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Latest mixed game metaphor catch-all

[ by Charles Cameron — Kasparov on chess, dominoes ]
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Dominoes falling, we all know, at least since Vietnam, are a choice metaphor for one thing leading to another, and chess, regular or played in 3 or 4 dimensions, is a common metaphor for the complexity of natsec issues.

Here’s Kasparov:

It’s tedious for ZP readers to see every mixed game entry individually, so I’ll make this a catch-all post, and collect them here. The classic instance remains Cakvinball, with Alasdair MacIntyre’s quote a close second. Since chess remains chess no matter how many dimensions the board has, it’s a piss poor analogy for reality: Calvinball is a far superior game metaphor. And what a game!

This entry was posted on Friday, December 1st, 2017 at 7:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “Latest mixed game metaphor catch-all”

  1. Charles Cameron Says:
    December 2nd, 2017 at 5:40 pm

    There’s this, from then:

    I’ve just heard MSNBC’s Brian Williams talking or quoting this combo today.

  2. Charles Cameron Says:
    December 5th, 2017 at 6:18 pm

    Here’s a lovely single game metaphor from basketball, with context:

    Precision counter-terrorism operations (“night raids”) are like the one defensive basketball player chasing the ball around the court attempting to smother the ball handler. This player makes decisive and speedy moves, temporal in effect, yet often successful in disrupting the offensive scheme. But playing a zone means that other, less conspicuous, offensive threats are left uncovered. It is here we see the role of the rest of the zone defensive team: quieter, persistently present, and often plodding along, even forgotten, in uncontested spaces. Special operations forces, such as U.S. Army Green Berets, specialize in inhabiting these locales. Though night raid capable, their primary purpose is to play the under-examined corners of the zone defense.

    That’s from PLAYING ZONE DEFENSE: NIGER AND THE RISK VERSUS REWARD OF REMOTE OPERATIONS by Brian Petit at WotR.

  3. Charles Cameron Says:
    December 5th, 2017 at 9:22 pm

    Not even a game, but so colourful — Ali Soufan on Yemen:

    Saleh famously likened leading Yemen to “dancing on the heads of snakes,”

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