MIT Faculty Votes for Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom

Re:MIT Faculty Votes for Statement on Freedom of Expression ... by twic on Monday December 26, 2022 @09:51AM (#34138011)

I think you are spot on, but I have one small quibble. You use the word "performative" to mean something like "just for show", or "primarily concerned with symbols". Performative is a technical term from linguistics which means something quite different (and interesting!):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performative_utterance

For some reason, that word has become widely used for your meaning. But I think it's not the right term! We should say something like "theatrical", as in security theatre.

As an aside, I think a Marxist would describe the divide as idealism vs materialism (both technical terms in Marxism).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:MIT Faculty Votes for Statement on Freedom of Expression ... by AnimalMuppet on Monday December 26, 2022 @02:10PM (#34140718)

> We should say something like "theatrical", as in security theatre.

How about "hypocrite"? If I understand correctly, in Greek, that originally meant "actor". So when Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites, he was saying that their religion was just theater - it was just for show.

[ Parent | on HN ]