He has a look at buzzwords/expressions in the news and examines their usage, history, &c. This week’s is Frances McDormand’s ‘inclusion rider’ from the Oscars with others below. Boris Johnson’s bullshit obfuscation ‘teleological construction’ for example.

I hope I beat Eric to this series link.Grauniad series link.

Re: Boris- “But this polysyllabic dogwhistle to the paranoid is just fallaciously redundant – because absolutely every construction is teleological.”

How might Mr. Poole say that in one syllable words?

because absolutely every construction is teleological

That’s not true. There are lots of human constructions that aren’t. Language itself is a human construction that is not teleological. Capitalism is another. Individual capitalists may be working toward a specific goal, but the system itself is not deterministic. I would also disagree with Johnson that the EU is teleological.

There’s a teological argument for the existence of God. It was used in an American trial a few years ago in its Intelligent Design designation with some saying it should be taught in schools as an alternative to the theory of evolution, but the judge dismissed it as a front for creationism in that particular case. We’ve come a long way since the Scopes Monkey Trial!

You’ve produced a nice mashup of teleological and theological; was that intentional?

No, it wasn’t by design.