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[ by Charles Cameron — from Trumpery to Altman’s Nashville ]
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Tufte’s illustration of the Kathasaritsagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story

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Wired had a piece titled Never Mind Trump. The Internet Wants to Watch What’s Behind Him a couple of days ago, and it contained a sentence that caught my attention:

Like a Bach fugue, the counterpoint rivaled, and then overtook, the original melody.

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I’m always interested in non-musical forms of counterpoint, whether we’re talking Glenn Gould‘s radio dramas, Claude Levi-Strauss‘s structure for his Mytholoogiques, Tufte‘s Rushdie‘s Kathasaritsagara, or the various attempts to make Hermann Hesse‘s Glass Bead Game playable. Hesse himself invokes both fugue and counterpoint in the passage in which he describes actual moves in his game about as clearly as anywhere:

A Game, for example, might start from a given astronomical configuration, or from the actual theme of a Bach fugue, or from a sentence out of Leibniz or the Upanishads, and from this theme, depending on the intentions and talents of the player, it could either further explore and elaborate the initial motif or else enrich its expressiveness by allusions to kindred concepts. Beginners learned how to establish parallels, by means of the Game’s symbols, between a piece of classical music and the formula for some law of nature. Experts and Masters of the Game freely wove the initial theme into unlimited combinations. For a long time one school of players favored the technique of stating ide by side, developing in counterpoint, and finally harmoniously ombining two hostile themes or ideas, such as law and freedom, individual and community. In such a Game the goal was to develop both themes or theses with complete equality and impartiality, to
evolve out of thesis and antithesis the purest possible synthesis.

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I was accordingly interested to read this paragraph, ending as it does with the sentence I quoted above:

The Christie videos were just the latest installment in what might be the defining video format of this election. Call it marginal media, in which background activity overwhelms the intended subject. Most candidates have found themselves inadvertently sidelined at some point. Hillary Clinton was overshadowed by the surreal stylings of “Sticker Kid,” who mugged, jerked, and danced throughout her stump speech. Another short video treated Bernie Sanders’ endorsement of marijuana decriminalization as a preamble to an audience member’s startled reaction. Another Trump rally was undercut when a member of the crowd behind the lectern began reading a copy of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen. The drama unfolded over the course of Trump’s speech, as the reader’s neighbors began to argue with her, then brought their neighbors into the fray. Soon, the tension made it impossible to pay attention to Trump at all. Like a Bach fugue, the counterpoint rivaled, and then overtook, the original melody.

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We need, it seems to me, to get used to thinking contrapuntally — and accordingly it is instructive to see just how many of the great artists of recent times have employed some measure of contrapuntal thinking in their work. From the same Wired piece:

The frames of Robert Altman’s Nashville are packed with overlapping dialogue and activity—it’s often hard to determine which storyline should dominate—granting his aspiring losers the same weight as the country-music superstars they idolize. Tom Stoppard applied the same lens to Hamlet when he made two lackeys — whose off-stage death was barely remarked upon in Shakespeare’s play — the heroes of his fan-fic spin-off, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Okay, I’m off to see Nashville if I can find it..

[ by Charles Cameron — cf. boustrophedon, enantiodromia, ouroboros, paradox, unintended consequences ]
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I have had this graphic around for a while:

As you can see, I originally intended it to accompany a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes:

We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe.

— but it can actually serve a more general purpose than that — the basic “opposing arrows” graphic can be used to cover all sorts of situations in which a push in one direction results in movement in another. In the OW Holmes example, the two opposed pushes occur within the same person — we are bidden to protect that which we despise.

Here, though, is an instance in which what seems a laudable action on the part of the authorities has a counter-productive result:

No longer a movement that concentrates its brutality on the Nigerian government, [Boko Haram] now attacks mainly civilians, using women and child suicide bombers as its primary weapons of war. The reasons why the group has changed tactics, however, and the complex motives for why women and children have become the weapons of choice, needs to move beyond the fallback narrative of victimhood if attempts to end the unthinkable are to succeed [my emphasis].

That’s essentially the “we learn, they learn” dynamic that’s present in all insurgency-counterinsurgency situations, no? It’s the basis of escalation — it’s what Hermann Kahn‘s Ladder was all about — it’s a bidding war.

But I want to capture it in its most basic moment, when something pulls its opposite into place. The Taoists expressed the same idea very gracefully —

— but maybe that’s just a little too graceful — I’m looking for something just a bit more abrupt, with a more overt sense of tension.

So you may be seeing more of my reverse arropw / blowback diagram:

Oops!! It’s often, though by no means always, a sign of folly.

[ by Charles Cameron — comparisons may or may not be invidious ]
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once again, @CNN mentions Abigail, one of the survivors of the #KalamazooShooting but not Tiana Carruthers ? pic.twitter.com/ydIt9LAiSt

— baeDILLA (@baeElectronica) March 7, 2016

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Okay, that’s a compare and contrast situation, with the implication that one victim is less well-treated than the other. Hpw well is it borne out?

CBS News showed a photo of seven victims:

— along with a caption that spoke of six dead and two wounded:

Kalamazoo shooting victims

A dedicated teacher who mentored numerous students, a gardener who enjoyed sharing what she grew, and a high school senior who always had a smile on his face are among the victims of a weekend shooting rampage in western Michigan authorities said was carried out by Jason Dalton, 45, Feb. 20, 2016. All told, six people were killed and one was left in critical condition. Four of them were killed in two vehicles outside of a restaurant, while a father and son were shot at a car dealership.

Dalton admitted “his involvement in these incidents,” according to Kalamazoo County prosecutor Jeff Getting, and was charged Feb. 22, 2016, with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in the series of random shootings.

Here’s a look at the victims…

— with individual photos, again, of seven, and no photo of Tiana Carruthers.

Is color the issue here?

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Then from CNN we have Kalamazoo victims were car shopping, enjoying a night out:

The two victims who survived

One woman was wounded when the first shooting occurred. Tiana Carruthers was in an apartment complex with her three children, police said, and is expected to recover.

Abigail, the girl shot at the Cracker Barrel, is still on a ventilator, critically ill, according to Dr. Aaron Lane-Davies. He told CNN affiliate WOOD that Abigail’s heart had stopped and doctors at Bronson Methodist Hospital got it beating again.

There’s a difference in the severity of the injuries suffered by the two survivors. Does that perhaps explain the discrepancy between the two sums raised on their respective behalfs?

The richest possible knowledge of context is important in drawing conclusions from comparisons, a reminder — to myself at least — that all DoubleQuotes deserve critical appraisal.

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Also of possible interest in this instance, from the Kalamazoon County DA’s office:

Crime Victim Rights Grant

The federal Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA) ushered in a new era in crime victim assistance in America. In response to findings and recommendations issued by the Presidents Task Force on Victims of Crime and the Attorney Generals Task Force on Violent Crime, VOCA established the first significant national program in support of crime victim services. Under VOCA, federal funding is available to every state to support crime victim assistance and compensation programs. Support for the Crime Victims Fund created by VOCA is derived from federal criminal fines and forfeitures.

For over 20 years, the Kalamazoo County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney has used various forms of grant funding to provide these mandated services to victims. This practice has permitted our local Kalamazoo County dollars to be used to fund other mandated services for which there is no grant funding available.

Onwards!

[ by Charles Cameron — on abuses of word and image ]
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Exhinit A, The Four Horsies of the ‘Pocapypse:

Meet Calamity (Pestilence), Raven (Famine), Clash (War) and Ghost (Death). They’re the Four Horsies of the ‘Pocalypse (or at least they would be if they could only get their act together)! This next-generation of doombringers are on a mission to destroy the Earth, but to do so, they’ll have to beat the likes of Queen Chroma and her rainbow sprite army! Too bad they can’t crack teamwork to save their lives.

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Exhibit B, Juan Cole today:

Juan Cole asks:

Is Iraq Army Preparing for Armageddon with ISIL?

Armageddon? No, that would be near Haifa, not Mosul. And besides, for IS to take a battle seriously it would need to be at or near Dabiq, not Tel Megiddo.

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Exhibit C, the Urban Dictionary:

-pocalypse

a suffix that is affixed to any word that describes the cause of a situation of relative discomfort derived from the last 3 syllables of ‘armageddon.’

As of late, the suffix “-pocalypse” has been popularized in the media, trying to make a minor event bigger than it is. Interestingly, an actual apocalypse would likely go by another name, or receive the suffix anyway. i.e. ‘Armageddonopalypse.’

Related suffix: “-mageddon”

The Hyphen is not always used.

Someone left the ‘fridge open, now were having the mold-pocalypse of ’11

by annoyedCitizen70 July 19, 2011

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You might have thought once was enough..

January 2009, Mild winter easy on city budget

December 2009, Crushed! Snowpocalypse crippled Washington, D.C. on this date in 2009

February 2010, Snowmageddon, Blizzard of 2010

February 2011, video, Snowpocalypse, Chicago 2011

January 2012, ‘Snowpocalypse 2012’ For Small Alaskan Town

February 2013, Time lapse video of the 2013 Snowpocalypse in the Northeast

January 2014, Atlanta ‘snowpocalypse’ mocked after 2 inches of snow strands thousands

January 2015, Snowpocalypse 2015

January 2016, Snowpocalypse 2016: Desperate Hoarding Of Basic Supplies

Oh, and then there’s Trumpocapypse:

2015, South Park Imagines the Trumpocalypse

2016, For the Republican party, it’s Trumpocalypse Now

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I have yet to see Mad Max Fury Road, in which:

A woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in postapocalyptic Australia in search for her home-land with the help of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshipper, and a drifter named Max.

But it sounds like fun. PostApocapyptic, though?

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Please. Apocalypse means Revelation or Unveiling, and although the revelation itself may cause upheavals up to and specifically including a series of trumpets accompanied by a series of plagues and woes —

And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 9And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

and so forth —

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 5And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

terminating with the end of this world — the post-Apocalyptic scene is serene and glorious —

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Or as St Paul and Handel have it —

Or as the Qur’an says —

For the Trumpet shall be blown, and whosoever is in the heavens and whosoever is in the earth shall swoon, save whom God wills. Then it shall be blown again, and lo, they shall stand, beholding.

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Hence — when you say postapocalyptic, please don’t mean “after the snowploughs” or even “post-Hiroshima” — agreed?

And the word apocalypse is best left to the imagination not of the toymaker but of the artist:

[ by Charles Cameron — Jefferson and Adams reverberating still ]
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For your current interest: words eschanged between two candidates for the Presidency of the United States some two centuries back, as presented in a neat DoubleQuote today by John Robb:

….. pic.twitter.com/cqGH3tsDqD

— John Robb (@johnrobb) March 6, 2016

I can’t improve on John’s presentation of thesse two quotes — but I might perhaps point out that they were similarly relevant to poiitical discourse in 2010, when ReasonTV posted the following video on YouTube:

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As a conoisseur of coincidence, I appreciate the fact that Jefferson and Adams died within hours of each other — fifty years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As Jorge Luis Borges observed of the rival theologians Aurelian and John of Pannonia, “The end of this story can only be related in metaphors since it takes place in the kingdom of heaven, where there is no time.”