Languages have become more dynamic, they are in a state of flux, acquiring new vocabulary from other cultures. English is particularly adept at borrowing from other languages.
There are more foreign loan words in German from English than the other way around: computer, car rental, fast food, to name just a few. They are often everyday items with practical use.
Even some innocent of the French survive as a restaurant, although one got rid of fries that were politically corrected to freedom fries.
The English language already contains a number of words that originate from the German language: Blitz, Lebensraum, Zeitgeist, Schadenfreude, and Gestalt (some more respectable, some less tainted than others). All are abstracts, their concepts are better understood in their original coinage than the English equivalent.
I am propagating another. The time is correct. Daily political events and their reports in the mainstream media are crying out for Volksverdummung. For once, the German word is shorter than its translation: deliberate deception of the public.
Let me give you a few examples that, coincidentally, all have to do with record gasoline levels. In their latest segment on surviving the creak and shock at the gas pump, CNN and its medical guru whom I adore advise walking more: save gas and lose weight. What a novel idea! Smaller cars need less gas. Plain! Drive slower to reduce fuel consumption. Is it all the gratuitous commentary and consumer affronts, or are Americans still asleep and totally ignorant?
A week or so ago, the prevailing wisdom emanating from the White House was a tax break on gasoline to lighten the load on consumers. Not a big deal for the likes of Bush and McCain, since they have their own oil well, free use of cars, or access to a minting press.
Now Bush and his political twin, McCain, have had a brilliant idea. Offshore drilling, ruled out since disasters like the one off the Santa Barbara coast in 1979, could be the answer to the current oil price debacle. Gov. Crist of Florida, elected on a promise not to drill in the Everglades, etc., backed off so as not to ruin his chances as McCain’s running mate.
Chevron spokesman Mickey Driver, speaking to NPR today about the challenges of building offshore oil rigs, admits we won’t see a price drop any time soon because of this. Neither politicians nor oil companies have yet answered the question of why the millions of acres (approximately 68) that are already leased are not being drilled to increase production.
However, just last year, the Department of Energy (DOE) reported that lifting the moratorium on drilling of the outer continental shelf (OCS, for its acronym in English) “would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas prices before 2030,” long after investments in alternative energy sources would have a much larger impact on lowering consumer gasoline prices: “Projections in the case DOE SCOs indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030… However, because Oil prices are determined in the international market, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be negligible.” (Quotes taken from the official press release: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/fl20_schultz/DrillingFacts.html).
In the years that followed the disastrous predictions of the Club of Rome (1970s), that oil resources would be exhausted in a few decades, we consumers listened to the litany prayed by both the oil producing companies and their cronies, that is to say , politicians of the stature of Bush and their ilk that one would start looking for alternatives to our dependence on oil. Hydropower, solar power, wind turbines, all very well, but unfortunately it’s not feasible yet as gas prices weren’t high enough. How tall is tall enough exactly? Answer: To justify investing and making money with these alternatives. This mantra has been repeated over the years. Now having reached approx. $140, no convincing attempt has yet been made here.
You hear about little obscure countries like Iceland and Denmark that are pretty independent of oil and rely on turbine power. Solar energy is a great Germany that is a technological leader in the field. Where is the United States, Florida? Where I live, they have enough hours of sunshine to contribute to the power grid. Instead of perpetuating oil subsidies worth billions, the GOP is still not talking about energy conservation, but wants to drop the moratorium on drilling.
Nobody in the GOP listens to NPR? Their engaging, unbiased, and non-derogatory discussions with invited experts on topics like today’s offshore drilling are easy to follow and excel in the depth of their information. Many politicians, who are not bribed, assigned and pressured excessively, would benefit from listening.
Perhaps another example of Volksverdummung would have been more convincing, for example, the reasons that led Americans to believe that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that we would be welcomed as liberators, that the war would pay for itself; ironically for oil. I hope the concept has overcome the language barrier.
