Humanists of the world gather up!

Whether people are interested or not in sociology is a very interesting sociological concept in itself.

There are people that fine sociology uninteresting? Philistines!
It's such a fascinating subject.

Not since the Romans decided to visit.

Heh, speaking of Romans, I'm reading this book called Overwhelmed by the Vesuvius - Pompeii in 1000 graffiti. It's so funny and entertaining! The introduction is already interesting because it explains how these original texts had not been published by classicists for a long time because it didn't fit the civilized image they had of Roman culture (pfff, snobs). What happened is that because of the Vesuvius graffiti made by plebs was conserved, has been roganized and is all there for us to read. It is so recognizable and as rude and vulgair as it would be nowadays of course. I think it's great read, I mean this is really a look into daily life, regular people instead of just reading texts by philosophers, writers, politicians etc. I'm enjoying it a lot. It's also interesting to compare abusive words. There are many many references to 'cunnilinction' which is interpreted not as a sexual reference but rather an abusive word for someone who would be called a looser or an asshole or something like that. Then there are also many references to homosexuality of course. And many other messages, greetings to other people or quotes from literature. Kudos to Vincent Hunink for the way he compiled this book. All texts refer to their code in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) and are organized by location. So you could walk around the ruins in Pompeii with this book in your hand and read in that order. Each text is followed by the exact location, building or even room as well. Really neat. I'll see if I can write some down in English.

Steven, did you learn Statistics on the uni?

Are you one of them then?

I read the Goffman. Next thing will be Simmel, Merton and indeed Giddens.

I am a literature scholar and just started my interest in sociology, actually after Goffman.

That does sound like such a fascinating book!!! They say "history is written by the winners" but there's a rather obvious corollary to this that people tend to overlook. It's that "history is written by the writers!"

Unless you wrote an important work of literature, then your thoughts aren't gonna go down in history. If you're just a peasant or a random citizen, your opinion is lost to the ages. (of course, the advent of internet blogging is changing all that, so watch out! )

The general populace's opinion never gets recorded! I find this outlook into the everyday man absolutely riveting. Perhaps I should look into that book.

Are you a sociologist, Thor?

Cool. Did you deal with statistics? I guess as a media guy you had to deal with McLuhan too?

Oh yes, I can imagine that. The Gutenberg galaxy and Global Village. The guy had a knack for these terms. I wonder what should I read next. Simmel or Merton. I think of Merton, actually.

And I DO plan to read more Bourdieu, possibly The Rules of Art.

Borrowed? Don't you spend all your days in the library?

Can we discuss politics here or not really, Bregt? There is some stuff going through my head and I would use a decent discussion about it. The place in point is Middle East, which I am writing a script about now.

Sociology is amazing, to add to what I've been saying before. This is so developing and makes me reflect about a lot of stuff. We can bring in some of sociological terms to the politics discussion if we will.

It can spark some controversy, though.

I will start with a bigger lecture first. But now I'm watching a movie, so in commercials .

Exactly. It's not like we would suggest drilling a hole in the middle of Saudi Arabia and sinking off the whole damn Arabian peninsula.

Well.
*I* might.