - It's not what you say, it's how you say it - BBC Sounds

Michael Rosen on the linguistic comfort food of clichés, pragmatics and how we use language to connect us beyond the actual words used. Derek Bousfield explains how words do more than carry meaning: context governs what we say and how it’s understood. Dr Bousfield is Reader in Pragmatics and Communication and Co-Director of The Manchester Centre for Research in Linguistics and co-author of Talking in Clichés: The Use of Stock Phrases in Discourse and Communication.

They look at Pragmatics - how we say things beyond what they literally mean - for example "How are you?" is not asking about your health/problems: Jay Doubleyou: pragmatics: it ain't what you say it's the way that you say it

Language is not literal! Especially in conversation, which is guided by culture and context.

Language is non-direct - for example: "Why don't we have a coffee some time?" is not making a specific arrangement to meet. Another example: "We'll see how it goes" means I don't agree with you but I don't want to talk about it any more. 

The British love understatement or litotes - which are codes to build rapport.

There is the world of clichés - and comedians such as Peter Kay enjoy playing with them. We use them all the time to connect people -  and that "we are all on the same page", to use a cliché.

We live by metaphors: Metaphors We Live By - Wikipedia [metaphor is a tool that enables people to use what they know about their direct physical and social experiences to understand more abstract things like work, time, mental activity and feelings.] and Metaphors We Live By: George Lakoff and Mark Johnson - YouTube [Lakoff and Johnson argue that metaphors aren’t just poetry, but a fundamental part of our brain conceptual system. That is, they’re central to the way we perceive ourselves, others, and the world.]

A favourite example from Prof Bousfield is 'literally': Urban Dictionary: literally

And a favourite from Michael is 'the bottom line': BOTTOM LINE definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary and What does ‘bottom-line’ mean here? : r/EnglishLearning

The word 'cliché' comes from French: Cliché - Wikipedia

To finish this look at the programme, here's Derek Bousfield's book: Talking in Clichés: The Use of Stock Phrases in Discourse and Communication: Amazon.co.uk: Bullo, Stella: 9781108458139: Books

For decades, social perspectives, and even academic studies of language, have considered clichés as a hackneyed, tired, lazy, unthinking and uninspiring form of communication. Authored by two established scholars in the fields of Systemic-Functional Linguistics and Discourse Studies and Pragmatics, this cutting-edge book comprehensively explores the perception and use of clichés in language from these complementary perspectives. It draws data from a variety of both written and spoken sources, to re-interrogate and re-imagine the nature, role and usage of clichés, identifying the innovative and creative ways in which the concepts are utilised in communication, interaction, and in self-presentation. 

Observing a rich, complex layering of usage, the authors deconstruct the many and varied ways in which clichés operate and are interdependently constructed; from the role they play in discourse in general, to their functions as argumentative strategies, as constructs of social cognition, as politeness strategies, and finally as markers of identity.

And here's a look or two at clichés:

What is a cliché? Check out this list of examples.

SUPER IMPORTANT EXPRESSIONS | Clichés in Spoken English - YouTube

See also:

Jay Doubleyou: pragmatics

Jay Doubleyou: juergen habermas: communicative rationality and deliberative democracy

Jay Doubleyou: ambiguity is everywhere in englsh

Jay Doubleyou: behaviourism >>> krashen... pinker... skinner... chomsky

Jay Doubleyou: small talk, phatic communication and the games people play

Jay Doubleyou: english is not transparent

Jay Doubleyou: writing with register: a lesson in using different levels of 'politeness'

Jay Doubleyou: what is 'politeness' and how can we teach it?

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to debunk: "to disprove a myth that is a grossly exaggerated or foolish claim"

'to debunk' is an interesting verb:

to show that something is less important, less good, or less true than it has been made to appear: "debunk a myth": "The writer's aim was to debunk the myth that had grown up around the actress." DEBUNK | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

If you debunk a widely held belief, you show that it is false. If you debunk something that is widely admired, you show that it is not as good as people think it is. DEBUNK definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

To debunk something is to take the bunk out of it—that bunk being “nonsense.” (Bunk is short for the synonymous bunkum, which has political origins.) Debunk has been in use since at least the 1920s, and it contrasts with synonyms like disprove and rebut by suggesting that something is not merely untrue but is also a sham—a trick meant to deceive. One can simply disprove a myth, but if it is debunked, the implication is that the myth was a grossly exaggerated or foolish claim. DEBUNK Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

There's a lot of grossly exaggerated [over-the-top, blown out of all proportion, bigger than it really is] and foolish [very silly, not at all smart] claims being made...

In politics: 'All of us have a responsibility to debunk myths targeting refugees' | The National and Seven common tropes used to deny Gaza’s famine, debunked by an expert | The Telegraph

When it comes to conspiracy theories: 4 Ways Oncologists Use Social Media to Debunk Myths and Dispel Misinformation and Moon landing conspiracy theories, debunked | Royal Museums Greenwich

Even in sport: Debunking Outlandish Stances on Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence

The scientist, researcher and writer Emma Monk has been debunking since the Covid pandemic:  I now split my time between working as a Research Scientist in the Biotech industry and debunking spurious misinformation online.  Science — Emma Monk

For example, from 2022, she was interviewed by the BBC: Social media and some news outlets have spread claims this week that only around 17,000 people have actually died of Covid. We debunk. More or Less - BBC Sounds

Last year, four years on from Brexit, she debunked the myths around what happened since then in several iconic industries: How fishing was gutted by Brexit, Brexit and farming and It's time to face the music - four years on from Brexit - West Country Voices.

And lately, she's been looking at the hottest topic there is at the moment: immigration: Are small boat migrants really 24 times more likely to go to prison? Spoiler alert: no. But here’s how the media got suckered by bad data and worse assumptions. - West Country Voices

Here she is being interviewed this week by Ian Winwood in The New World: Emma Monk, the one-woman debunking machine:

On the last day of July, Emma Monk happened upon a story which claimed that asylum seekers are 24 times more likely to end up in prison than people who are born in Britain. Arching a quizzical eyebrow in the direction of this (ahem) arresting figure, Monk, a 46-year-old scientist from the New Forest, ran the numbers. Mining data and government statistics, with empirical certainty, she discovered the claim was hokum...

And for more:

Jay Doubleyou: brexit: and fishing rights... and selling fish

Jay Doubleyou: comparing: all sorts of categories

Jay Doubleyou: russia, ukraine and the war on culture

Jay Doubleyou: the psychology of lies and why we fall for them

Jay Doubleyou: fake news

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ambiguity and humour

Humour is everywhere, just as ambiguity is everywhere.

There are lots of academic studies on ambiguity in humour, for example: The ambiguity of humor, Ambiguity, jokes, and trick questions - Society for Linguistic Anthropology and The usage of ambiguity-based humour in EFL classrooms.

Here's a professional linguist by day, and stand-up comedian by night: Where Humor Hides in Language | Emily Sabo | TEDxUMDearborn - YouTube

Here's a good overview of ambiguity - whether funny or not: Ambiguity in Language: Funny but Deadly - YouTube

Can you make up your own examples of these types of ambiguity: Humorous Examples of Ambiguity - Four Linguistic BRAIN Hacks! - YouTube

Let's have a look at some examples from comedians...

Ethnically Ambiguous - YouTube [is it OK to make jokes about yourself?]

Aamer Rahman (Fear of a Brown Planet) - Reverse Racism - YouTube [this is not ambiguous!]

“Evil Genius: Needlessly Ambiguous Terms” — That Mitchell and Webb Look - YouTube [is indirect language always ambiguous? are euphemisms always ambiguous?]

The Prawns Are Off | Fawlty Towers | BBC Comedy Greats - YouTube [this is polite language, but not ambiguous!]

The Two Ronnies Four Candles HD - YouTube [can you think of any more homonyms and homophones?]

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ambiguity is everywhere

AMBIGUITY: THE FIRST STEPS

A lot of things in life have more than one meaning, one different interpretation.

> Look up 'ambiguous' in your favourite online dictionary:

ambiguous: having or expressing more than one possible meaning, sometimes intentionally:

His reply to my question was somewhat ambiguous.
The wording of the agreement is ambiguous.
The government has been ambiguous on this issue.

AMBIGUOUS | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

> But why would you want to be ambiguous?

ambiguous: Very vague. A person who avoids answering any questions ever, even avoids the most direct questions.

Urban Dictionary: ambiguous

It's everywhere today.

> See what the headlines are in the news:

Trump’s ambiguous stance on China raises the risk of accidental conflict in the Indo-Pacific | Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank

Leading In Volatile, Uncertain, Complex And Ambiguous (VUCA) Times

White House published a black-and-white photo of Trump and Putin with an ambiguous caption | УНН

> When might we want to avoid being ambiguous?

Why do we need certainty? The short answer is: We’re hardwired to want it.

Yes, but No. What’s wrong with ambiguity? The… | by Liz Rios Hall | Medium

> And when might we want to be ambiguous?

Ambiguity is often perceived as a source of confusion and discomfort, but it holds a surprising power to influence our thinking, creativity, and resilience. In a world that increasingly values clarity and certainty, understanding and embracing ambiguity can offer profound psychological benefits.

The Power of Ambiguity | Psychology Today United Kingdom

Dealing with and embracing ambiguity is one of the most important skills for success in life. And yet it is likely a skill you never learned in school.

Ambiguity Is the Most Important Idea You Never Learned | by Roo Benjamin | Counter Arts | Medium

> How do we handle ambiguity?

Why do interviewers ask Ambiguity questions?

The main purpose of ambiguity interview questions is to evaluate a candidate's ability to thrive in uncertain and unpredictable environments. Interviewers ask these questions to gauge how well an individual can make decisions, prioritize tasks, and adapt to changes without having all the necessary information.

How to Answer the 25 Most Common Ambiguity Interview Questions

> Finally, to what extent is ambiguity part of being human?

In this new RSA Animate, renowned experimental psychologist Steven Pinker shows us how the mind turns the finite building blocks of language into infinite meanings.

RSA ANIMATE: Language as a Window into Human Nature - YouTube

AMBIGUITY IS EVERYWHERE IN ENGLISH:

> Have a look at this list:

Ambiguities > Ambiguous headlines

> Have a look at some English sentences:

I'm glad I'm a man, and so is Lola. — "Lola" by the Kinks (written by Ray Davies) 

John saw the man on the mountain with a telescope. 

British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands.[7]

Syntactic ambiguity - Wikipedia

> And have a look at the most famous newspaper headline:

Jay Doubleyou: ambiguous newspaper headlines

> How good is your English?

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana - Wikipedia

> Where do such sentences lead us?

Garden-path sentence - Wikipedia

> How important is punctuation?

Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Wikipedia

Relative clauses: non-defining relative clauses | LearnEnglish

> And how does ambiguity work in your own language?

When is a car on the road in front of your house not a car any more?
When it turns into your driveway.

How prevalent is ambiguity in English and in other languages? | ResearchGate

Are some languages more ambiguous than others? - Quora

For a cross-linguistic example, Swahili has no separate words for "he", "she", "him", or "her": yeye is used regardless of case and gender. Ancient Greek has thirty (it just uses the demonstratives), allowing it to distinguish "the first man I mentioned" from "the second man I mentioned" from "a man newly introduced to the dialogue", along with five different grammatical cases (subject, direct object, indirect object, possessor, addressee).

So it seems that Swahili is significantly more ambiguous, right? It would need more words than Ancient Greek to convey the same amount of information: one Swahili word could correspond to any of thirty different Ancient Greek words, and only context can make it clear which is intended.

ambiguity - Are some human languages significantly less ambiguous than others? - Linguistics Stack Exchange

AMBIGUITY IN CULTURE:

> Do you like ambiguous film endings?

Top 10 Movies with Ambiguous Endings - YouTube

Top 10 Movies That You Have To Watch Twice - YouTube

> Do you like stories and novels with ambiguous endings?

Ambiguous Ending Books

6 Books with the most ‘wtf’ ENDINGS - YouTube

> Do you know this book and film, now 50 years on?

Picnic at Hanging Rock is just as unsettling and relevant 50 years on - ABC News

Picnic at Hanging Rock premiered 50 years ago on August 8th, 1975 at the Hindley Cinema Complex in Adelaide : r/australia

Picnic at Hanging Rock review – Australian fever dream still dazzling 50 years on | Film | The Guardian

> Finally, is ambiguity in culture a good thing?

Ambiguity of Culture - YouTube

> And in politics?!

Five studies indicate that conservatives are less tolerant of ambiguity than liberals

The Politics of Choice: Political Ideology and Intolerance of Ambiguity - Farmer - 2021 - Journal of Consumer Psychology - Wiley Online Library

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managed dystopia

The writer of 'Trainspotting' has just given The Interview - Celebrities: 9. Irvine Welsh: The Next Chapter - BBC iPlayer [See from 2:30 minutes, 7.30, 13:30 and 19:00 - and at 14:25 he talks about 'managing dystopia']

This is managed dystopia.

Or, from George Carlin - The American Dream.

Taking us from America to Russia to Ukraine, here's a piece by Paul Mason in the latest The New World

It started on the eve of independence day. In an hour-long phone call with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin told the US president that Russia had played a major role in America’s war of independence, offered to send him a movie about traditional values, chatted about mutually beneficial business ventures… and then flatly insisted that “Russia would strive to achieve its goals” in Ukraine. That night Russian forces staged the biggest strike of the war so far, launching 539 long-range drones and seven ballistic missiles at Kyiv.

This is what's happening in Russia now, in its war on culture:

• Russia’s ‘guardian of traditional values’ How the Kremlin plans to sell Putin to voters in his fifth presidential campaign — Meduza
• ‘It could undermine the traditional family’ Insiders say the Kremlin is keeping an anti-domestic violence law in limbo on purpose. Here’s why. — Meduza
• Russia bans distribution permits for films that discredit ‘traditional values’ — Meduza
• ‘Thrown to the wolves’ How a Texas man moved his family to Russia to escape ‘DEI’ — and ended up on the front lines in Ukraine — Meduza

As predicted in science fiction:

• ‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe’: what Blade Runner 2049’s dystopia tells us about 2017 | Blade Runner 2049 | The Guardian
• Blade Runner 2049 review – a gigantic spectacle of pure hallucinatory craziness | Blade Runner 2049 | The Guardian

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black mirror: a cautionary tale

There's something about the TV series Black Mirror:

Black Mirror is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. The series explores various genres, with most episodes set in near-future dystopias containing sci-fi technology—a type of speculative fiction.

Black Mirror - Wikipedia

``Black Mirror,'' created by Charlie Brooker, serves as a cautionary anthology series that explores the dark side of technology and its impact on society. Each episode presents a standalone narrative, often set in a near-future world where technological advancements lead to unsettling, dystopian outcomes.

What is Black Mirror warning us about? - Quora

Black Mirror is very much about political satire:

Jay Doubleyou: political satire on film

For example:

Jay Doubleyou: checking in at the airport

That particular episode is heavily satirising one aspect of modern Chinese life:

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part three: china controlling ai

Here's an interview from a couple of years ago, when the sixth series was launched:

The sci-fi anthology is a social satire playing with society's deepest fears about our increasingly digital lives. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant caught up with show creator Charlie Brooker in London to discuss why he thinks this work has gripped audiences.

‘Black Mirror’ creator on why the techno-dystopian show has gripped audiences | PBS News

The next series has just started:

Black Mirror Season 7 Review — 'Wildly unpredictable'

Black Mirror season seven review – Charlie Brooker’s thrilling satire gets its warmest, most human season ever | Television | The Guardian

The point is that it tells us a lot about now:

After years of creating dark, disturbing, thought-provoking TV, Charlie Brooker is changing it up. The creator and star-studded cast of Black Mirror talk about why this season is the most moving and vulnerable yet

‘If you want dystopia, look out your window!’ Black Mirror is back – and going beyond tech hell | Black Mirror | The Guardian

But some aren't happy about it:

Black Mirror is more than science fiction – its stories about modernity have become akin to science folklore, shaping our collective view of technology and the future.

Each new innovation gets an allegory: smartphones as tools for a new age caste system, robot dogs as overzealous human hunters, drones as a murderous swarm, artificial intelligence as new age necromancy, virtual reality and brain chips as seizure-inducing nightmares, to name a few. Episodes most often channel our collective anxieties about the future – or foment new ones through masterly writing, directing, casting and acting. It is a must-watch, but must we take it so seriously?

Black Mirror fails to consistently explore the duality of technology and our reactions to it. It is a critical deficit. The show mimics the folly of Icarus and Daedalus – the original tech bros – and the hubris of Jurassic Park’s Dr Hammond. Missing are the lessons of the Prometheus myth, which shows fire as a boon for humanity, not doom, though its democratization angered benevolent gods. Absent is the plot twist of Pandora’s box that made it philosophically useful: the box also contained hope and opportunity that new knowledge brings. While Black Mirror explores how humans react to technology, it too often does so in service of a dystopian narrative, ignoring Isaac Asimov’s observation: that humans are prone to irrationally fear or resist technology.

Black Mirror is more pessimism porn than Plato’s parable, imparting to its audience a tacit lesson: fear the future more than the past. Fear too much technological change, not too little. It is an inherently populist narrative, one that appeals to nostalgia: intellectually, we understand the present is better than the past in large part due to scientific and technological change, yet emotionally and instinctually we can’t help but feel this time in history is different, that the future can only get worse...

We must move away from binary tales of catastrophe, not towards naive utopianism that ignores problems and risks that comes with change, but hopeful solutionism that reminds us we can solve and mitigate them – stories that don’t make us forget that brain chips can liberate paraplegics, robot dogs can protect us from landmines, AI can prevent super bugs and VR can connect us rather than cut us off from reality – even if their vibes are “a bit Black Mirror”.

Black Mirror’s pessimism porn won’t lead us to a better future | Louis Anslow | The Guardian

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how to counter propaganda/paranoia/conspiracy theories... part three: reliable, evidence-based and non-partisan journalism

At the beginning of the year, we looked at the swirl of conspiracy - and what we might do about it.

Jay Doubleyou: how to counter propaganda/paranoia/conspiracy theories... 1: enjoy culture and the arts

And we looked at it again, with the help of expert Peter Pomerantsev:

Jay Doubleyou: how to counter propaganda/paranoia/conspiracy theories... 2: counter it with the same!

How to Win an Information War — a history lesson in effective counter-propaganda

What are other ways of countering propaganda, paranoia and conspiracy theories?

One obvious approach is education:

Addressing conspiracy theories through education: UNESCO guidance for teachers | UNESCO

To combat conspiracy theories teach critical thinking – and community values

There is the academic approach, for example:

Facing disinformation: Five methods to counter conspiracy theories amid the Covid-19 pandemic

And there is the talking approach - hoping it doesn't end in shouting:

How to talk to someone about conspiracy theories in five simple steps

But what about the current swirl of propaganda, paranoia and conspiracy theories?

UKRAINE/TAIWAN:

Liberal democracies and the free press can work together:

“Governments of authoritarian countries learn from each other and help each other. It is important for us as democracies to actively work together to hold accountable those who spread these narratives and to counter such narratives.”

How Ukraine and Taiwan can cooperate in the fight against disinformation Description - YouTube

Non-government organizations of Ukraine and Taiwan want to counter propaganda jointly | UACRISIS.ORG

DW envoy calls for media cooperation to counter propaganda, censorship - Focus Taiwan

AFRICA:

The rising influence of Russia in Africa’s digital space is harming the continent’s trust in democracy. Experts share their ideas on how to overcome this

Russia has ramped up its propaganda in Africa. Here’s how to counter it and how Europe can help - The Fix

How to counter lies and propaganda in war zones - SWI swissinfo.ch

Can Civil Society and Private Organizations Combat Russian Propaganda in Africa?

Russia's strategic play in Africa: assessing hybrid expansion tactics. Ukraine in Flames #652 - YouTube

Russian influence operations have expanded from the CAR to Mali and other countries in the Sahel region. African influencers are amplifying Kremlin propaganda and disinformation.

The African influencers amplifying Kremlin propaganda - The Global Jigsaw, BBC World Service - YouTube

RIOTS IN THE UK:

Elon Musk has clashed with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer on X, accusing the British leader of discriminatory “two-tiered” policing as authorities scramble to clamp down on violent far-right riots against Muslims and immigrants that have rocked the country for a week.

Why is there a spread of violent far-right protests in the UK?

Why is Elon Musk clashing with the UK government over far-right riots? | News | Al Jazeera

Musk is only important in the political narrative as ministers allow him to be. A statement by Downing Street this week backed away from the idea of revisiting censorship laws, which is a sensible response. Walk on by.

Britain won't win a free-speech fight against Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s X is closing its operations in Brazil while keeping the service available in the country, according to posts Saturday from the social-media platform. The announcement marks the latest step in a showdown between the world’s richest man and Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is spearheading efforts to combat fake news and hate speech in Latin America’s largest economy.

Elon Musk’s X is closing Brazil operations amid legal fight | Fortune

Elon Musk has no easy way out of his fight with the European Commission, which is investigating whether his social-media site X breached rules designed to limit illegal content and disinformation. The billionaire is facing determined adversaries in the relevant Commissioners Thierry Breton and Margrethe Vestager, who have a new legal tool. Musk may eventually conclude that pulling the plug makes sense.

Elon Musk’s best move in EU fight may be an eXit | Reuters

Now, more than ever, people need to be able to turn to reliable, evidence-based and non-partisan journalism.

UK riots: five essential reads on what triggered a week of violence

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controlling ai - part two: the dangers of deep fake imagery

In a discussion earlier this year among European media people, questions were raised about information and democracy:

Will artificial intelligence replace journalists? Does it endanger democracy? How can AI be regulated without curbing the innovations it might bring for the good of all?

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part one: the dangers of chatgpt

Similar questions were being asked at the time by UK media journalist Ian Burrell:

It is nearly eight years since the abuse of online personal information by data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica aided Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and spotlighted the future risks of high-volume voter manipulation. Since then, the giant social platforms have done too little to address the threat of mass misinformation, being preoccupied with recent economic headwinds that have momentarily stalled their previously inexorable profit growth.

2024 is the year that AI will show its potential to influence elections

When it comes to imagery, misinformation can have an immediate effect, as looked by by Reuters this week:

Images of former U.S. President Donald Trump smiling as security personnel surround him during the assassination attempt Saturday are digitally altered. A Threads account, opens new tab shared an image of smiling security personnel as they surround Trump. The caption said, “Why are the secret service smiling? STAGED.”

Another person shared the altered image of Trump on X and wrote, “Trump is *smiling* AFTER surviving an assassination attempt! None of this passes the smell test.”
Both images were altered.
The original photographs, opens new tab of Trump was captured by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci and does not show the former president smiling. It shows him looking forward with a serious expression while surrounded by security personnel.

Fact Check: Images of Trump, Secret Service smiling after shooting are fake | Reuters

Journalist Ian Burrell reports on how the AI is doing this: 

"Fact-checker NewsGuard's analysis of 10 leading generative AI chatbots (including ChatGPT-4 and Microsoft's Copilot) found that they failed to provide correct information on the Trump shooting 57 percent of the time and supported numerous false narratives..."

PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions

The fact-checker has a lot to offer:

NewsGuard - Transparent Reliability Ratings for News and Information Sources

For example:

How Kremlin uses false fact checks to spread disinformation

NewsGuard launches suite of AI anti-misinfo tools | Semafor

Newsguard releases Israel-Hamas fact-checking resources | Media news

Newsguard downgrades credibility scores for NYT and GB News

41 TikTok accounts use AI to mass-produce political misinformation

The anti-establishment group 'New Tolerance Campaign' doesn't like them:

NewsGuard Must Answer for Fact-Check Bias - New Tolerance Campaign

This is a real issue, though:

Photo of Kamala Harris and Jeffrey Epstein Embracing on Beach is Fake | Snopes.com

AI image misinformation has surged, Google researchers find

There is an irony, however:

AI tools help journalists assess authenticity of images in immediate aftermath of Trump shooting – GeekWire

Finally, there are other fact-checkers:

Fact Check | Reuters

Snopes.com | The definitive fact-checking site and reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.

But who can we trust?

List of fact-checking websites - Wikipedia

AI tools help journalists assess authenticity of images in immediate aftermath of Trump shooting – GeekWire

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comparing: education, society, culture

When we compare different countries or cities, especially our own, we tend not to be too critical.

Jay Doubleyou: comparing: countries

Jay Doubleyou: comparing: cities

EDUCATION:

The US and UK are not doing very well:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/13_02_07_nn_unicef.pdf

Here's a critical look at the state of the United States some fifty years ago:

Jane Elliott Brown Eyes vs Blue Eyes 1 - YouTube (incl intro - first minute)

Jane Elliott “Blue Eyes - Brown Eyes” Experiment Anti-Racism - YouTube (incl subtitles)

Here's the same experiment forty years later - and in the UK (main part from 9 mins - and to 14 mins)

How Racist Are You? - Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Exercise - YouTube

The issue of class and race and gender in our education system is very complicated and very controversial:

‘Forgotten’ White working-class pupils let down by decades of neglect, MPs say - Committees - UK Parliament

Poorer white pupils let down and neglected - MPs - BBC News

White “working-class” boys aren’t failing because they’re White - Make it Plain

Looking at girls:

More than half of British girls lack confidence learning maths, poll finds | Schools | The Guardian

Ada Lovelace Day – Celebrating the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths

Cafe Scientifique: Floating Offshore Wind Farms – Sidmouth Science Festival

2021 Sidmouth Science Festival programme.pdf

Let's compare the education system in India:

Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education | TED Talk

SOCIETY:

It seems that every 'marginalised' group have a hard time.

For example: Are British police interested in 'crimes against women'?

Every week in the UK, two women are murdered; as the documentary explained, a staggering 94 per cent of those cases involve stalking. As such, its illustration of the police response, near-universally dismissive or inept, was maddening – and terrifying. As State of Fear ended, there was precious little in the way of resolution – of course, there’s no way of wrapping up such a sprawling, systemic failure with a bow. Nonetheless, in its unflinching, forensic gaze, the show did essential work in simply taking women seriously and attending to their stories with measured and diligent interest. We can only hope that it pushes police to begin doing the same.

Stalking: State of Fear took women seriously - if only the police did too

And: Do immigrants commit more crime?

The academic literature and official statistics provide mixed findings for the relationship between immigration and crime. Research in the United States tends to suggest that immigration either has no impact on the crime rate or even that immigrants are less prone to crime.[1][2][3] A meta-analysis of 51 studies from 1994–2014 on the relationship between immigration and crime in the United States found that, overall, the immigration-crime association is negative, but the relationship is very weak and there is significant variation in findings across studies.[4] This is in line with a 2009 review of high-quality studies conducted in the United States that also found a negative relationship.[5]

Research and statistics in some other, mainly European countries suggest a positive link between immigration and crime: immigrants from particular countries are often overrepresented in crime figures.[6][7][8] The over-representation of immigrants in the criminal justice systems of several countries may be due to socioeconomic factors, imprisonment for migration offenses, and racial and ethnic discrimination by police and the judicial system.[9][10][11] The relationship between immigration and terrorism is understudied, but existing research is inconclusive.[12][13][14] Research on the relationship between refugee migration and crime is scarce and existing empirical evidence is often contradictory.[15][16] According to statistics from some countries, asylum seekers are overrepresented in crime figures.[17][18][19][failed verification]

Immigration and crime - Wikipedia

The mythical tie between immigration and crime | Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)

Trump says migrants are fueling violent crime. Here is what the research shows | Reuters

Immigrants less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born : NPR

Many people who oppose immigration say that it increases crime. But does immigration really affect crime? Studying a country whose proportion of migrants has tripled in less than ten years, researchers find immigration significantly impacts people’s perceptions of crime but has no effect on actual crime.

Does immigration really increase crime? - McGill University

We causally analyse the link between immigrants and crime in Germany for 2008–2019. The effect is positive for the early sub-period and negative or insignificant for the later one. When analyzing the total period, the estimates average out to zero.

Do immigrants affect crime? Evidence for Germany - ScienceDirect

Reality Check: Are migrants driving crime in Germany? - BBC News

And: Are strangers dangerous when it comes to children?

Statistics on child sexual abuse | NSPCC Learning

And: What are the countries with the highest/lowest crime/murder/suicide rates?

Crime Rate by Country 2024

List of countries by intentional homicide rate - Wikipedia

List of countries by suicide rate - Wikipedia

And: What makes the English? Let's go to Munich (at 10:30)

From football fans watching England, to Dover, a Druid gathering, and a mass trespass near Reading, Grayson wonders who are the English?

Grayson Perry's Full English - Series 1: Episode 1 | Channel 4

FINALLY: CULTURE, COMEDY AND ENTERTAINMENT:

Here are some lists: how many of these represent 'minorities'?

Movies:

Greatest American Film Directors | Pantheon

Driven to Darkness: Jewish Emigre Directors and the Rise of Film Noir on JSTOR

Musicals:

West Side Story (1961 film) - Wikipedia

West Side Story is the product of a bunch of GAY JEWS!!

Musicians:

Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog - YouTube

Elvis Presley - Hound Dog (1956) HD 0815007 - YouTube

The Rolling Stones - Little Red Rooster - YouTube [1:30]

Comedians:

Top 10 Best Comedians of All Time

Top 10 American Male Stand-Up Comedians of All Time - YouTube

The 20 Best Stand Up Comedy Specials of All Time - YouTube

Top 10 Absolutely Fabulous Moments - YouTube

Footballers:

Une équipe de foot multiculturelle peut-elle encourager la France à l'être aussi ?

It’s not just football – it’s a barometer of diversity. Bring on the Euros… | Euro 2020 | The Guardian

Finally, what country could possibly compare?

THIS IS RUSSIA WINTER IS COMING - YouTube 

Discussion of Tchaikovsky's personal life, especially his sexuality, has perhaps been among the most extensive of any composer in the 19th century and certainly of any Russian composer of his time.[102] It has also at times caused considerable confusion, from Soviet efforts to expunge all references to homosexuality and portray him as a heterosexual, to efforts at analysis by Western biographers.[103]

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Wikipedia (23 secs into the youtube video)

Compare:

BBC Radio 3 - Discovering Music, Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings

Ossip Abramovich Gannibal's father, Pushkin's great-grandfather, was Abram Petrovich Gannibal (1696–1781), a Cameroonian[14] page kidnapped and taken to Constantinople as a gift for the Ottoman Sultan and later transferred to Russia as a gift for Peter the Great.

Alexander Pushkin - Wikipedia (15 secs into the youtube video)

Compare:

Rare Editions of Pushkin Are Vanishing From Libraries Around Europe - The New York Times

Forgery or History? Peter Harrington Rare & First Edition Books.

whatthehell

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