Jonathan wrote:



Oh Please! I suppose you think Chinese 'agents' are frequenting
this ng? And the post is just an exercise in applying the concepts
of complexity science. For instance.



You shot the damn thing all over the place, it's going to take under a
minute for somebody in China to do a Google groups search looking for
anybody who's trying to cause trouble at the Beijing Olympics.
I'm willing to bet they do that to.
If I were them, I would.

Define the difference between a fragile and resilient system
Find the weakness of the fragile system
Apply stress to the fragile system at its critical point
in order to maximize the weakness and effect
of the applied disturbance.

Just so you can 'see' how this form of activism works
by using another real world example, I'll review how Janet Jackson
and Justin Timberlake used this idea for their own purposes.

The system....a highly censored mass media
Its weakness....live tv
Its critical point....the Super Bowl
(It's a critical point since the entire nation is
watching, maximizing the weakness....live tv)

The disturbance.....a briefly bared breast

Normally, such a disturbance, brief and mild
nudity, would hardly raise an eyebrow.
But since it was applied to a highly rigid (censored) system
and applied at the very weakest point (live tv)
and during the biggest event (critical point) of the year (Super Bowl)
the disturbance maximized the potential effect
Instead of being a ho-hum event, it was the talk of the nation
the next day.



It was a truly desperate and laughably bad publicity stunt by two people
whose careers were in decline.
And she wasn't naked, she had a pasty over her nipple...which was really
pathetic, as if you're going to shock people with nudity, at least
actually get naked.

In addition, the effect was further maximized
by the design of the disturbance itself
By combining the opposite extremes in possibility
the disturbance (opposing symbolism) created
the maximum controvery.

One extreme possibility for that wardrobe disturbance
would be a self serving publicity stunt designed
only to sell things.
The other extreme in possibility is that the disturbance
was an expression of beauty, and a protest against
censorship.



It was the former, let me guarantee you.
Next, you'll be going on about Madonna's revolutionary political acts. :-D

Pat