Page 122 - The Irony Board
P. 122
Into the Cosmos
Oversight
I can’t see the walls
For the handwriting.
This short piece combines two elements. First, the proverb about
not seeing the forest for the trees: too much concentration on detail
obscures the pattern of the whole. Second, the biblical story of King
Nebuchadnezzar, who is warned by red-hot graffiti from the
Hebraic god. In combination, these sources present an image of
disastrous information overload: too much technical data about
nuclear war obscures the basic issues of international tension.
Today, the moving finger does not move on; the continuous flow of
the media is benumbing in its sheer bulk of statistics, opinions, and
“docudramas.”
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