hrj | When metaphors come to life

A couple weeks ago, during a kerfluffle on one of my e-mail lists about a person being upset that the list failed to respond (or rather, not respond) in a specific way to a specific type of posting, I suppressed the urge to post a metaphor about how if I were to create an intricate sand painting on a public walkway, I wouldn't really have a reasonable basis for throwing a fit it some kids ran through it and messed it up, because I was the one co-opting a public space for something contrary to its primary purpose. Well lookit here. News items on this story alternate between blaming the mother for not supervising her kid more closely and praising the fatalistic patience and forgiveness of the monks. Well, I say it was the floor of a public place of business fergoodnessakes. If you're going to create a piece of performance art in the middle of a public walkway, it shouldn't be any great surprise or marvel if somebody walks through it!

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I actually read the thread in question--my take on it was that the original post was fairly dispassionate (the "game's" one "rule" had been broken, so s/he was stopping the "game"); the subsequent posters were (IMO) either snarky or making mountains out of molehills. (Clearly, other folx' MMV--but I've know the OP for a number of years, and I don't think that my reading (of the OP at least) is off-base....)

My point is that there are "games" where the design of the set-up makes failure a much more natural outcome than success. And setting some random passer-by up to be the proximal cause of that failure isn't kind.

That's how I felt about the WP stunt of getting a famous violinist to play disguised as a busker in the subway during morning rush hour -- when people COULDN'T stop to listen. It would be cruelly tantalizing those who recognized the quality of the music (as well as making fun of those who didn't).

When metaphors come to life

About That Kerfuffle....

Re: About That Kerfuffle....

no subject