An ambigram is an image that can be perceived in two or more ways and those ways are contradictory. Many of the images created by M.C. Escher are ambigrams and this link has an image of a very good one. Can you see both sides of the contradiction at once or are you able to see only one aspect at a time? Does it take you a while to make sense of it? This is the binding effect. The idea of an ambigram can be extended to non-visual contradictions and in those cases the language used to describe the situation plays a big part in how the ambigram is perceived -- which explains why "spin" works. We're the good guys. They're terrorists. We as a nation have a huge ambigram in front of us. Bush says we don't torture, we only use aggressive questioning. Evidence contradicts him. But what does an ongoing ambigram do to our collective national psyches? It can't be healthy.
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3749
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