Page 16 - The Irony Board

Into the Mind

Capitulation

Captured
Imagination
Accepts
Unreasonable
Terms.

Here is a headline from a correspondent at the front: surrender!
Murky strands of etymology link the title of this piece to the cranial
command post, where psychological wars are fought against the
objects of experience. The pithiness lays bare Gluckman’s mapping
of metaphor: “imagination” is the hinge upon which the meaning
swings. In the language of warfare, the loser has been taken prisoner
by its adversary (bedazzled by, say, a mass-media demagogue), and
must concede its powers or possessions to an unfair degree
(judgment and curiosity, most notably). In a more abstract context,
by virtue of enthrallment, part of the mind loses its ability to think
logically: it considers as valid (accepts) fallacious (unreasonable)
propositions (terms).

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