When a composer takes up the theme of unthinkable man-made tragedy as the impetus for a new piece, what is the proper tone to adopt?
The environment determines the occasions on which intuitions arise, the psyche — the inherited organisation of the animal — determines their form, and ancient conditions of life on Earth no doubt determined which psyches should arise and prosper; and probably many forms of intuition, unthinkable to man, express the facts and the rhythms of nature to other animal minds (Scepticism, 88).
It seems unthinkable that a man who would single-handedly take on the Alabama justice system on behalf of an innocent black man would attend a Klan meeting, or denounce the Supreme Court who decided Brown v. Board of Education.
Certainly in an era that now seems definitively kaput, it would have been unthinkable for a man in possession of his senses to walk up Madison Avenue, New York's great retailing rialto, shirtless on a Friday afternoon.
"It is unthinkable that a man who is fighting for the well-being of his own people can attack these peacemakers and mediators who are here to help him".
IN ANY self-respecting democracy it would be unthinkable that the man assumed to be on the verge of being elected prime minister would recently have come under investigation for, among other things, money-laundering, complicity in murder, connections with the Mafia, tax evasion and the bribing of politicians, judges and the tax police.
For example, think of the tight pants worn by men in the disco scene in the 1970s — they were popular at one point, but today, it would be almost unthinkable for a man to seriously wear skin-hugging white polyester slacks.
Their success has encouraged retail giants such as Levi's and H&M to manufacture their own ranges of casual cycling clothes for men – unthinkable a decade ago.
Ever since we first saw the great gray ships lying in the Hudson, they have represented for us the ultimate military gamble-an unthinkable total of men & machinery to risk on a single lucky shot.
As data centers become ever-larger percentages of total corporate fixed assets, and as extended downtime becomes unthinkable, exposure to man-made and natural disaster risks also become increasingly important location criteria.
