Am collecting stuff to translate icelandic, japanese and brazilian portugese into one another.. Talking about this, a person asked a seemingly obvious question:
why these languages?
Now, I have certain reasons which seem to have been fine for that particular conversation.
However:
Am I sure these are reasons rather than dressed up excuses?
Am I sure these reasons, or elements I can reason about have not come about to my mind in a sort of arbitrary fashion?
Or indeed, why reasons can not in and of themselves be, in fact, arbitrary..?
The question of being arbitrary is interesting for me because power allows arbitrariness. I decide this line should have a Z all on its own – because I have the power and it seems, in this case, to link to nothing else but itself. However, if I said that the Reason I decided Z rather than A, a letter right above it in the keyboard, is that Z is a rare letter to type, then, I think, the question of arbitrary use of my power would have been that of why Z among other rare letters in english. That probably be the discursive course because it seems legitimate to link an attempt of highlighting a single letter in a line, with that letter’s likelyhood to be in any other word. However, the arbitrary use of power is when it comes to why Z and not, errr, X? If either are fine, why did I not write Z/X? If I did, would I be able to discuss the question of the arbitrary Z in the way I just did?
This last point, it seems like possibly linking with the use, abuse and legitimacy of arbitrariness. When is it cool to be arbitrary? Can it be argued that being arbitrary is always uncool? What is the difference between arbitrary stuff and arbitrary culture? (Is there a difference..?) Perhaps arbitrariness is a question of multiple linking? (eg being able to get linked from multiple directions, despite an initial arbitrary decision? Perhaps its that and being viral, unimposed.. Sort of there but dead until conditions/links open up?)