Another serpent bites its tail / the dust
[ by Charles Cameron — these people seem headed for Darwin prizes ]
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You know I am always on the lookout for form — pattern, geometry, whatever you want to call it — in the news. Here, if the Daily Mail is to be believed, is a classic case:
There’s that saying, form follows function. I’m not sure how universal a truth that is, but it is certainly a useful design heuristic, and what we appear to have here is an instance of the failure of function followed by an aberrant form: lack of knowledge leading to self-destruction. More succinctly: form also follows dysfunction.
In fact, it’s an OODA loop gone awry, with lack of Observation followed by Orientation, Decision and Action. Unless these poor people awaken from their delusion first, the Islamic State is unlikely to give them any further iterative chances to re-Observe and Orient.
I don’t much like the Darwin Prizes — there’s a bit of a gloating aura to them, although they’re also amusing in a way that sneaks around the inherent sadness and meanness.
Poor kids.
June 27th, 2015 at 4:09 pm
Sharp call on the OODA. Unfortunately, OODA has a) been with us since we became sapiens, and b) often may be harmful as easily as it may be useful.
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I’m with Nietzsche on some related points. He wrote of 3 (or 4, depending where you read him) “errors” of human perception/judgment without which humanity would never have progressed. Furthermore, he said that an omniscient human, as the basis of all homo sapiens, would have caused our species to go extinct a long time ago. Something to chew on.
June 28th, 2015 at 12:49 am
Here another media mishap, could be said to be the ‘opposite’: “While roaming the annual Gay Pride Parade in London, CNN International reporter Lucy Pawle stumbled upon an “unnerving” sight: An unidentified man flying what initially appeared to be the flag of the jihadist Islamic State (ISIS). …” it was, of course, a carefully composed parody:
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http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnn-reporter-spots-isis-flag-at-london-gay-pride-parade/
June 29th, 2015 at 8:59 pm
I find it almost painfully difficult to believe that headline actually happened in the real world.
Especially since it’s red meat for the Putinsphere.
And especially, especially since “Daily Mail Dot Com.”