Slang | Writing Despite Computers and Programmes

JosephNWelch

The face may not be familiar. Nor the name Joseph N Welch (22nd October 1890 – 6th October 1960). These words may strike a chord though:

Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

These were address to Joseph McCarthy on the 9th June 1954 during 30th day of the Army–McCarthy hearings, one of McCarthy’s several ‘enquiries’ in alleged Communists within US government and wherever else he could think of. Welch was acting on the behalf of the armed forces against McCarthy’s team and had just rebutted Roy Cohn McCarthy’s chief legal counsel. McCarthy interrupted with a personal accusation against Fred Fisher a young lawyer working in Welch’s firm. McCarthy had kept this in his seedy back pocket thinking it would embarrass Welch. McCarthy was not ready for this response, from a prepared Welch:

“Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us. … Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true he is still with Hale and Dorr. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me,”

McCarthy tried to bluster with other attacks, and was rebuffed firstly by:

“Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild … Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

And secondly by a crushing:

“Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this further with you. You have sat within six feet of me and could have asked me about Fred Fisher. You have seen fit to bring it out. And if there is a God in Heaven it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further. I will not ask Mr. Cohn any more witnesses. You, Mr. Chairman, may, if you will, call the next witness”

This exchange is judged by historians to have been the beginning of the end of McCarthy.

Aside from this day being the 69th Anniversary of this stalwart defence of liberty and dignity, it is also one which should be a timely reminder that those who indulge in undignified verbal brawling, crude insults (like whackjob) and tirades lacking intelligence or comprehension be they from Right or Left are not interested in Democracy or The People. They care only for their narrow views and their own self-aggrandisement. One cannot help but wonder if Welch had been returned to question Trump over his shameless activities during the 2020 Presidential Vote would Trump be even still resident in the USA but sulking in some tax haven.

I admit to having a very short fuse and will resort to a vocabulary which is not family friendly, at my more restrained a very lesser Groucho Marx. Dignity is not is my debating lexicon, shame on me. That does not mean I do not recognise it, admire those who can deploy it to great worth and see its true value, particularly in an era when folk of small character and mean spirit are given far more credence and public attention than they are worth.

Next year will be the 70th Anniversary of the aforementioned debate. Opportunistic folk of lies, dissemination, political ignorance and general heartlessness will stalk the USA during the presidential election process, heedless of the potential strife they are sewing. It will be a time when the spirit of Joseph N Welch should be remembered and his words deployed. Advise those representatives and candidates you wish to see re-elected or elected who care for the unity of the USA as a whole to study the account of that day’s proceedings. Have them sweep away these caricatures of politicians, these Trumps, Boeberts and the like.

It should also be borne in mind that these words and sentiments can be utilised in many other areas of Life. Society has grown over-fond of its little abbreviations when being dismissive or critical, as if one word, expression, piece of slang or some worn-out phrase backed with no explanation or foundation has any true value. Not only does it signify the user is lacking in vocabulary dexterity and thus cogent thought it also intimates they have a short attention span and can be fooled by snake-oil merchant versed in their truncated jargon.

From the 1st January 2024 dwell of the 70th Anniversary 9th June 1954 and its full meaning.

Yesterday, or maybe the day before yesterday (that’s the quirk with blogging to a potentially world-wide audience- time difference and when a person reads your post ,you never truly know ‘When’ you are talking to someone). WP announced I had 1337 likes. Total likes for the entire blog are not my interest, singular numbers themselves are. Going through my head was ‘Yeah 50, 100, 250 and various signature numbers, but 1337? What’s the reason. What is someone in WP trying to tell this less than enthusiastic about Social Media fellow?’ Time to delve into something which countless thousands probably already know.

The first place I was drawn to was Numerology. When I was a moody 19 going on 20 and looking for a suitable façade to construct, there was some dabbling. It appealed to the scientific side of me. After all you had to admit there was a great deal of maths in the way the Universe is arranged from top to bottom. Thus it could be argued Numerology had a stronger case than say Astrology, but since I didn’t want to get into a fight with any astrologists I was friendly with that thought was kept unto myself. Anyway the practicalities of married life and parenthood shoved the subject into Filed Away memories. However 1337 as a WP stat. Now that simply begged for a checking out in a Numerological significance.

As suspected putting ‘Numerology’ and ‘1337’ together in search, recorded a swift number of hits. Basically in Numerological terms. 1337 is one of the Angel Numbers. It is a message from your angels that you are being commended and applauded for your efforts as your successes are inspiring. Now I am not going to pass any mocking or sardonic comments, that would be tacky, cheap and pretty mean, we all have our beliefs. Anyway my response in the context of my search was ‘Ah. Interesting. Is someone at WP tuned into this belief system and thought it an inspiring way for bloggers to Keep on Keeping on?’ Frankly I could think of worse ways for WP to spend its time (but that’s for another post). When you analyse that possibility in relation to the basic nature of ‘Likes’ on a WP post, achieving 1337 ‘Likes’ is quite encouraging. A ‘keeper. then?

But in our frenetic Social Media world are there other meanings to 1337? Another scroll down and yes, though in this case I suggest the numerological term has seeped into a more common usage. Thus 1337 in slang means “extremely skilled ” at gaming or computing or, more generally, “awesome.”, which let’s be brutal has not the same universal appeal as having a message from angels. Now if this blog were visited by a vast audience I would not dare use those last words because it would only start a furious debate between at least two viewpoints over validity of use and origin. Someone would also point out that ‘1337’ as ‘awesome’ is not the sole preserve of computer/gaming aces, and can be used in any field of human interaction. You’ve seen this sort of event played out on Social Media over and over again.

Any whoever within WP decided to use 1337 as a number to congratulate a person on a measure of attainment, well ‘sort of Mission Accomplished’. Whereas I cannot be any stretch claim to have broken ‘The Code’ at least I learned something.

Double plus good, I reckon.

And in other news…..

Of Patchwork Warriors Skirmishers the-gilrs-in-yermetz-in-finality