My most unusual column: Why the English capitalized the word “I”

(Copyright 09-07-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan)
“I AM, said I, to no one there.” – Neil Diamond “I AM THAT I AM.” – God (to Moses, 1491 B.C.) “God forgives; man sometimes forgives; nature never forgives.” – author unknown TO ME, “I” STANDS FOR THE “INDIVIDUAL” – the right to what’s in your heart. Down through history no group on earth has done more for the freedom of the individual than the English-speaking peoples. Contrary to what you may have been told in college, no one has done more to fight the oppression of the individual. COINCIDENCE? I think NOT! The German word for “I” is “ich.” The Dutch word is “ik.” The Greek is “ego.” French is “je.” Russians say “ja.” The Swedes, “jag.” The Danes, “jeg.” I forget the Spanish word, but they all have one thing in common: their personal pronoun starts with the lower case. The English capitalize the word “I” (and – so far – I haven’t come across another language that does that)! That’s why Thomas Jefferson, at the tender age of 33, had it in him to write the Declaration of Independence, as in: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. . .. “ And the operative term there is “ONE PEOPLE” – not “diversity,” two Americas, nor a “glorious mosaic”! And he capitalized words such as Laws of Nature, and “Life” – even as the King James Bible capitalized “I AM THAT I AM”! In “21st Century Academia,” Jefferson would probably get a D-minus or an F for his “antiquated” writing, but people who come here from oppressed parts of the world understand the meaning of “certain unalienable Rights” better than native-born Americans tend to do. In a “morning update,” Rush Limbaugh told about a Kuwaiti student who came here to study at a college in California: in one class, the assignment for his final paper was titled “America was not founded by the people, but by wealthy elitists.” The Kuwaiti argued the opposite premise, and he told how grateful he was to America for saving his country from Saddam Hussein (who had killed some of his relatives). The professor gave his paper an F and told him that he needed “psychological help”! He especially criticized the student for implying that America is “God’s gift to the world!” This is SO typical. That is the Academe into which America is sending its precious sons and daughters – at great personal and government expense. Academics have an obsession with sexualized politics, secularism, and “racism.” They forget, 1) America was the first colony to win independence from the “Empire”; 2) in the long run, that Empire did a lot of good for the world population’s general well-being, including providing a common business language upon which the sun never sets, which facilitates medical care and other developments in third world countries. General MacArthur said the solution to the human problem must be “of the Spirit,” but eighty percent of believing freshmen lose their faith before they graduate. In his farewell address to the United Nations, President Reagan spoke of Washington’s farewell address to the Nation, and how the case for “inalienable rights,” the notion that conscience is above compulsion, can only be made in the context of a Higher Law. Washington also said education alone does not produce a “civil society.” We are not evolving into a Utopia; we are devolving into Dante’s worst nightmare. P.S. The column you just read is unique. It came from original thought by an individual (me), and I had never seen “the theory of I” taken up before. As I said recently, “If your professor taught you what to think but not how to, you was robbed.” I had a mini-debate this week with a young person in college who was offended by a politically incorrect joke I posted on Facebook. She said political correctness is simply the Golden Rule. O would that that were true, but I was reminded of a quotation from my March 19th column, in case you missed it: Years before the term ‘political correctness’ was coined, there appeared a prophetic article entitled ‘Moral Dishonesty'” (National Review, 12/19/1975) by Gerhard Niemeyer: “Evidence disturbing to attitudes of good will toward the Soviet Union is simply read out of court. . .. The truth is conceived as an enemy of international goodness. . .. Self-will may govern our actions, but it does not sit easy in our souls. Moral dishonesty, by contrast, not only considers itself guiltless but positively glows in self-righteousness while heaping moral condemnation on those who disagree. . .. “Traditional morality – either the Ten Commandments, Aristotle’s list of virtues, or Christ’s double love of God and neighbor [He kept it simple] – can never pass off falsehood as the necessary price of goodness. That possibility belongs exclusively to modern progressivism. . .. More than Tartuffe, who knew he was lying, they suppress reason by not allowing the voice of Truth to be heard even within their own hearts. . .. It goes without saying that in the process, not merely reason but morality itself is lost. For where reason and knowledge are despised, there Mephistopheles can easily snare Faust in the net of hell.” I hate to have to be the one to point out the obvious, but that is political correctness: lies, redefining words such as morality, suppression of dissent, and forced conformity. Orwell called it Group Think. PPS: “If everybody is thinking alike, someone isn’t thinking.” – General George Patton “It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.” – Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)) “If you can’t change your mind, are you sure you have one?” – author unknown ———————————————————————————————————- See Curtis Dahlgren’s other articles at: Dahlgren, Curtis – Church of God, Bismarck (church-of-god-bismarck.org) Reprinted with permission from: Renew America http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/dahlgren/220131 ———————————————————————————————————-

(Copyright 09-07-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan)

“I AM, said I, to no one there.” – Neil Diamond

“I AM THAT I AM.” – God (to Moses, 1491 B.C.)

“God forgives; man sometimes forgives; nature never forgives.” – author unknown

TO ME, “I” STANDS FOR THE “INDIVIDUAL” – the right to what’s in your heart. Down through history no group on earth has done more for the freedom of the individual than the English-speaking peoples. Contrary to what you may have been told in college, no one has done more to fight the oppression of the individual. COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!

The German word for “I” is “ich.” The Dutch word is “ik.” The Greek is “ego.” French is “je.” Russians say “ja.” The Swedes, “jag.” The Danes, “jeg.” I forget the Spanish word, but they all have one thing in common: their personal pronoun starts with the lower case. The English capitalize the word “I” (and – so far – I haven’t come across another language that does that)!

That’s why Thomas Jefferson, at the tender age of 33, had it in him to write the Declaration of Independence, as in:

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. . .. “

And the operative term there is “ONE PEOPLE” – not “diversity,” two Americas, nor a “glorious mosaic”! And he capitalized words such as Laws of Nature, and “Life” – even as the King James Bible capitalized “I AM THAT I AM”!

In “21st Century Academia,” Jefferson would probably get a D-minus or an F for his “antiquated” writing, but people who come here from oppressed parts of the world understand the meaning of “certain unalienable Rights” better than native-born Americans tend to do. In a “morning update,” Rush Limbaugh told about a Kuwaiti student who came here to study at a college in California: in one class, the assignment for his final paper was titled “America was not founded by the people, but by wealthy elitists.” The Kuwaiti argued the opposite premise, and he told how grateful he was to America for saving his country from Saddam Hussein (who had killed some of his relatives).

The professor gave his paper an F and told him that he needed “psychological help”! He especially criticized the student for implying that America is “God’s gift to the world!” This is SO typical. That is the Academe into which America is sending its precious sons and daughters – at great personal and government expense.

Academics have an obsession with sexualized politics, secularism, and “racism.” They forget, 1) America was the first colony to win independence from the “Empire”; 2) in the long run, that Empire did a lot of good for the world population’s general well-being, including providing a common business language upon which the sun never sets, which facilitates medical care and other developments in third world countries.

General MacArthur said the solution to the human problem must be “of the Spirit,” but eighty percent of believing freshmen lose their faith before they graduate. In his farewell address to the United Nations, President Reagan spoke of Washington’s farewell address to the Nation, and how the case for “inalienable rights,” the notion that conscience is above compulsion, can only be made in the context of a Higher Law. Washington also said education alone does not produce a “civil society.” We are not evolving into a Utopia; we are devolving into Dante’s worst nightmare.

P.S. The column you just read is unique. It came from original thought by an individual (me), and I had never seen “the theory of I” taken up before. As I said recently, “If your professor taught you what to think but not how to, you was robbed.” I had a mini-debate this week with a young person in college who was offended by a politically incorrect joke I posted on Facebook. She said political correctness is simply the Golden Rule. O would that that were true, but I was reminded of a quotation from my March 19th column, in case you missed it: Years before the term ‘political correctness’ was coined, there appeared a prophetic article entitled ‘Moral Dishonesty'” (National Review, 12/19/1975) by Gerhard Niemeyer:

“Evidence disturbing to attitudes of good will toward the Soviet Union is simply read out of court. . .. The truth is conceived as an enemy of international goodness. . .. Self-will may govern our actions, but it does not sit easy in our souls. Moral dishonesty, by contrast, not only considers itself guiltless but positively glows in self-righteousness while heaping moral condemnation on those who disagree. . ..

“Traditional morality – either the Ten Commandments, Aristotle’s list of virtues, or Christ’s double love of God and neighbor [He kept it simple] – can never pass off falsehood as the necessary price of goodness. That possibility belongs exclusively to modern progressivism. . .. More than Tartuffe, who knew he was lying, they suppress reason by not allowing the voice of Truth to be heard even within their own hearts. . .. It goes without saying that in the process, not merely reason but morality itself is lost. For where reason and knowledge are despised, there Mephistopheles can easily snare Faust in the net of hell.”

I hate to have to be the one to point out the obvious, but that is political correctness: lies, redefining words such as morality, suppression of dissent, and forced conformity. Orwell called it Group Think.

PPS: “If everybody is thinking alike, someone isn’t thinking.” – General George Patton

“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.” – Joseph Joubert (1754-1824))

“If you can’t change your mind, are you sure you have one?” – author unknown

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See Curtis Dahlgren’s other articles at:
Dahlgren, Curtis – Church of God, Bismarck (church-of-god-bismarck.org)

Reprinted with permission from: Renew America
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/dahlgren/220131
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