[Devil_Anse]

Time for an amateur to weigh in. All I know is, if you control the language, you can control the thought to a degree. What I am thinking of is when we study a language which is not our first, and we are told "there's no corresponding expression in that second language for the expression [fill in the blank] which you know from your first language.

And I guess if someone claims to have discovered that there is some universal element in all languages, that person is setting himself up as the only purveyor of this great understanding which HE has, and which he may now share with the rest of the world--IF he feels like it. It's a power-grab.

I think more credit goes to the geneticists, than to the linguists, concerning the now-accepted solution to the Gypsies' origins.

[Tax Government]

Time for an amateur to weigh in. All I know is, if you control the language, you can control the thought to a degree.

This is true.

The government is involved in higher education *precisely* so it can give its own sympathizers a podium and control public discourse.

I frankly have nothing but contempt for aveage academics, not because of what they may do in their careers, but because they look to mammoth institutions (universities, governments) to sanction and approve them. Every academic in this country receives a degree that has at least tacit government support. The degree-holders passed through a government-supported selection process, and 'succeeded' in some respect. All of them are in hock to the 'system,' although they may protest to the contrary.

There is nothing as silly and contradictory as Chomsky, who holds tenure from a government-assisted institution, trashing government and claiming to speak for the political opposition. It's ludicrous. But Chomsky & Co. are too much part of the big system to notice the problem.