Episode Nine

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/09.html

As the ninth chapter in the analects of Ndbag sits before one, one is struck immediately by the audacity of the author. Although superficially related to previous chapters, a close examination reveals that on this occasion, the boogeyman eschews the sciences and looks instead at the nature the metaphor and its role in society.

The metaphor is ubiquitous; it is like the air we breathe. Which means, of course, that the metaphor is also a simile.

Consider, for example, the red carpet. Upon seeing this one immediately thinks of the dangers inherent in cults of personality, whereby science's biggest names become unassailable. We fear that the the maximum speed in this universe is 299,792,458 ms^-1 not because of any underlying physical law, but because Einstein says it is. And that is indeed a good reason. However, that's irrelevant, as Ndbag is showing us this only to distract those who refuse to look further. When we do in fact go that extra distance we see that the carpet isn't a metaphor, but that the metaphor is a carpet. Which is also a metaphor.

The same is true of the panel that Ndbag hopes to attend. Does this panel mean something more than a simple, everyday discussion of socks? Only in the sense that our first thoughts on thinking of this panel are on the unifying power of common interests in forging friendships, which lead us to conclude that sometimes a sock is just a metaphor for another sock. That second, metaphorical sock bears no relation to the first sock, as evinced by references to a graphic novel. Ceci, Ndbag tells us, n'est pas une chausette.

By the time we reach the final panel, we're ready to accept the fact that the statuette is no metaphor for America's cultural imperialism; that it is merely a statuette. And so it is. But what is a statuette, really? In this case, it's nothing but the gold-plated accolade conferred by one's peers. But when we think about it, we realise that it's no such thing. The same statuette can be bought in any trophy-maker's shop; its fiat value means that though no metaphor, the statuette is in fact a metaphor of a different colour. Do these two metaphors cancel each other out? If they do, we're left only with the colour. And as we realise this, we realise that colour is itself only the way our brain interprets light of a specific wavelength; it's an internal metaphor. Just like our own existence. We think, therefore we are metaphors. When we realise what it is we represent, we will truly have advanced as a species.