The Personal is Political. The Political is Personal.

 

 

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Eye Doctor:  Let's try this again.  What color do you see projected on the screen here?

Patient:  Orange.

ED:  No.  It is fuchsia.  [switches slide]  What color do you see now?

P:  Orange.

ED:  No!  It is teal.  [switches slide]  Try again!

P:  Orange.

ED:  Cerulean!  

P:  I see only orange.

ED:  I can see that!  But why, why?  Do you have orange-tinted glasses attached to your face?  [Eye Doctor checks Patient's face.]  No!  What is wrong with your eyes?

P:  Nothing.  Maybe you and everyone else are the ones with the eye problems.  

ED:  Are you messing with me?  Do you maybe actually detect other colors, but just insist on calling them all "orange"?    

P:  Of course not.  Though I can see one other color.

ED:  Aha!  Now we're getting somewhere.  Which color is it?

P:  Cyan-blue.

ED:  Cyan-blue?  Why cyan-blue?

P:   Because cyan-blue is the color that is the exact opposite of orange, on the color wheel.  So I can see it, but only in its relationship as diametrically representing everything that orange is not.  So I can still only really "see" orange.

ED:  But I just don't get it.  The scientists say that there are 18 decillion different colors in the universe!  How on earth is it that you can only see two of them?

P.  Stubbornness.  Tradition.  And practice!  

posted by TiR at 7:01 AM