Xmas treats?

Whilst, in the words from the article, LICC is not ‘automatically aligned with [Coco’s] opinions1‘ this is an interesting article from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity.

Not on our side: Christmas and the danger of co-opting Jesus

Discernment is required when reading articles from LICC, though Coco must be quick to remind himself that they are not of the same nature as the Parson’s Egg.

This article references a right-wing attempt at co-option, which is perhaps easier to identify than a left-wing one where social justice, love, equality and brotherhood have a higher place on the agenda, and so appeals more easily to the hearts of the followers of Jesus, but a careful review of both the right- and left-wing, even the centrist, agendæ[sic.] will reveal that they are all opposed to the teaching of our Lord, not recognising, the perhaps disguising the lack of recognition in a pretence by referencing his words but out of their context, his authority over men.

Read it carefully, and having done so, compare all the vain attempts of men to promote a different message than the one that Jesus brought that the Son of Man must be handed over to the authorities, be crucified for our sins, and be raised from the dead on the third day, with the Word of God once and for all delivered to us.

The Lord be with you, especially if you, as many do, take a peculiar regard2 to the days at this particular time of the year in remembrance of his coming as a man into this world.

  1. Coco’s opinions are referenced in the footer of this web-page. ↩︎
  2. One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. Romans 14:5-6 ↩︎

Gnats and camels

It was an amusing tale in the published by the BBC Council’s clean-up warning for St George’s crosses but also the co-incidence with an article published by the LICC that prompted Coco. We do so easily see the gnat, but fail to notice that there is a camel in our beaker of notoriously middle-class or upwardly-mobile freshly ground and brewed, steamed, iced, skinny, but extra hot, caramel latté (Coco’s judgement on that drink: ).

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Preferred pronouns

What a mess is the language of Coco.
Not so long ago most dialects of British (if not also other forms of the language) English dropped the singular form of the second person, though it hung on for in the vales and tor of the West Riding for many a long year after its abandonment in standard English, so that What has(‘)t(‘)h’done could ring in the ear of many a bairn. Coco is not quite sure of the correct orthography, perhaps you/thou dear reader will/wilt provide it.

We are also in danger of losing any distinction in the third person, where he/she/it are slowly being replaced by they: There were no other customers. Simon was alone in the bookstore and after they had paid, they walked off with their book.

Have you, dear readers, or, as is perhaps more likely unless sharing a screen, hast thou, dear reader, noticed that they have started a campaign to remove the first person singular form also and so we, who are English speakers, move away from the use of I to be replaced with we? Now in regal use that has long been the case, for the monarch spoke not merely on his own behalf but on the behalf of his government as a whole, but for thee and me, surely not?

A letter recently arrived from them as follows – only relevant content is included:

We are sorry to hear
We are writing to you because
Incorrect….and we fully accept that
We hope that you will appreciate that
We recommend that when…
This address should … if you need to write to us please write to us separately….
If any other…..we will contact you separately….
If you are … we may need to contact you again…because we are required..but we will contact you if…
If you would like more information…please contact us. Our telephone number is at the top of this letter.
If you would like independent advice…you can ask these organisations to contact us on your behalf.
Please accept my apologies once again for contacting you at this time.
Yours sincerely

Office Manager

All would have been well, apart from the final inclusion of the word again. Without that word Coco would have understood that Office Manager would have been writing on behalf of the organisation and therefore we would have been the correct form to use up to that point. At no point in the letter though did Office Manager ever express apologies for anything, so it was not possible for Office Manager, as distinct from the organisation on whose behalf they(sic!) were writing, to correctly say again. The conclusion must be, for the use of again, that we and my in this letter refer to the same person, persons or being of more than one personage. The question may arise, to which person does we/my refer?

We may skip the option of a being of more than one personage, as this is an entirely of this world letter, so there is no need to invoke an alien origin. As the letter was from an organisation, Coco did not expect an individual of the name Office Manager to write on their(sic!) own behalf, so it was not inappropriate to take the earlier references in the letter we that we was the organisation, being a collection of persons or a company of such. The use of again however contradicted that assumption. The we of the earlier part of the letter must be the same person as the my preceding the again.

But if that is the case, why then was my not used throughout the letter? The conclusion must be that the use of my at the end was an oversight. It was really intended to be we, but an individual, whom Coco shall name for the sake of naming, Office Clerk, had failed to make the correction when scrutinising these official letters for any use and all uses of the singular pronouns.

So, the merely singular use of my suggests to Coco that we was always the intended form and that my is an mistake or oversight, The answer to the question to whom does we/my refer? then becomes unimportant. For either way, if it refers to Office Manager we, being used multiple times is the preferred pronoun for them(sic!), and if it refers to the organisation, then the my used towards the end is a mistake.

Given that emotions can only be felt by sentient beings, then whereever we/my is used to express and emotion, the reference must also be a sentient being, so cannot be the organisation but must be Office Manager.

Coco must conclude that as the use of my was a mistake, and that Office Manager, on behalf of the organisation has consistently used we to refer to themself(sic!) [should that be themselves?], Coco must conclude then that a decision has been taken somewhere in government to suppress the use of all singular pronouns.

Let them do so:

Singular
We are
You are
They are
singular-noun is

Plural
We are all
You are all
They all are
plural-noun are

Singular
We love
You love
They love
singular-noun loves

Plural
We all love
You all love
They all love
plural-noun love

Coco just needs to get all in the right place, that’s all.

Manhood

It is no wonder that there is confusion over what men are – and as this post were posted elsewhere would likely to be taken down soon, take note. Coco shall not attribute the quote, for if he do then his behaviour shall not be any better than that which he is about to criticise. In a recent interview a businessman said that he thought companies needed more masculine energy. Whether they do, or they do not, is not the discussion for today. The interesting part of what was said is the definition of masculinity that followed. We have to be careful however as the business man was canny enough to place a glottal stop, a chasm, between the first statement and the definition, which he could also argue is not a definition. Indeed it is true, it was not framed as a definition, but rather as a pencil illustration, a cartoon if you like. His comments may then be charged with being non sequitur. So be it, you may make your own conclusion.

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Turkeys for Christmas?

Whilst it is voting day in the UK, it is quite a different day in the former North American colonies. One of Coco’s friends pointed him to The False Prophet Rising: Part 2 – The Merging of Church and State https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BaoI5FPWO5o/hqdefault.jpg. It was not something that would normally grab his attention. Listening to the analysis of a Trump speech at the National Religious Broadcasters’ Convention – 2/22/24 reminded him very much of encouraging turkeys to vote for Christmas and not letting them know that they are on the menu. Having no influence as far as the choice of their new president is to be makes the detail of the various presentations in some ways superfluous which is a view contrary to that of the BBC (see US election 2024: Why the world is watching so closely https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/2048/cpsprodpb/CB97/production/_132291125_whitehouse_976getty.jpg.webp).

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Genus reassignment

Times were very hard. The countryside was being squeezed by the urban population, rows and rows of solar panels were being placed not only upon the most productive arable fields but now even upon the pastoral land where sheep may have safely grazed. The panels it was true provided much needed shade from the summer sum, but the diminution of the number of animals put pressure on the economy of the canine population, making life very difficult for the wolves who had families to feed.

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Fake News?

Coco had only visited the site in order to check whether British or US spelling was being used to describe the class of medical facility which are called health centres, and not to examine whether fake news were being promoted, and whilst the video may contain much accurate information about the response of the government to the outbreak of covid-19, it began on a rather bad foot.

Coco is talking about this item on YouTube:

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