(paraphrase of the Oscar winning movie "Lost in translation")
Why rotation? Because two fundamental elements -- the globe and the dollar sign -- used below have rotational symmetry, i.e., when rotated 180 degrees they look identical (= unchanged/...unharmed) with their initial picture, as it can be seen in Lines A and F.
Following is the smartest possible metaphor of the 9/11/2001 events that underscores the attackers' lamentable fiasco.
The terrorists intended to harm the World by harming the $ (WTC = the most representative financial institutions symbolizing the dollar's World supremacy). For obvious reasons (self-evident in the graphics below), to harm has been replaced by to turn upside down = to rotate 180 degrees.
The logic succession of lines (from Line A to Line F) may be presented in a Power Point presentation or, by far better, an animated clip (/TV commercial); the caption may be replaced by voice.
The beauty of this metaphor consists in the fact that nothing is engineered, but everything is naturally there:
- The 21 in roman numerals contains exactly 5 sticks. 2 in roman numerals contains 2 sticks;
- 9 and 5 in standard display (on billions of calculators, PCs, watches, ATMs, organizers and countless of other electronic gadgets) each contains exactly 5 sticks;
- A pentagon -- as of Webster -- is a polygon of 5 angles and 5 sides (sticks);
- And the S (from the $ sign) is a standard 5 with rounded corners (and in some older fonts S and 5 are identical).
Note that no other (combination of) targets (White House, famous bridge, skyscraper, nuclear plant, stadium or whatever else) would have made this metaphor possible. Only the Pentagon and the WTC, nothing less and nothing more.
In a "Before and After" (the attack/s) scenario the metaphor brilliantly spells out that
our world and values have remained the same.
Although the succession of Lines is self-explanatory, I'll provide a short description of the animation:
- Fig. 1a is Fig. 1 rotated 180 degrees (the globe turned upside down);
- Fig. 3 stands for the "2" in roman numerals (in Line B), "11" (in Line C), Twin Towers (in Line D) and vertical bars for the dollar sign in (*);
- The "5 sticks" of Fig. 2 convert to Fig. 4;
- The "5 sticks" of Fig. 4 convert to Fig. 5;
- The "5 sticks" of Fig. 5 convert to Fig. 6;
- The "5 sticks" of Fig. 6 convert to Fig. 7 through (*);
- Fig. 7a is Fig. 7 rotated 180 degrees (the dollar sign turned upside down).
I refrained to overwhelm anybody, but please note that 9-11 in roman numerals (i.e., IX-XI) has the same rotational symmetry like the globe and the dollar sign ... (Obviously it could be use in the animation).
