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[ by Charles Cameron ] Zombies! Can’t live without them! Sources: Ursula Lindsey — Steve Benen

[ 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:

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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 — cross-posted from Chicago Boyz ]

Here’s the evidence I’m seeing for one hopeful outcome…

From an Egyptian FaceBook page:

I will NOT accept that religious groups hijack what we have been doing for their own agenda. A large group of the ones organizing them yesterday were people in galabeyas and long beards shouting “Al Jihad fe Sabeel Allah (Jihad in the name of Allah), you have to continue fighting, we will win this war, if you die here today, you will be a martyr and go straight to heaven, don’t stop, fight, fight, fight”. NO! This is NOT why we were in the streets on Friday being tear gassed and dodging rubber bullets and it is not why we have been going to Tahrir everyday to be heard. The reason why this revolt went through and became successful was because it was not religiously or politically charged.

quoted on the The International Centre For The Study Of Radicalisation blog – ICSR is a joint venture between King’s College London, the University of Pennsylvania, Israel’s Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, and the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy.

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This DoubleQuote first presents a jihadist spin on things, from a legal team member at Minbar al-Tawhid wa’l-Jihad, in Quote #1:

Below that, and lending it both context and irony, is a comment from one of our best analysts of the situation in the Yemen, a former editor for the Yemen Observer.

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John Robb gives the same general message a little strategic push…

What’s the best way to defuse Islamic radicalism across the ME and beyond? Help make the protest in Egypt work.

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Sources: ICSR — Shanqiti — O’Neill — Robb Feb. 3, 2011.