Two Slashes

I’m not overly political, so I’ll start by saying that I had no intention of watching, looking for news of, or otherwise concerning myself with today’s inaugural ceremonies.  I don’t have anything against the President, but it’s not something I feel I need to drop everything for.

I failed to completely avoid coverage of everything going on.  A pair of posts by d-blogged caught my attention, and I liked both of them so much that I figured I would pass word of them on.  (His blog is worthy of the traffic, so I’m not going to be copying his content.  You can visit for yourself. )

d-blogged first offered a well-worded and inspiring entry on how today marks a turning point in the history of our country.  I particularly found his metaphor for the mirror interesting after later learning that legislation would be posted to the White House website for all to read and comment on.  Reflective of the nation’s desires, indeed (though I can see how the idea might raise some concerns).  I’m also sure that some people are taking comfort in finally finding the one politician who seems to counter the notion that the entire lot of them are crooks.

The second post, however, was more interesting to me, containing only an image of Obama and a caption welcoming the new president.  I took one look at the portrait and immediately drew a parallel to a similar pose most geeks might recognize (and even a good number of non-geeks):  Neo’s first experience stopping bullets near the end of The Matrix.

It’s not merely the pose that interests me, but perhaps the inadvertent symbolism implied.  If you think about it, Neo and Obama both represent the same thing:  hope.  And (while they’re “out-of-frame” in Obama’s case), the bullets could represent threats to freedom, and the Matrix’s agents bear a resemblance to real-world terrorists.  With enough thought, I’m sure just about every major character in the Matrix trilogy could be covered, and with a reasonable explanation to boot.  Whoa.  (Alright, I had to.)

Of course, I could be thinking too far into a digitized image of the president reaching out to the people he represents.  But that’s not any fun, is it?  (If people can look into their grilled cheese sandwich and see Malcolm X…alright, I digress.)

Oh, and today’s Shirt.Woot design is completely appropriate considering the occasion.  I won’t be ordering a shirt, but as of this posting there are still a few left if you want to get your grubby paws on one.  I think I’ll pass on some of the other memorabilia, though.