Monday, February 13, 2006
Incongruity
It's a big word.
The concept is one of the most basic to human understanding, however.
Eons ago, (the 1980's) I took the undergraduate class, Educational Psychology. It delved into developmental psychology. That would be the study of when we, as humans, begin to be able to compehend certain concepts.
For instance, when, as infants, we begin to understand that just because something or someone is no longer in our line of sight they can still exist.
Incongruity is one of those "simple-stupid" concepts that we can grasp at a very early age.
The TV show "Seasame Street" is one of the best practitioners of hitting pre-Kindegarten age kids exactly where they are, developmentally. They do not linger on a subject any longer than their audience's attention span, for instance. The show is annoying to watch, as an adult, among other reasons, because they never stick with a given story line within an episode to give any real substance. ... Yada, Yada, Yada ... the poor horse is dead, I will cease beating it.
One of the the things I, still, reference from that show, however, is "One of These Things ...". If you are my age or younger, or you have had children in that time frame, you know the song: "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong. ... etc."
Which brings me to a picture I saw in the news, today.
It's a picture of Muslim men burning a Danish flag in protest of the cartoons a Danish newspaper published 6 months before these protests started. Look at it closely for the thing that "just doesn't belong".
I'll give you a hint, if you missed it. I did, at first. Look along the right hand side of the photo.
See it, yet?
Okay, from the word "Go", the conservative Muslims have objected to the Western lifestyle and belief system(s). America is the most dominant, currently, of the Western Nations. So, when al Quaeda struck us on 9/11, they hit our military center, the Pentagon, a target that we may never know, some say the Capitol building, and ... What did they hit?
They did't hit our financial center. That would have been the Federal Reserve or the New York Stock Exchange.
They didn't hit the Statue of Liberty. That's a national symbol.
They hit the World Trade Center. Both towers. The two most visible buildings in the best known skyline in the western world, if not the whole world.
Symbols of a city. The city that is, more than any other, the center of the western world. The home of the UN, a western construct. The city that is closest in modern equivalent to ancient Rome. "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere", or so the song says.
Have you caught it yet? Look at the picture, again.
What do you come to mind first when you think of New York City?
The World Trade Center?
The Stock Exchange?
The Jets?
The Knicks?
The (football) Giants?
The Mets?
The Yankees. The pinstripes. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Mariano Rivera, Joe Torre, etc. That distinctive superimposed "NY".
Look at the picture, again.
Is it just me, or should the caption read:
"Death to the infidel. Behead those who insult Islam. ... Go Yankees!"
"One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong!"
The concept is one of the most basic to human understanding, however.
Eons ago, (the 1980's) I took the undergraduate class, Educational Psychology. It delved into developmental psychology. That would be the study of when we, as humans, begin to be able to compehend certain concepts.
For instance, when, as infants, we begin to understand that just because something or someone is no longer in our line of sight they can still exist.
Incongruity is one of those "simple-stupid" concepts that we can grasp at a very early age.
The TV show "Seasame Street" is one of the best practitioners of hitting pre-Kindegarten age kids exactly where they are, developmentally. They do not linger on a subject any longer than their audience's attention span, for instance. The show is annoying to watch, as an adult, among other reasons, because they never stick with a given story line within an episode to give any real substance. ... Yada, Yada, Yada ... the poor horse is dead, I will cease beating it.
One of the the things I, still, reference from that show, however, is "One of These Things ...". If you are my age or younger, or you have had children in that time frame, you know the song: "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong. ... etc."
Which brings me to a picture I saw in the news, today.
It's a picture of Muslim men burning a Danish flag in protest of the cartoons a Danish newspaper published 6 months before these protests started. Look at it closely for the thing that "just doesn't belong".
I'll give you a hint, if you missed it. I did, at first. Look along the right hand side of the photo.
See it, yet?
Okay, from the word "Go", the conservative Muslims have objected to the Western lifestyle and belief system(s). America is the most dominant, currently, of the Western Nations. So, when al Quaeda struck us on 9/11, they hit our military center, the Pentagon, a target that we may never know, some say the Capitol building, and ... What did they hit?
They did't hit our financial center. That would have been the Federal Reserve or the New York Stock Exchange.
They didn't hit the Statue of Liberty. That's a national symbol.
They hit the World Trade Center. Both towers. The two most visible buildings in the best known skyline in the western world, if not the whole world.
Symbols of a city. The city that is, more than any other, the center of the western world. The home of the UN, a western construct. The city that is closest in modern equivalent to ancient Rome. "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere", or so the song says.
Have you caught it yet? Look at the picture, again.
What do you come to mind first when you think of New York City?
The World Trade Center?
The Stock Exchange?
The Jets?
The Knicks?
The (football) Giants?
The Mets?
The Yankees. The pinstripes. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Mariano Rivera, Joe Torre, etc. That distinctive superimposed "NY".
Look at the picture, again.
Is it just me, or should the caption read:
"Death to the infidel. Behead those who insult Islam. ... Go Yankees!"
"One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong!"
