DoubleTakes

[ by Charles Cameron — on juxtaposition as a force-multiplier in the war of ideas ]

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Two potent examples of what I term DoubleQuotes in the Wild:

‘Call of Jihad’: ISIS Turns to Video Games, Hollywood to Reach Recruits https://t.co/gYSjUceJBj pic.twitter.com/YVDDxkbLft

— Defense One (@DefenseOne) December 25, 2015

DefenseOne‘s ‘Call of Jihad’: ISIS Turns to Video Games, Hollywood to Reach Recruits is worth reading as a side-bar to Thomas Hegghammer‘s highly significant (and contested) Wilkinson Memorial Lecture, Why Terrorists Weep: The Socio-Cultural Practices of Jihadi Militants.

As Saudi Arabia threatens to sue anyone who Tweets this, my message is: See you in court. https://t.co/9Jg5BOb913 pic.twitter.com/Pj5zU79TqJ

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) November 29, 2015

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There’s a glib phrase about a picture being worth a thousand words, which given the quality of writing these days on the web may not be saying much about pictures — my point here is that two pictures can be worth a whole lot more than (twice) one — and the same goes for appositely juxtaposed verbal quotes.

Apposite juxtaposition, IOW, is a force-multiplier in the war of ideas.

  1. Charles Cameron:

    There are two versions of this photo on the Ayatollah Khamenei’s official site:

  2. Charles Cameron:

    A little closer to home, maybe — and saved for the record, forn ecentual use in a “user’s manual” for DQ thinking:

  3. Grurray:

    “With all due respect to the great cartoonist Ann Telnaes, it is simply not the case that Charlie Hebdo “were equal opportunity offenders.” Like Bill Maher, Sam Harris and other anti-Islam obsessives, mocking Judaism, Jews and/or Israel is something they will rarely (if ever) do”
    .
    Greenwald reguarly mixes up reality with his fantasy world. He complains Maher, whose mother is Jewish, doesn’t spend enough time mocking Jews. As if comedians should be forced to follow some mandated equal-time rule. If Greenwald had any sense of humor or even a little knowledge of cultural history he would know that the best Jewish jokes all came from Jewish comedians (see classic Seinfeld episode “The Yada Yada”), and Maher is no exception.
    I’m sorry for Glenn’s feelings that free speech doesn’t exist in France or on college campuses, but it’s still alive and well in American comedy clubs.