after going hard on the history of the catholic church in the 1900s and its current reverberations a phrase i picked up was “weaponized ambiguity”. im not sure if thats where it comes from, but if you google it thats what comes up. i think about this term every single day. 
i have no real hard stance on the term as it refers to that particular issue. but outside of that domain i feel like this is the term that just explains everything about the present cultural madness. paired with “thought terminating cliche”, its the ying yang of this time period
what is “misinformation”. what is “disinformation”. okay, but this bit of information is technically true. ah okay, but its anathema, its not allowed, because it lacks context. what does it mean to lack context? literally any piece of information can be said to lack context.
does “my age” lack context because im not also telling you my job? does “my income” lack context because im not also telling you my age? i mean, kind of. so if i just tell you my age is that “misinformation”? only if its “misleading”. well, where am i supposed to be leading to?
whats “authoritarian”? i literally have no idea. i have no idea, zero, what normal people mean by this term other than “i dont like this thing”. is banning guns authoritarian? is enforcing seat belt laws authoritarian? doesnt every government use their authority? i have no idea
every single term and thing that forms the basic pillars of “stepping into the public discourse” (cursed activity) is like this. these arent tertiary things. the main central things that guide “what people talk about” are more ambiguous than poetry or art interpretation.
im pretty lucky in that ive mostly removed myself from having to talk about certain things with normal people, but if it ever comes up now, i just tell them this. im like “honestly i have no idea what that term means anymore”. people always have a weird reaction. such an odd time
oh im “speeding”? were you not also going “a speed”, officer? not much of a speed “limit” if i just went over it, is it. what does it limit. by what metric. where. are you familiar with the history of the most recent vatican council and its interpretation
btw have been keeping up with this and this is a perfect example of weaponized ambiguity. organization wants to do something while remaining ad hoc, ie without locking in a precedent, so they make an extremely ambiguous rule and its vagueness serves as cover to do anything.
https://twitter.com/tinyflurk/status/1463555295137779712
an art selling platform saying you cant do anything that causes mental or emotional harm. have you ever been mentally or emotionally harmed by art? on the one hand, i mean yeah, of course, a lot of great art does that. but, probably not in the way they mean? or is it? ambiguous.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
