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Old 08-29-2013, 09:37 PM   #145
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Location: Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Join Date: Sep 2005
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Re: Is it still Aikido if you take away the Japanese clothes, etiquette and other things?

Quote:
Jon Reading wrote: View Post
Second, I am specifically trying to avoid combining a ideologiocal belief with a practical fact. In some of my previous post I spent some time speaking about translations as an example of an evolution of understanding. I do not think there is a right or wrong here, except to say that we did the best we could with what we had, and now we can do better. I think as long as we keep the context of the issue, we can avoid rights and wrongs. After all, hindsight is 20/20. Hopefully, we are never disseminating "wrong"...

I am getting at a point where we could evaluate the reason why we would deliberately hold on to an understating that is outdated or improved upon. Why would we hold onto a translations, for example, which has been more accurately re-written? I advocate that we make these decisions because they align with our ideological beliefs, not necessary because they are technically more accurate. There is something to saying, "I like this quote because it resonates with me", and be comfortable acknowledging the inaccuracy of the quote.
You know that you don't know which translations are more accurate, right? And so your point is, that you pick the translations that most accurately reflect your own biases. It is hard to argue with that if you are upfront about it.
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