Quining

i've been reading "Godel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid" by Douglas Hofstadter for the past few months. This is not a book you read in a hurry. i like to read a piece at a time maybe a whole chapter so the full aspects can be digested.

A few days ago i finished reading a piece between the Tortoise and Achilles called Air on G's String. The Tortoise and Achilles interact usually following more theoretical parts of the book and have Escher paintings and Bach fugues thrown in to clear up confusion.

In this conversation between Achilles and Tortoise they discuss how peculiar a phrase can be when it talks about itself. Achilles talks about his head spinning and what kind of a lunatic mind would torment innocent people during the night by leaving a quined phrase on his answering machine. He repeats the phrase to Tortoise which i'll reproduce here but unless you've read the book it won't make much sense.

"YIELDS FALSEHOOD WHEN PRECEDED BY ITS QUOTATION"
YIELDS FALSEHOOD WHEN PRECEDED BY ITS QUOTATION.

This is only really significant to me and later to you because last night i couldn't sleep. All night long the Beatles song Blackbird was running through my mind. i tried to OM, i got up and tried to read, i got a glass of water, i tried everything but i couldn't get it to stop playing. So this morning i decided it was important, that i needed to pay attention in keeping with my philosophy not to ignore things.

i went to look up more information on McCartney. According to my research, McCartney has credited Bach with the inspiration for the music to Blackbird. "Hmmmmm Bach?" Thinks i, some may not realize it but throughout the song every single chord contains a G. "Air on G's String?" Thinks i.
So i go re-read the Tortoise and Achilles piece.

Its interesting that this song played over and over in my mind last night because it had to do with civil rights. i went to look up some more and found that McCartney had just recently sang this song to crowds at the Coachella Music Festival the end of April. He made mention of its history and said today, 40 years later, many of the negative civil rights issues had been addressed positively. The lyrics are timeless and i repeat them here in hopes that our human rights issues are addressed positively as well.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Oh you were only waiting for this moment to arise
Oh you were only waiting for this moment to be free

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXIx1nhF7rU

i bring this all up because in many ways we as a nation are quining. We make reference to ourselves but the mirror isn't always that which is reflected back. We use phrases that talk about ourselves as a nation but they don't reflect much truth.

We analyze the statement, we investigate it to find its truth but then some of us find it is synthetic.

"WE DON'T TORTURE"
WE DON'T TORTURE.
is a quinned statement my government uses. They use it in a synthetic manner, i use it analytically understanding it not to be true.......who is correct?

Petraeus and Colin Powell are finally free of those who were taking this country towards a future where our talk and our actions were diametrically opposed. This weekend in an appearance on Radio Free Europe Petraeus said that President Obama's decision to close down Guantanamo and end harsh interrogation techniques(which he has testified against and helped write guidelines that are in keeping with our agreements under the Geneva Conventions) would benefit the United States in the broader war on terror. Powell said, on Face The Nation "We're doing it(closing Guantanamo) to reassure Europeans, Muslims, Arabs, all the people around the world that we are a nation of law.

Again, we as a nation are learning to see, like the McCartney song says "learn to see". The blinders are coming off and we are working towards healing that which ails us. Let us hope we don't decide to quine instead.

When all humans are considered humans and proceed to due process under our laws and all pain inflicted is recognized for what it is...only then will we be a nation whose words and deeds mesh.

"WE DON'T TORTURE"
WE DON'T TORTURE.