Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] VLMOC: is he a good man

Mathias Hermansson hermanator51 at hotmail.com
Thu Apr 15 00:34:42 MDT 2004


Interesting mate. Me too, I love both philosophy and logics.

BUT: when coming to issues about what is outside our physical universe, 
neither logics nor philosophy are longer any valid tools, so having a 
"discussion" about this would be pointless. (And if you want me to explain 
how Christian Theology works, I could, but there are probably others who 
would be better than me at doing this).

/Herman - sorry to hear about your grand-grand-grand-dad!


>i love philosophy debates ...
>no-one has tacked around the aspect of this lyric regarding "is he a GOOD
>man"
>ie: a foundational assumption of religious followings is that their deity 
>is
>NOT deliberately deceiving them.  ie: unstated assumption #1 within
>christianity is "God is benevolent".  this is a possible puzzle proffered 
>by
>the MTM lyric: we assume god is 'male', and more subtly, we assume the
>deific is 'good' (not messing with our heads).
>there are other more base assumptions involved in religious pursuit such
>as 'there IS a deific layer', "the deific layer is static (vs dynamic)", 
>'the
>deific layer is singular (vs plural)', 'text X describes the deific 
>accurately', ...
>i'm sure i could pop out a few more if anyone's interested.
>remember ... this is philosophy. and by such a glimpse of possible MO lyric
>meanings.  don't confuse this with a religious debate ... my comment is not
>intended as such ... (anyone wanting to pursue such with me personally ..
>off list would be 'the go').
>
>cheers
>rob, son of a son of a son of a son of a man who died because his beard
>caught fire.
>
>
>On 14 Apr 2004 at 6:30, Mathias Hermansson wrote:
>
>From:           	"Mathias Hermansson" <hermanator51 at hotmail.com>
>Subject:        	RE: [Powderworks] lyrics help? - has become NMOC by now
>Copies to:      	Date sent:      	Wed, 14 Apr 2004 06:30:13 +0000
>To:             	bcurran at columbus.rr.com, sena.reisenweaver at verizon.net,
>	powderworks at cs.colorado.edu
>
> > Close but no cigarr, Beth!
> >
> > Even that way I don't think it does justice to the great divine. The
> > gender-neutral word "man" does imply the meaning "mankind" which would 
>make
> > the lyrics say that God was a good being of mankind. I don't like to 
>think
> > that God is of mankind. He/She must, IMHO, be of another kind, otherwise 
>God
> > would not be Divine/Holy/God but just some big boss...
> >
> > I Ould not agree the God is a good MAN or for that sake a good WOMAN but
> > rather God is a good GOD!
> >
> > /Herman - son of a daughter of a preacherman
> >
> >
> > >Well, the word "man" does have a gender-neutral meaning when used as an
> > >abstract pronoun, though admittedly it's not much used that way 
>nowadays
> > >- But the gender-neutral usage of "man" also pops up in Renaissance 
>Man,
> > >even if they did toss in a "woman" there at the end to sorta even 
>things
> > >out. - Beth
> > >
> > >-----Original Message-----
> > >From: powderworks-bounces at cs-lists.cs.colorado.edu
> > >[mailto:powderworks-bounces at cs-lists.cs.colorado.edu] On Behalf Of
> > >Glitch
> > >Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 7:10 PM
> > >To: powderworks at cs.colorado.edu
> > >Subject: Re: [Powderworks] lyrics help?
> > >
> > >I guess that's why I never much liked MTM; I resist the idea of God as 
>a
> > >man, and when I first heard this song as a kid was incapable of
> > >understanding irony, sarcasm, satire, or however else you might
> > >otherwise
> > >interpret this lyric.  Never much liked it since.  Time for another
> > >listen,
> > >this time with "grown up" ears.
> > >
> > >Thanks to all who helped on the Phar Lap thing.  I knew Phar Lap was a
> > >racehorse and always wondered how or why he would be floating in a jar;
> > >thought maybe phar lap meant something different in this context.
> > >
> > >-GB
> > >
> > >----------------------------------------------------
> > >got your last meal filled up with pesticide
> > >hamburger chain third world infanticide
> > >got robot car your job will disappear
> > >it's called the politics of a brand new year
> > >some say that's progress i say that's cruel
> > >
> > >--midnight oil
> > >----------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > That would be way better, a great lyric and idea. "Everybody say God
> > >is
> > > > a good man" means arrogant presumption on the part of people to even
> > > > assume that God is a man. And in that light, the lyric "Is he his 
>own
> > > > man?" (as opposed to being the "man" some people presume "he" is) is
> > > > brilliant. I hope it's what they meant.
> > > >
> > > > -Jim
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Apr 11, 2004, at 8:15 PM, Andy Gillcrist wrote:
> > > >
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>> 1.  Reckon it still is "Is he a Soul Man" on the original CD
> > > >>
> > > >> To me, this has always sounded like "Is he his own man?"  And I
> > > >> even thought I saw that written down somewhere, but I'm damned
> > > >> if I can remember where now.
> > > >>
> > > >> Andy
> > > >>
> > > >> _______________________________________________
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> > > >> Powderworks at cs-lists.cs.colorado.edu
> > > >> http://cs-lists.cs.colorado.edu/mailman/listinfo/powderworks
> > > >>
> > > >
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