zenpundit.com

[ by Charles Cameron — cross-posted from Brainstormers on the Web ]

One thing leads to another, and building that DoubleQuote made me want to include another picture of a man with a tank — from a somewhat but by no means entirely similar situation a couple of decades back…

which led me in turn to this:

But then, you know, this is the web, and while searching for some URLs to give you so you could look at these images full size and with the appropriate attributions, I stumbled across yet one more image for my peaceful uses tanks can be put to collection, and realized there’s more than one way to relax with a tank while you decide what to do next…

In any case: here are the sources:

Prayer – Reflection
Tienanmen Square – Tahrir Square #23
Read – Dream

[ by Charles Cameron — cross-posted from Brainstormers on the Web ]

There are so many possible lessons to take here:

That a single image speaks louder than dozens of words. That we are more easily persuaded by images than by words. That FB and Twitter are clearly important to Egyptian youth. That dozens of words can convey nuances that a single image misses. That FB and Twitter were at best among the vehicles, rather than the drivers, of the events of January 25th.

That we’d do well to bear the Aristotelian distinction between material, formal, efficient and final causes in mind when talking about what “caused” or “becaused” those events – and elsewhere.

That the simple juxtaposition of two closely similar ideas can illuminate both, and perhaps create a spectral “third thing” which possesses the full detail of both with greater depth than either one in a single understanding, by a sort of stereo process not too different from stereoscopic vision or stereophonic sound.

That we live in exciting times…

[ by Charles Cameron ]

Okay, the Reagan Roundtable is happening, and I hope to contribute to it later.  In the meantime, I don’t want to disrupt the flow at ChicagoBoyz, so I’ll continue posting my non-Reagan material here — since here at ZP we’re excerpting and hollering and supporting but not actually hosting the Roundtable, and since Egypt, after all, is not waiting for the Roundtable to be over before continuing on its path of discovery…

Having said which:

*

I’m not the only one who’s eye is caught by DoubleQuotes, I see.

I ran across this one at the top of a piece by Esam al-Amin on CounterPunch entitled Mubarak’s Last Gasps, where al-Amin had made it his double epigraph — and even though I’m almost totally ignorant of the writings of Vladimir Ilyich and hope to keep things that way, I do think Quote #1 is quite a fine aphorism.

And having recently posted One for Zen and the Boydz here (remember that?), I really couldn’t resist this follow-up!

Very apt for the last few weeks.

Mind you, I think there’s an apocalyptic hint to Quote #2, which bears an interesting resemblance to Matthew 24:13:

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

[ cross-posted from Brainstormers on the Web ]

[ by Charles Cameron ]