In the light of our electoral horror-show, one question screams out to me loudest, will we ‘dodge the bullet’? My concern comes mainly by way of the candidate who incites hate, separation, anti-intellectualism, a repudiation of altruism..in short… standing for everything anathema to humanist values. His constituents seems to revel in exercising base expression of privilege, xenophobia and opportunism. His ultimate opponent in the race, whomever that comes to be, while clearly more sympathetic to so-called liberal values, also chills me, but seems less potentially catastrophic due to perpetuating the familiar. The hyperbole we hear from Chomsky and others about immanent threats to the species as result of power abuses and shortsightedness, etc, should not be dismissed too blithely.
Uncomfortable in applying the notion of the bullet being dodged, which seems entirely an act of fortune or luck, or a mythical expression of super-hero powers, I turned to a closer-to-hand example. I’ve observed this phenomena several times recently, it seems instructive in understanding the close-call/margin-of-error mechanism for survival. Rather than “dodging the bullet,” the metaphor becomes “spitting out the hook”. This seems more apt, as the quarry (i.e..the electorate) has already fallen for the bait, the hook has been set, they’ve been led around a bit, some semblance of a fight has ensued, but now the anticipation of extermination arrives. Is it truly too late for this unfortunate vertebrate to somehow save its own life?
Take a close view at this video.
What we observe here at the moment of truth is an ever so slight moment of slack, and just when all appears to be done except for the gutting…escape, sweet escape follows. In truth there are some important details. Firstly, I, the fisherman, un-barbed the hook, this gave the catch an out by only having to eject the snare in a single direction. This slack was gained by switching directions rapidly, creating flux at the finish. Jaws and mouth facilitate a spitting reflex as normal by-product of ‘tasting’, or testing its bite. All this considered, the main feature to be seen in a frame by frame analysis is that the fish is certainly a goner if the fisherman unerringly closes the deal. Within the lapse born of cockiness there is hope.
Of course, the best outcome would have been to not fall for the fly in the first place. Failing that, fighting, finding any opportunity to introduce variables into the line, and acting unhesitantly if an opening can be forged is our best bet under these worst of conditions. Otherwise, the frying pan beckons.
Slackers
“Firstly, I, the fisherman, un-barbed the hook, ”
The system is rigged!
Hands across the waters
I know this is off topic, I’ve been waiting for our quintessential Spinoza to return with a story contribution with his intuitive understanding of people, places and things.
I must also say that he has beautiful hands. lol! I say that because in NYC hands are a big commodity in the advertising world. Two of my employees (years ago) were hand “actors” who supplemented their income by working for me and my partner when the hand-calls were slow.
Okay. Off I go. Back to the smoking fishy frying pan.
the main feature to be seen . . .
I receive a different meaning from this lesson, equally apropos, equally symbolic. The fish escapes when the fisherman divides his attention from being fully on the task at hand to setting up of the camera. The desire for posterity, notoriety, glory leads to the downfall and the loss of supper. The difference being that the object of inspiration for this thread seems entirely dedicated to the latter.
the one who got away