Sincerely Counting by Pinball

Still Another Cousin of Solipsist (SACOS, not to be confused with COS or ACOS) sent us a link to a Youtube video of the old "Sesame Street" pinball-counting song. You know the one: "OnetwothreeFOURfive / SixseveneightNINEten / Eleventwelve (doo-doo-doo-duh-doo-doo-de-doo-doo-de-doo)." Quite the blast from the past. But did you know that the song was sung by the Pointer Sisters? Apparently, it was. And here's where things get interesting. The Solipsist works with the Pointer Sisters' sibling--the "Pointer Brother," if you will. Which means that the Solipsist is only three degrees of separation from the Muppets!!! Hell, the way we see it, we practically are a Muppet. We wonder what our muppet-form would be. . . . How about something minimalist and blue, maybe with a somewhat fearsome mien? The merchandising possibilities are mind-boggling!

Stanley the Solipsist? A Muppet in the making?

(Image from Boingboing)

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Speaking of "Sesame Street," today's post is brought to you by the word "disingenuous." Wonderful word, really. It's one of those words with a very specific meaning to indicate a very specific quality. People often use it--you might have used it yourself--with a vague sense of what it means--something "not good"--but without a precise definition and without complete confidence that they were using it correctly. Well, that's what we're here for.

Many people use the word--if they use the word--as a synonym for "dishonest," but that's not exactly right. "Disingenuous," according to dictionary.com, means "lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity"; in other words, when Bill Clinton said "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," he was, strictly speaking, not lying, but he was certainly being disingenuous.

(Digression: That is, of course, if you accept his reasoning that oral sex is not sex. The Solipsist is not of that opinion. In our view, we consider it "sex" if an attractive woman even casts a glance in the general direction of our nether regions. Then again, we're hopelessly needy and should probably not be considered an expert in this area. EOD)

We thought of this when we read the following quote from Yang Jiechi, the Chinese foreign minister, responding to a WTO ruling against China: "China will never seek to advance its interests at the expense of others" ("China Warms to New Credo: Business First"). Yeah, sure.

The world of international diplomacy--of politics in general--is rife with disingenuousness. Obviously, the Chinese foreign minister has to be delicate, but is there anyone out there who doesn't think that China (or the United States, or Finland, or Germany, or any country--well, any country that isn't Canada) would "advance its interests at the expense of others"? Of course China would advance its interests at the expense of others; that's what governments do: protect their citizens. Sure, most countries will try to be cooperative, if for no other reason than that cooperation costs less than conflict. But if it comes down to choosing between Chinese interests and those of any other country, of course China will defend its own interests.

That's what's so disheartening about the disingenuous statement. It usually doesn't so much cover up a lie as it distorts the truth--which is ultimately more harmful. A lie can be exposed and the perpetrators punished; the disingenuous speaker, once exposed, can simply shrug and smile and acknowledge the "misunderstanding." He or she blames the audience, who were not savvy or tenacious enough to ferret out the "truth."

The task of a speaker--or writer--is to convey meaning. Good writing is clear writing. Anything less than clear is less than good. Sincerely.