Derrida reminds us that yes also names language itself, not only in the sense of langue d'oil or language d'oc, the two main French dialect groups which derive their names from their respective ancient words for yes, but also because "the affirmation of a language through itself is untranslatable." And indeed names themselves are notoriously untranslatable, because they - especially the proper ones - hook into reality in a way that always suggests a more intimate relation between language and the world than linguists would want us to believe.
The idea of a talk show, and by extension the majority of contemporary televised journalism, is founded on such globalization of testimony: It is determined to exploit the testimonial value of saying yes far beyond any affirmative value such a yes may carry.
... trauma can be experienced in at least two ways, both of which block normal channels of transmission: as a memory that one cannot integrate into one's own experience, and as a catastrophic knowledge that one cannot communicate to others.
