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Comment by ggm | Hacker News Reader

The point is not just that he's blinded by the flag: He's boldly marching into the void, confident. "wrapped in the flag" is a great saying.

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> He's boldly marching into the void

into the void, or off the edge?

"off the edge" is a clear interpretation of the statue. "into the void" is a bit more of a stretch. IMHO.

But that's art for you. Everyone has their own take on it.

I guess “void” here is a bit more like a place you can’t even see (because of the flag).

I always knew returning void was a bad idea

I you fall off the edge, you might soon be confronted with the void (of death).

Worse than a void because a void is not necessarily bad. Walking “off a cliff” rarely ends well.

Agree, but that's what we know. The man in the statue is walking into a void from his perspective because he lacks knowledge of his true predicament and is blindly marching forward.

The position of the statue (notably the front foot) make it seem very much "walking unknowingly off the ledge of a tall pedestal" rather than marching into the void. I think there's a difference in that "marching into the void" can be seen as heroic, but unknowingly stepping off a ledge is generally seen as being stupid i.e. not using your senses to inform you about the world, but instead relying on nationalism (the flag) to guide you.

Given that the flag bearer apparently walked on to the pillar, why wouldn't we suspect they can repeat the performance?

Because by walking off the edge they will injure themselves.

I see that we have presumed the gender and age of this figure, or we’ve accepted the headline as definitive interpretation of it.

The figure is dressed as a traditional Western business/politician man. The person is also weighty - not at all slim - which is consistent with middle or old age.

Since that's all the info it gives us, it is acceptable to believe what we are shown is what we are "supposed to" see.

When Whistler paints one half of his mother's profile, I just naturally assume she has the other half of her body, too.

Death of the nation state?

"It's never steered me wrong!"

Imagine the torrent of wrath if it turned out to be the Palestinian flag.

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