The Fat Complacent American Toad Is Slowly Being Boiled To Death.

[DistressedAmerican]

It is said that if you throw a toad into a pot of boiling water it will immediately jump out. But, if you put it in the pot of cold water then bring it gradually up to a boil, it will not notice that is it slowly being killed and will not make any attempt to escape.

It seems to me like this is a pretty good analogy for what has happened to America under Bush. If America just woke up 5 years ago and found the country in the state it is in today, it would have felt the pain immediately. It would have jumped right out of the pot and not stopped hopping until it was far far away from the cook.

Think of it, America wakes up the day after the first term innaguration and we find out that we are deeply embroiled in a quagmire in Iraq with no WMD to be found, running a system of torture centers around the world, spying on our own citizens without legally obtained warrants, deficit spending more than 400 billion dollars per year, looking at members of the administration under unvestigation and indictment, as well as, a major American city destroyed, etc.

It would have shocked the nation into immediate and drastic action.

HOP LITTLE TOAD!

Instead the cook turned up the heat slowly. One step at a time it got hotter as each new outrage added to the collective temperature. Each time the cook(s) crank it up another notch, it feels really hot for a week of so. The big American toad squirms nervously in the pot. Then the toad accepts the new scandalous development as the new status quo. It gets complacent again and settles down.

We see the dynamic all the time. Remember the torture photos? Remember DSM? Remember domestic spying (yes the toad is getting used to that as well)? As the freeps love to point out, each time one of these things came out, many of us thought it would be the final straw. None of them were.

Bush was not getting toastier, the big complacent toad was.

Some have labled this phenomena "scandal fatigue". I think that does it justice. But, I prefer the toad boiling imagery.

The scandal fatigued toad does not see that it is dying in the face of the ever increasing heat. It does not seem to have any clue. As such, it may never save itself...

Won't SOMEONE please pull that damn toad out of the pot?

[Skidmore]

1. Maddy McCall has a toad too.

Equally scary little bugger. It ate Bob Novak.

[DistressedAmerican]

2. I LOVE Her Toad! It Has People Teeth!

Or maybe dentures! :rofl:

[Deja Q]

3. Frogs' legs, anyone?

:9

Maybe we've been looking at things from the wrong perspective? If there is a correct perspective...

[DistressedAmerican]

4. What ever happened to your little hypnotoad?

One of my all time favorite sig line graphics at the site!:applause:

[Deja Q]

25. He'll be back...

O8)

Also, he's not little. He's just not excited yet... :rofl:

[Hissyspit]

5. "We have met the toads and they is us"

[skooooo]

6. It's not so bad as long as you got your MTV.

(sarcasm)

[Angry Girl]

7. If the TV is still on, that frog is cooked....

I just read a post in Greatest about "rectal reporting," where the trend is for reporters to pull stuff out of their ass. What a beautifully apt statement! It's so true and Hearst's infamous yellow journalism is peanuts compared to the stunning power the media have today.

But nobody is complaining except for a tiny informed minority. Reporters are getting murdered for real investigative journalism. The rest of America sits their fat ass down in front of the boob tube to eat their toxic chicken nuggets and their overcooked, pesticide-laden vegetables while their mercury-riddled kids clutch at their GameBoys.

And don't forget to take your Prozac and Ritalin! Big Pharma loves you!
Oh, look: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are going to have a baaaaby!
See? Everthing is going to be just fine!

[annabanana]

8. one more nom. folks..

Let's get this toasty toad on the page with the star!

[distantearlywarning]

9. Not only are the toads being slowly boiled,

they are vigorously defending the scalding water with every breath they have, and calling anybody trying to climb out of it or turn the stove off a traitor.

[Ksec]

10. Great post and nominated

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

11. K&R. Great analogy. This should be on the DU Homepage.

[The Doctor.]

12. How prescient this still remains;

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if he people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it."

http://www.thirdreich.net/Thought_They_Were_Free.html

[DistressedAmerican]

13. Chillingly...

:scared:

[kath]

15. Read Dr eldritch's link in its entirety - and be prepared to get the

shivers.

It's also part of a DailyKos diary, called "Slouching Toward Kristallnacht":
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/20/12819/467

[galloglas]

14. Hopefully. Or should we put in the Microwave?

Very thoughtful piece.

It brought to mind some words I wrote to correspondent in a personal email on 1-2-06 about the numerous groups (election activists, 9-11 people, anti-War people, etc.) who ALL want to bring these monsters down.

In this perilous hour, anyone thinking that "their side" will defeat the Fascisti GOP is probably fooling themselves. What we really need is a reform group pledged to that reform above any other party label. To do that would require many, many good souls to play the role of a modern day Cincinattus.

About 535 Representatives and 33 Senators, I figure. A tall order, but what is the alternative?

Summing up, I think GWB has stepped over the line. He, and all attached to him, should be (and I think will be) prosecuted and convicted. Given the recent (read five years) history of our country's voyage, we citizen's should take a cue from the sailor's who bunked with Noah, recognize that we have an accursed presence on board, and toss them all overboard.

I think, regardless of how fast it accelerates, that there will be a movement in Congress that will bring them all down. Then again, I don't think they will leave gracefully (more or less gracefully <g>), as Nixon did .

Consequently, IMHO, we citizens should prepare for the battle. And, if this be revolution (attention NSA listeners! peaceful and democratic), then let it begin this next Tuesday morning!

[rucky]

16. Relax. I think we can fix this thing from our living rooms

www.worldcantwait.net

[BadGimp]

17. I was just thinking the same thing last night

[DistressedAmerican]

18. LOVE That Toon!

:toast:

[EOTE]

19. Very good analogy...

One thing that seems to make this even more prescient is how * has been coming out lately with more threats about how we need to "watch what we say". NO! We do not need to watch what we say! This is America and if we're not advocating the harm of others, free speech is free speech. I was so disgusted to hear what I did. It's like bit by bit, inch by inch, this evil poser in the White House is going to remove every one of our remaining freedoms and hope that we don't notice. That was one of the scariest things I've ever heard from his mouth. I know he's said similar things in the past, it's just that now he seems so much more brazen regarding it and they know they won't get an empassioned reaction from the public. I am extremely scared.

[artv28]

20. Many people would still be clueless

Throw them right in the boiling water and the first thing they notice is Donald Trump has a reality show. Hey, this American Idol show is pretty cool! The Sea-hawks are good and the 49er's suck? What happened?

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

21. Don't say "FAT"!

Fat People, especially American Fat People, are also very sensitive. For example, never say "Fat, Stupid Americans!" Rather, BE NICE, and say, "Pleasantly Plump, Not Terribly Bright Americans".

And since I'm criticizing, the exemplary toad you have provided looks rather scrawny - I have seen some bully bullfrogs in my giggin' days - perhaps one of our cohort can find a more appropriate specimen to enhance your so eloquent words.

By the way, the phrase "Fat, Stupid Americans" is global: a couple years ago, walking through a working-class neighborhood of Athens, I spied, on the wall of a hillside home, a graffiti stenciled of a man, hooded, standing upon a stool, wires attached to his fingertips. Underneath the figure, the words... you guessed it.

The thing is, the word's been out since November 22, 1963, and most people just never will get it - Democracy is OVER in the U.S.A. and has been for a long damned time.

[DistressedAmerican]

23. Perhaps Bloated Is More To The Point.

You are right about the scrawny specimine of a toad. Didn't want to google all day for a better one.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

22. Kick

:kick:

[DistressedAmerican]

24. ...

[chalky]

26. Mind if I plagiarize?

Your analogy is too perfect not to share....

[DistressedAmerican]

29. Help Yourself! Spread Er Around!

[Proud2BAmurkin]

27. KICK

FATASS WALMART NATION

[mirandapriestly]

28. What kind Of sicko actually did the research to

come up with that conclusion?

[DistressedAmerican]

30. Not Sure. I Wasn't Me.

That's why I said, "It is said that". Not an experiment I would want to see repeated.

[woo me with science]

36. it's an urban myth.

snopes says the toad will actually jump out. so maybe there is hope, i hope.

[lonestarnot]

31. Poor fucking toad! K & R!

[bigtree]

32. great post DA

[malta blue]

33. Good insight DA

Hop hop toad!

[tex-wyo-dem]

34. Quite a good analogy...

another might be a slowly growing cancer in one's body that goes very much unnoticed for years until one day the pain begins, the cancer has spread to too many vital organs and it's too late to save the patient from certain, painful death.

That's why proactive check-ups are so important, and right now the test results are not looking good.

[DistressedAmerican]

35. To Quote Seinfeld...

"Prognosis Negative!"