Because I took the trouble to research the phrase, I ended up writing "Thanks for providing such a striking example of the problem." Not that I figured out it would be wrong to say "Thanks for the object lesson," but just that I wanted out of that comments thread and into a separate post about the meaning of "object lesson," which explains to me why I'd always felt uneasy about using it. That is, I'd learned it from hearing others use it, but I wasn't convinced they were using it properly.
Here's an example of the way other people use the term. This is Paul Krugman in a NYT column from January 4th: "The past two months have... been an object lesson in the extent to which 'grass roots' anger is actually being orchestrated from the top." And here's the NYT Editorial Board, from early December: "[T]he painfully slow pace of recovery following the last recession provided an object lesson in the limits of relying on low interest rates."
See how flabby that is?! It's an object lesson in... flabbiness!
Now, check out the Wikipedia article "Object Lesson." Historically, "object lesson" is something crisply specific:
An object lesson is a teaching method that consists of using a physical object or visual aid as a discussion piece for a lesson...
The object lesson approach is promoted in the educational philosophy of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who held that teaching should begin with observation of objects which help students recognize concepts. In his teaching and writing he emphasized the concept of Anschauung, which may be understood as “sense training.”
Pestalozzi taught that children were first to develop sensation, then perception, notion, and finally volition, learning how to act morally based on an individual view of the world. Object lessons were important elements in teaching during the Victorian era of the mid- to late-nineteenth century....
Check out this lithograph from the late 19th century, with the title "Object Lesson":
The guy with the furled umbrella is, presumably, giving the object lesson. I've looked at this picture and attempted to understand what the lesson is. I have no idea. Pigs are mammals?
Maybe it doesn't matter. It's just that this guy is seeing something and taking it as an occasion to teach some lesson. The ladies seem to be tolerating the mansplaining. Or — oh! — if we look at the whole picture — and not just the pigs he's pointing out — the entire image is an object for a lesson in mansplaining!
This is a very restrictive meaning for "object lesson," and it's obviously not what people have been using. If we click over to Wiktionary, we see that restrictive meaning, plus the broader usage: "Anything used as an example or lesson which serves to warn others as to the outcomes that result from a particular action or behavior, as exemplified by the fates of those who followed that course."
Now, here's something that came up in my research. A clip — viral recently — showing a snowball fight filmed in 1987:
From a NYT article (last November) about that clip, here's a description of the bicyclist who enters the fray and gets knocked over:
His legs fly up in the air; his hat lands upside down in the snow. Before he can even get up, the cyclist is pelted again, and someone tries to steal his bike — but the cyclist stands and rips it away, then hops back on, abandoning his hat, retreating, pedaling off the way he came, taking powdery sniper fire as he goes. It is an object lesson in futility, in noble intentions thwarted — one man’s vision destroyed by the sudden madness of a crowd.
No one is purporting to teach a lesson using an object, but the author of those words is nudging us to view what happened as the basis for a lesson. We're told what the lesson is in, and we're supposed to teach ourselves the lesson or simply to see, instantly, what the lesson is.
I think, in the present day usage, "object lesson" works as an assertion that the lesson is obvious. You only need to identify the topic of the lesson. There's no teacher taking time, in the presence of the object, leading you — with your mind enhanced by the tangibility of the object — to a new level of understanding. It's just look and aha!
पोस्ट्स
७० टिप्पण्या:
Well, Krugman is dumber than my Springer Spaniel, so there's that...
I think, in the present day usage, "object lesson" works as an assertion that the lesson is obvious. You only need to identify the topic of the lesson. There's no teacher taking time, in the presence of the object, leading you — with your mind enhanced by the tangibility of the object — to a new level of understanding. It's just look and aha!
Present day usage or present day misusage?
abject or object, two different word often used incorrectly?
Apparently the campaign to deplatform Isis and Islamist social media presence is being used as an object lesson for dealimf with the far right social media presence.
The last two months? Was Kruggles the Angry Bear hibernating for all of 2020?
Nominate your spaniel for a Nobel. Failing that, a noble.
This is one of those phrases that many naïve young readers encounter and infer the meaning and pronunciation of from context and phonetic rules, and then use (in speech) with slightly incorrect meaning and pronunciation. "Tome deafness". In this case I've heard the instructional phrase called out with differing emphasis: OBB-JECT -- two syllables of equal stress -- versus the distinct and ordinary "object" -- little stress on either syllable -- referring to a thing you can hold in your hand and put on the shelf.
"Object Lesson" tends to be confused with "existence proof". We infer that some quality or entity exists, but only from circumstantial evidence. Later an example -- maybe an "object" but maybe a measurement or other evidence, emerges and shows inference to be true. Neutrinos predicted by parity theory and detected much later in big expensive laboratories. The source of plague in the local water pump; proved when the pump handle was removed and case counts plummeted.
In elementary school one may encounter "manipulatives", especially among instructors of arithmetic. Plastic teddy bears as counters, plastic discs and pizza-slice-shaped wedges to illustrate fractiions, lego-like stacking cubes to illustrate area and cubic multiplication. The point is the same but "manipulative" sounds SO much more modern and pedagogic than simple "objects".
"abject or object, two different word often used incorrectly?"
I don't think so. For instance, I grew up in object poverty.
And there were lessons to be learned from that experience : )
In many ways, I'm more a fan of these types of Althouse posts than any other.
It shows that in her heart, she's still both a student and a teacher.
There's something comforting in that.
That footage is wonderful--thanks!
"Object lesson" is a good example of how misuse becomes use. Same same with "out of pocket" which had a monetary context but is now used in the locational sense.
Narr
Lately all the snow falls south of here
I assume the furled umbrella is supposed to be a phallic symbol and the man is vigorously thrusting it back and forth. Otherwise, you've got me stumped.
"Object lesson," like "teachable moment," seems like the sort of thing pedantic people say when they turn to politics. "Object lesson" has a "I was right after all! Case closed! So there!" quality to it.
And should we worry about the "objectification" implied by the phrase? It's not explicit, but you can sense a trace of that idea present in the words (if you had to read Derrida in college).
Honestly, I for the longest time have probably never adequately separated "object" and "abject" lessons in my mind.
But I pretty much have contained myself to correctly using abject lesson in instances of abject lessons, I dare say because instances of abject lessons were less "flabby" than object lessons.
An "object lesson" is a concrete example of an abstract idea. An "abject lesson" is an excessively harsh or vile punishment made to teach a lesson. For example "When the army recaptured the rebel village, they killed everyone as an abject lesson to others who might consider rebellion."
I would question, however, whether an abject lesson necessarily has to be meted out intentionally.
I'd say fate and a host of other influences, rather than just intentional human conduct, could mete out an abject lesson.
Whereaa an object lesson focuses on cause, an image lesson focuses on effect.
1897
What's going to happen on the 20th is a massive coordinated infiltration into D.C. by A-n-t-i-f-a elements wearing M-A-G-A gear, doing as much damage and violence as possible for the cameras. The media is going to eat it up because they are part of the coordination. These unquestioned images of mayhem will be used for the major ensuing crackdown by the government on opposition political thought in conjunction with the platform crackdown already taking place by Big Tech. Any Patriots who go to protest legitimately will be falling right into the trap. Patriots will try to stop the violence but there will be too many infiltrators.
"The past two months have... been an object lesson in the extent to which 'grass roots' anger is actually being orchestrated from the top."
Now it can be told, the secret of prog outrage theater.
Thanks, Paul.
By the way, did you mean your first post-Trump prediction, about markets never recovering and such, to be an object lesson in prog derangement?
If Ghandi or MLK had tried to protest peacefully in China they would have died in jail completely unknown.
They only succeeded because the British and American reactions were organically derived from a decent people.
It is pretty obvious at this point that Readering, Paul Krugman, and all the rest of that movement will react to anything peaceful with clearly fascist tactics.
They lie about what Trump said.
They lie about policemen who went home and went back to work the next morning.
They cheer unarmed people being shot.
You all need to understand that they are just evil people.
This needs to be pointed out to the Good Germans like Ann.
Yes Ann, you are being a Good German right now.
There is no good argument for taking Parler down.
They are corporate fascists and they are evil.
Being an Amazon Affiliate right now makes you a Good German.
Thanks for the object lesson in the need of some to shoehorn the nonsense term "mansplaining" into subjects that have nothing whatsoever to do with that contrived concept.
"The past two months have... been an object lesson in the extent to which 'grass roots' anger is actually being orchestrated from the top."
The bolded words are what stood out to me. An object is something that can easily be separated from the rest of the world, and considered in its own right without regard for grand theories. Something like a litter of pigs suckling at a sow.
So how can you call "the past two months" an object? Did grass roots anger start two months ago? There were 100 days of riots last summer, so no. Did they start being coopted from above two months ago? Again, no. There was an election two months ago, but singling out post election grassroots anger from pre election grassroots anger is heavily dependent on theories of party behavior and priorities of elites vs grass roots -- concepts that only make sense in reference to particular theories of politics.
"The past two months" can't be an object lesson, because they're not an object!
From a pedagogical point of view, an object lesson is a concrete example of an abstract idea. SImulations are often used as object lessons to teach abstract ideas to kids. Or we look for a prime example of the outcome of an abstract idea and use it as an object lesson. It's a powerful teaching tool.
Achilles what do you think of my fascist tactic of ... commenting as a never-Trumper for five years on the AA blog? Scary, huh?
I've always taken it to mean a lesson taught by viewing an example where things went wrong, lessons with a moral. The boy who cried wolf would be an object lesson.
As it's used, an "object lesson" is a lesson from experience, as opposed to instruction. It's usually only used for unpleasant lessons, though. (In Krugman's case, unpleasant for other people, since he is incapable of learning he didn't already know.)
Something like Aesop's Fables are object lessons for kids. A story is constructed to show kids what the result of a certain behavior will likely be. The story of the ant and the grasshopper. It's an object lesson in the value of hard work and planning for the future.
Not filmed in 1987 obviously. An object lesson in "throwing like a girl."
"There is no good argument for taking Parler down."
I was reading a story on Ars Technica that Ace linked to...about AWS de-platforming Parler.
All of the Good German tech nerds were almost universally (and enthusiastically) in favor of it.
The majority described Parler as a threat, and its users as knuckle-draggers. There was no self-awareness at all.
None of the cancel culture, speech-banners understand that the first amendment is to protect unpopular speech.
If people on Parler are plotting the overthrow of the government or violence, delete those posts and prosecute them under existing criminal law if appropriate.
This is what should have been done when Antifa and BLM used Twitter to coordinate their riots.
I understand being a liberal when it comes to societal issues...but free speech? That was kind of their 'thing' back in the day.
The Democrat Party has slowly and then suddenly morphed into the corporate elite who are eager to crack down on any dissenting speech...just wow.
Object lessons don't always teach. The California fires are an object lesson about choosing woo woo environmentalism over sane forest management. One could say the same about California's electrical blackouts. California is an object lesson about the failure of object lessons. The last year holds more object lessons than you can shake a stick at.
Farmers controlled their sheep by shaking their staffs to indicate where the animals should go. When farmers had more sheep than they could control, it was said they had “more than you can shake a stick at.”
President of the United States unable to speak. Reminds me of days when POTUS asked three (!) networks to preempt for prime time to address nation and very occasionally was rebuffed. "How dare they?"
Paul Krugman reminds me I need to scoop the litter box.
There is no good argument for taking Parler down.
They are corporate fascists and they are evil.
Being an Amazon Affiliate right now makes you a Good German.
I share your concerns about Parler. But, if Ann is responsible, why aren't you and I responsible for reading and commenting on her blog?
The error before is as palpable as an object; it can be seen from different angles and examined closely. You denied the existence of yellow apples, and here is a yellow apple.
D D Driver
Achilles is incapable of articulating a coherent thought but I think the argument is that affiliates take money to direct business to Amazon.
Achilles is an object lesson.
Looking at that painting, I’d say that the object lesson of the haughty umbrella-wielding leftie wok instructor is that the POC (pig of color) sucks the hind tit.
- Krumhorn
Tinderbox said...
What's going to happen on the 20th is a massive coordinated infiltration into D.C. by A-n-t-i-f-a elements wearing M-A-G-A gear, doing as much damage and violence as possible for the cameras. The media is going to eat it up because they are part of the coordination. These unquestioned images of mayhem will be used for the major ensuing crackdown by the government on opposition political thought in conjunction with the platform crackdown already taking place by Big Tech. Any Patriots who go to protest legitimately will be falling right into the trap. Patriots will try to stop the violence but there will be too many infiltrators.
1/10/21, 12:44 PM
Quite possibly. I for one have no intention of being anywhere near a city dominated by Biden Democrats. But ten days remain, and if the left had "secured" Donald Trump then they would have him putting out daily Twitter videos calling for calm. Instead they're frantically destroying the ability to maintain an information-age democracy, and maneuvering 50%+ of the population into violent conflict.
It's not going to be enough to save them.
I object to the abject lessons currently being meted out.
Let that be a lesson that the real objectives have been objectively clear for quite some time.
The object lesson of the Arnold video: alcoholism is the ruin of many a good homes.
"Hey, man, you don't talk to the Colonel. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet warrior in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he'll... uh... well, you'll say "hello" to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you. He won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say, "Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you"... I mean I'm... no, I can't... I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's... he's a great man! I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas..."
"What are they going to say about him? What? Are they going to say he was a kind man? He was a wise man? He had plans? He had wisdom? Bullshit, man!"
It now just means "example, but I want to sound more emphatic than that."
The book held by one woman in the picture is Woods Natural History, which popularized nature for city folk back in the day. Sort of the David Attenborough of his time, Woods was the narrative source for the non-rural folk to use, for nature gazing.
So the object lessons in the picture is that of a sow suckling her piglets, and so on, which may be read about in Woods' book but - Oh, so salaciously - also may be viewed directly, and in mixed company, no less. The picture is a joke, albeit a very mild one, about the difference between reading about life versus experiencing it directly.
If Paul Krugman said it, it is wrong.
The "Object Lesson" painting is progressive before its time. It can be interpreted through the instruments being held. Grandpa wields a closed umbrella - very phallic, as noted. Grandma holds an open butterfly net - too obviously a vagina symbol. The gal in black holds an open parasol, so she is clearly questioning her own sexual identity and is somewhere on the LGBT spectrum. The recumbent sow represents the family structure of the underclass - daddy boar is nowhere to be seen - and the progressive grandparents are discussing which mandates they can impose to improve her life.
I've looked at this picture and attempted to understand what the lesson is. I have no idea.
This is what should be done to tits...
“ Achilles is an object lesson.”
Achilles is a lesson unlearned.
Never forget, Krugman didn't even wait until the bodies were cold before he blamed the Gabby Giffords shootings on the TEA Party.
He's simply another fifth-column POS.
Done Being Woke Yet? No? You're ****ed
That's how far we've descended, and that sort of rot is exactly why "Woketopia" just destroyed the ability of any firm to operate on so-called cloud infrastructure as it presents an outrageously unacceptable business risk. If you think your firm being "woke" insulates you you're dead wrong -- the definition of "sufficiently woke" will change and when it does you will find out that you're targeted -- exactly as were black businesses burnt in Minneapolis by people who claimed "Black Lives Matter."
Those businesses were destroyed and the people who committed those arsons and organized the riots were bailed out at the behest and through campaigning for donations by our current Vice-President Elect.
Descended... progress. An object lesson in a low-trust society.
See, and I always say "abject lesson".
The closed umbrella seems to act as a phallic symbol, while the open umbrella seems to represent the opposite. So does the net. Very telling that the man is holding the umbrella, but also holding a purse.
I'd say an object lesson is a lesson that does get learned. There can be events which are difficult to interpret - some say they mean one thing, some, another. Nothing is learned. And there are events from which a definite lesson is actually learned. For example, what were Japanese intentions in 1941? Pearl Harbor was an object lesson in Japanese intentions. Creating the depth of anger which the event created in the US is now regarded as a Japanese mistake. It's thought the Germans made a mistake piling on and deepening the anger. But if WW II history embodies that lesson somehow, it's not as an object lesson. It hasn't really been learned.
Stubbing your toe is an object lesson.
An object lesson in a low-trust society.
Countries around the world have reason to build their own replacements for social media. A reputation for integrity and even handedness is a business asset and not easy to regain after it is lost. It is like loosing a reputation for quality.
This election should be an object lesson to denialist Trumpkins.
Trump was rejected. This is the first time since Hoover that a sitting President lost, lost the house, and lost the senate. That's some serious losing. (So much losing you'll be sick of all the losing.)
You really need to accept that.
chuck
I think a lot of people will see that. It is a security risk to have your infrastructure owned by a foreign company that cannot be constrained by a treaty nor trusted to follow one if they could be. And countries can pass laws. America can ban tiktok, other countries can ban Twitter.
And here I thought an object lesson was the class where law students were taught how to protest an opposing attorney's tactic.
Ken B: I disagree. The election was a loss for Trump, but the Reps gained in the House and The Dems failed to outright take back the senate. Also, the dems were barely able to beat Trump who totally fucked up the Covid response.
However, because this is all about Trump and his peoples feewings, they chose to double down on stupid and lose the post election aftermath with the fraud hoax. It cost them the senate first, then the riots pretty much killed Trump support and loyalty in congress and he likely lost tens of millions of his voters who held their nose and voted against the pathetic and weak DNC democrat ticket.
Trumpers are like Palestinians... they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity
"Object lesson" has a "I was right after all! Case closed! So there!" quality to it.
It removes us from the facts, and advances their agenda.
Stated another way, "Who are you going to believe? Me, or your lying eyes!!"
A black criminal who resists police and is hurt or killed is canonized. Object lesson.
I hate, really hate and detest, trying to comment with a phone. Automiscorrect completely my link.
Look up “The Last Article “ by Harry Turtledove for how a totalitarian regime would react to Gandhi. Spoiler: it doesn’t go well for Gandhi or striking railway workers. I read it in “There Will Be War VII: Call To Battle “ in 1988. A great series available on Kindle through Ann’s link.
Let me try.
In Pennsylvania it has been found that the number of ballots counted exceed the number of voters voting, by 200,000.
The object lesson? Democrats cheat. The end justifies the means, I'm told.
Ann, tell us what you, speaking as a Legal Eagle, think of the phrase "as a matter of fact", please.
In journalism and conversation it seems to be used as a synonym for the conjunction "but". Or a general intensifier.
For example, "I did hear you. As a matter of fact, I heard you lying." Or "I dislike green vegetables. As a matter of fact, they make me puke."
In original usage, as a matter of fact, I think it's a distinction made in courtrooms over matters of LAW, reserved to technically educated judges, versus determinations made by a jury of common people using reasonable experience to decide a "matter of FACT."
Were news reports about the encounter between Nick Sandman and Nathan Phillips incorrect? That's a jury's question, as matter of fact. Were they actionable instances of libel? That's a judge's question, as a matter of law -- intent and malice and due care and yadda yadda yadda tons of precedent and subject to appeal and reversal. But, and as a matter of FACT, the jury's say on the question can't be appealed or overruled.
So it seems to me that the rhetorical use of the technical term is a subtle claim to a privileged assertion. He has an opinion, you make your best judgement, but I am, as a matter of fact, right beyond all question.
As a matter related to your expertise, is that a correct summary?
flabbiness and Ahnold?
You will be flabbergasted at the 2:08 mark
...and how come you didnt like the snowball fight vid when we posted it, huh?
Gospace, tablet worse.
footage.
Don't come here for legal advice from AA. She retired.
"The book held by one woman in the picture is Woods Natural History, which popularized nature for city folk back in the day. Sort of the David Attenborough of his time, Woods was the narrative source for the non-rural folk to use, for nature gazing. So the object lessons in the picture is that of a sow suckling her piglets, and so on, which may be read about in Woods' book but - Oh, so salaciously - also may be viewed directly, and in mixed company, no less. The picture is a joke, albeit a very mild one, about the difference between reading about life versus experiencing it directly."
That must be right. Reading the book title was a very good idea!
"In original usage, as a matter of fact, I think it's a distinction made in courtrooms over matters of LAW, reserved to technically educated judges, versus determinations made by a jury of common people using reasonable experience to decide a "matter of FACT." "
Judges can be the trier of fact. The distinction has to do with whether you need to weigh the evidence. Can a case be decided without going into discovery and trial? It's possible to structure the law so that more things can be decided as a matter of law and discovery and trial can be avoided, which is a way to save time and money (and deter lawsuits).
Flabbiness? That's Paully "The Beard" Krugman!!
"The past four years have...been an object lesson in the extent to which 'grass roots' anger is actually being orchestrated by the NYT."
TIFI.
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