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Friday, May 1, 2015

On the other hand,


I was struck by the relevance of this quote, and its paraprosdokian nature, as possible help in conveying the importance of chirality. We strangely are not bothered by the dissonance of thinking the hands (and the rest of the bilaterally symmetrical body parts) mirror images of each other, thus essentially identical (at least equal in their essence), and yet of their metaphorical uses--to describe the oppositional systems of democratic political struggle, "left" and "right"--as polar opposites, and to celebrate the rare occasions on which the opposing sides can compromise enough to get a bit of governing done.

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