How do you describe ‘red’ to someone who’s never seen it?
I can’t imagine you could, like Japanese natives not being able to pronounce the sound of ‘R’, or the girl imprisoned for the formative years of her childhood unable to comprehend a distance further than that defined by her gaol (there’s pygmies somewhere that have the same short sightedness because they never leave their dense jungle environment) the actual neural connections required for the ‘common’ perception don’t exist. So what are the options?
Form the connections: Get some Whirlpool regulars, a handful of XDA Developers and a neurobiologist or two in a bar together, and see how long it takes them to convert a bake a Speedtouch modem into some kind of neural pulse diverter that can bridge the gap and serve as a connection (I’m calling copyright on IP if that’s actually do-able by the way) and huzzah! Red is a go.
Empathize: Get inside their head, figure out how they perceive what we perceive as red, and describe it within their frame of reference.
Acceptance: Get over it, and avoid graphical descriptions of horror flicks and Ronald McDonald’s polyester hair.
Of course, these presume the poor redless soul wants to see, understand or remain ignorant of red, and the experience of the world it affords. Autumn leaves, Sunrise and Sunset, blood, and the magic of ‘red-eye’ while flipping through family photos would all lack something without the red we ‘normal’ people hold so dear.
It is of course possible (and I’m sure some would even argue likely) that the redless might wish to stay that way. And surely any society that considered itself to be civilised, rational, fair and an advocate of free will would have to concede that our redless compatriots are within their rights to make that choice, right?
Now, replace ” Red ” with ” a morally and socially acceptable attitude and behavioural response to naked children or images thereof ”
“Tag” @catherinedeveny, you’re it.