Below I have attached a brief g-chat discussion I had this morning with a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. Lately, discourse on economic conditions is plagued by verbosity and technical hogwash. In particular, the manner in which Americans articulate market forces in metaphor conveys our ego-centric and individualistic econo-culture. Does the "invisible-hand" guiding free-markets belong to every man? Steve Jobs? Jesus Christ, himself? Does "the hand" have opposable thumbs? Judging by the dexterity of this hand, I'll say YES.
The personification of market forces in America stands in stark contrast to the article we discussed this morning. You will quickly recognize that the metaphor used to describe our current economic downturn is a "financial tsunami." They observe "economic peaks and troughs" and recognize the "cycle" of it all. In short, Westerners imagine the invisible hand of an individual while Easterners view the economy as a force of nature. Thus began an enlightening and poetic g-chat:
me: the economy is just a huge metaphor for chinese people
phil.miner: I wonder if that is healthier
me: probably . . . just another obscurity of market forces
phil.miner: invisible hands and eastern metaphors.
me: force of nature or man hand
phil.miner: if that isn't a nice example of eastern vs. western thinking I don't know what is
me: agreed
phil.miner: would also make a nice little essay. I'll leave it up to you to write that up.
me: minimum word count?
phil.miner: as many or as few as it takes . . . perhaps a haiku
me: forget english, i would prefer to speak only haiku. i would gladly live among people who only spoke in haikus . . . for a year
phil.miner: ditto
Why am I so broke?
An invisible man hand
or force of nature?
me:
Your Haiku enlights
my busted existence bro
let's go get sushi
phil.miner:
The question becomes
can invisible man hands
make use of chopsticks?
me:
And, will panda tears
taste sweet like candied ginger
or sour like soy sauce?
phil.miner:
Eating just bamboo
probably makes their tears
taste like salty pulp
me:
Astrological
Annuities in China
Will extinct Pandas
phil.miner:
Wait, are you saying
ghost panda hands will soon guide
the economy?
me:
A panda gentry
has unfinished business
and defaulting loans
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