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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe boy who bit sheep and cried wolf
Last edited Sun Dec 15, 2019, 06:51 PM - Edit history (1)
Once upon a time there was a boy who bit sheep.
"Wolf!" the boy cried, when shepherds saw the toothmarks.
The town sheriff investigated. He talked to a wolf biologist. She told him there were no wolves in the area, and the bite marks were human anyway. He talked to an eyewitness. He talked to a dentist, who provided a cast of the boy's teeth. He obtained the boy's diary, in which was written "I like biting sheep."
The sheriff made his report. "The boy has been biting your sheep," he told the shepherds. "There's something seriously wrong with that boy."
Reynard, the fox, did not like this. The boy had been letting him bite the sheep too. If the townsfolk knew about the boy, there'd be no more sheep chewing for Reynard.
"The boy is not biting sheep," the fox told townsfolk. "But if he were, there'd be nothing wrong with it."
"The real story," the fox added, "is the unfair investigation by the sheriff. He hates the town. He's part of the deep township."
Some townsfolk believed the fox's news.
"The sheriff is just angry!" they shouted. "Angry, angry, ANGRY!"
They gathered their pitchforks and ran the sheriff out of town.
Then the boy started biting other children.
"The boy is not biting other children," the fox told townsfolk. "Thats fake news.
But, the fox added, If he were, there'd be nothing wrong with it."
The boy learned that he could bite newcomers to the town.
"The boy is not biting newcomers," the fox told townsfolk. "But if he were, thered be nothing wrong with it. It would be their own fault, for coming to our town."
The boy began biting more people. Still some townsfolk listened to the fox. They believed in the boy.
Bite marks became common. Townsfolk could see their neighbors injuries.
Your neighbors bit themselves, the fox told his followers. Theyre crisis actors. They dont love the town.
Now the boy who bit sheep and cried wolf is mayor. And now neighbor hates neighbor. And now we all have bite marks.
EDIT
I am truly humbled by all the recs.
Comments below suggest that this is effective and should be shared. Please feel free to copy, modify and repost as desired. I offer it under the Creative Commons Attribution license. A few more eyes opened in 2020 may be sufficient.
frogmarch
(12,160 posts)Spot-on analogy, mellow.
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)mellow
(76 posts)kag
(4,079 posts)and real modesty. Nicely done.
MLAA
(17,338 posts)nolabear
(41,991 posts)malaise
(269,201 posts)Brilliant - off to the greatest page
dalton99a
(81,635 posts)Anon-C
(3,430 posts)evilhime
(326 posts)I would love to see it shared to larger audience - well done!!!!
mellow
(76 posts)Anything that can help bring down the wannabe emperor is good with me.
evilhime
(326 posts)pandr32
(11,625 posts)This is so easy to understand it might actually make the point to a few people I know that have their tin foil hats on.
Thank you so much for coming up with this!
mellow
(76 posts)KPN
(15,662 posts)ramen
(791 posts)Really great work, here.
sunnybrook
(1,156 posts)I concur this is brilliant!
PatSeg
(47,625 posts)dchill
(38,556 posts)Talitha
(6,622 posts)OhNo-Really
(3,985 posts)Send to your local newspaper maybe
CaptainTruth
(6,606 posts)alfredo
(60,077 posts)Brainfodder
(6,423 posts)All this treason and no consequences, so pushing the U.S.A. into NEW countries, eh?
magicarpet
(14,181 posts)He smokes cigarettes,
And he is not a vegan,
And he bites Putin & trDump every chance he gets, when nobody else is looking.
Brainfodder
(6,423 posts)This mockery of our govt by those in the govt, just bizarre!
A democrat so opposed to this scumbag's impeachment he's switching parties?
magicarpet
(14,181 posts).... and found the flavor to his likening.
IronLionZion
(45,547 posts)The damn fox and his news might be worse than the mentally ill boy.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,467 posts)Perhaps the dentist can pull the fox's teeth if we all hold it down.
Karadeniz
(22,583 posts)PCIntern
(25,595 posts)Thanks!!!
K and R
tclambert
(11,087 posts)So I guess I'll just move on as if nothing happened.
mellow
(76 posts)BobTheSubgenius
(11,572 posts)Another K&R from me.
BigmanPigman
(51,638 posts)Yes.
In medieval stories, Reynard the fox is a trickster figure. From wikipedia:
His adventures usually involve him deceiving other anthropomorphic animals for his own advantage or trying to avoid their retaliatory efforts.
In this modern tale, [s]ome townsfolk believed the fox's news.
malaise
(269,201 posts)The parallels are perfect down to the trickster Fox.
MacKasey
(994 posts)If this story could be animated, for a one minute commercial, it would be awesome!!
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)BlueJac
(7,838 posts)PatrickforO
(14,593 posts)olegramps
(8,200 posts)malaise
(269,201 posts)Even their kids should get thos one
olegramps
(8,200 posts)As I have stated I have numerous relatives throughout the South. The incident that is indelibly printed on my conscious was one in which teenage white kids, both boys and girls, actually physically attack Black kids who sat the counter and wanted to order ice cream cones. They jeered and called them nasty vulgar names as they sat quietly not responding to their vicious attackers.
It was a sickening sight.
My mother, bless her soul, was one of the few that condemned them and their parents, who not only did not condemn this, but approved of it. These were not kids from poor homes, you know the kids from across the tracks, but from so-called proper white families. You know, those church going Bible believing order and law types. I often wonder just what happened to those kids who were so embolden with the privileged superiority they thought they had the right to torment defenseless kids. I really hate to say what I may wish. My mother wouldn't approve.
SpankMe
(2,970 posts)Rec'd and bookmarked.
40RatRod
(532 posts)..."Trump can bite me anytime." I posted back that unfortunately many of those bitten do not even understand they have been bit.
TlalocW
(15,392 posts)Just kidding. Very witty.
TlalocW