{"id":231673,"date":"2023-03-06T15:08:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T09:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=231673"},"modified":"2023-03-15T22:08:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T16:38:41","slug":"where-more-is-not-necessarily-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/where-more-is-not-necessarily-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Where “More” Is Not Necessarily “Better”"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Upatissa\u00a0<\/span>Pethiyagoda<\/a>\u00a0\u2013<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Dr. Upatissa Pethiyagoda<\/p><\/div>\n

It is strange to note how often this self-evident truth is ignored, at terrible cost. Language has many ways of expressing this. Words like excess, satiety, grasp, greed and gluttony are but a few. Garrulity, verbosity, verbal excess are among those less seen, while periphrasis, logorrhea and neoplasm are for the most discerning or confused. We are all familiar with \u201cThere can be too much of a good thing\u201d \u201cToo many cooks spoil the broth\u201d \u201dWhere words abound, seldom is much thought to be found\u201d \u201cToo many words and too little think\u201d. \u201cNever underestimate the power of English as a barrier to comprehension\u201d and a short tale – \u201cPeter, what do you think of my speech?\u201d. \u201cSound, most certainly sound\u201d \u201cAnd what else?\u201d \u201cNothing else \u2013 merely sound.\u201d The way this self-evident truth is ignored is astonishing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Political speeches are the ultimate example of speaking much without saying anything. My chest swells in pride, when I see how effective my mother tongue is in disguising thought in a deluge of words. Political speeches excel and are very much in season just now.<\/p>\n

Written Constitutions are \u201cmanna from heaven\u201d for less than busy lawyers, itching for clients. This can be a good well spring What puzzles me is, why Judges who are themselves lawyers, require to be led by their \u201cBrothers\u201d (sort of \u201dbrothers – in Law\u2019) through hours of legal tuition, when both have studied the same texts. Does not one marvel at the difference between \u201cUnitary\u201d and \u201cUnited\u201d? Are long and labored hours debating such linguistic jargon, absorbing hours of an over-worked Court, which may be better spent on more material matters, for example, whether someone murdered himself, or was it by another? \u201cCan one suffocate himself while trussed to a car seat? Can a dead driver move mysteriously to the passenger seat?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Someone declared \u201cI have given up delivering long speeches on account of my throat \u2013 several persons have threatened to cut it\u201d. And as a final, \u201done for the road\u201d: There was this Parish Priest, known for his agonizingly long sermons. Parishioner Harry felt he had to do something about it. So, he just scrawled the single word \u201cFool\u201d on his Post Card. Next Sunday, as he trembled with excitement, the priest delivers an even longer sermon, at the end of which, he holds up the Postcard for all to see. \u201cAll of us, would have at some time, received a letter, where the sender had forgotten to sign his name. Here is one that came to me, where the sender signed his name, but forgot to write his letter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our political field overflows with such, especially in times of elections. I was astonished to read in one of our newspapers that no less than 80,000 contestants have filed their nominations \u2013 for some 300 odd local bodies. Some dozens of \u201cParties\u201d are offering their \u201ctalents.\u201d Just ask why? Chances are that soon will surface that threadbare and vacuous non-word \u201cPolicy\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s that?”, and the guy will slink away to a new chat circle. Excess is not confined to extravagant linguistic gems. A few are listed here:<\/p>\n

Population<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

At the first census in 1884, our population was estimated to have been 2.4 million. Today it would be around 22 million – a nearly nine – fold increase. As expected, our resources are stretched \u2013 there simply are too many of us. Clearly some means of managing numbers is necessary. The term \u201cfamily planning\u201d is contentious. Except for the young guy who declared \u201cI am all for family planning. Take my family for instance, there are many things that could have been planned a lot better\u201d. While recognizing the need, bogeys are raised about possible ethnic distortions.<\/p>\n

Greater numbers will strain many sectors – food, housing, education, health, security, transport, employment and leisure, meanwhile aggravating unpleasant ills, such as alcohol and narcotic addiction and increasing domestic crimes. This is an imperative matter for under-developed counties, straining for higher standards.<\/p>\n

Security \u2013 social and financial<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

None would admit that they are adequately paid \u2013 salaries or business profits. Atypically, more and more seems better and better. Large escorts and pomp are good clues for those of criminal bent as giveaways. It is said that a security contingent of more than 200 could not prevent a lone gunman slaying Mr Lakshman\u00a0<\/span>Kadirgamar, possibly the most \u201cguarded\u201d LTTE target. US President John. F. Kennedy suffered a similar fate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it took only two \u201csecurity guards\u201d to kill Mrs Indira Gandhi. Many World Leaders get by with very small numbers of well-trained and tested loyal officers. Here too, quality is considered much better than mere quantity. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At a time when the IRA guerillas were at their most active, the Conservative Convention was planned to be held in Bristol. Mrs Thatcher\u2019s hotel room was attacked. The PM had just entered the washroom moments before the gunman fired. The bullet, it was reported, had pierced her pillow, where her head would have lain moments before. While the newspaper reporters hailed her good Luck, an IRA spokesman commented \u201cThat\u2019s alright, but the PM has to be lucky all the time, we need to be lucky just once!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

President Chandrika Bandaranaika\u2019s innermost Security detail had been penetrated by a notorious underworld killer, who himself was gunned down weeks later, the President\u2019s luck won.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Pending (or receding) LG Elections<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Contrary to popular belief, Parliament, not so long ago doubled the Member numbers from 4,000 to 8,000. The bigger, apparently the better. In nature too, pernicious pests increase rapidly.\u00a0 <\/span>The more the merrier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Houses for retired (or defeated or dislodged Presidents<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The basis for this thoughtful provision (or mistaken belief) for retiring, or self-demoting Presidents, has neither been sought nor disclosed, RTI notwithstanding. This not inconsiderable spend some 9 million or so, is like a child stuffing his own stocking for Santa to re-present. Pity the poor present holder who in a rare moment of funny jocularity, said that \u201cRanil go home\u201d placards would be meaningless, as he now has no Home to go to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Good one, Sir.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a jolly good one ,<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us another one,<\/span><\/p>\n

Just like the other one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us another one,<\/span><\/p>\n

Dooooooo\u2026\u2026\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":339,"featured_media":231582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nWhere "More" Is Not Necessarily "Better" - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/where-more-is-not-necessarily-better\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where "More" Is Not Necessarily "Better" - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/where-more-is-not-necessarily-better\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-06T09:38:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-15T16:38:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Go-Home-Ranil.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"637\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Upatissa Pethiyagoda\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Upatissa Pethiyagoda\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/where-more-is-not-necessarily-better\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/where-more-is-not-necessarily-better\/\",\"name\":\"Where \\\"More\\\" Is Not Necessarily \\\"Better\\\" - 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