The Ant and the Grasshopper: Aesop fable updated.

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12 Aug 2011, 4:46 pm

The Ant and the Grasshopper - modern version

The Ant and the Grasshopper - modern version

(I got this in an email today. Again, I am not claiming to have written this)

Old version:

The ant worked hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thought the ant was a fool and laughed and danced and played the summer away.

Come winter, the ant was warm and well fed.

The grasshopper had no food or shelter, so he died out in the cold.

Moral of the story: Be responsible for yourself!

Modern version:

The ant worked hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thought the ant was a fool and laughed and danced and played the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper called a press conference and demanded to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others were cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC showed up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America was stunned by the sharp contrast.

How could this be in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper was allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appeared on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cried when they sang, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Acorn staged a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations filmed the group singing, ‘We shall overcome’.

Jeremiah Wright then had the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid exclaimed in an interview with Larry King the ant had got rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both called for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafted the Economic Equity and Anti - Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant was fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home was confiscated by the government Green Czar.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he was in, which just happened to be the ant's old house, crumbled around him because he did not maintain it.

The ant had disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper was found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, was taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorized the once peaceful neighborhood.

Moral of the story: Be careful how you vote in 2012.

The story is now politically correct.

ruveyn

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12 Aug 2011, 4:51 pm

ruveyn wrote:

Modern version:

The ant worked hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thought the ant was a fool and laughed and danced and played the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper called a press conference and demanded to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others were cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC showed up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America was stunned by the sharp contrast.

How could this be in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper was allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appeared on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cried when they sang, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Acorn staged a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations filmed the group singing, ‘We shall overcome’.

Jeremiah Wright then had the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid exclaimed in an interview with Larry King the ant had got rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both called for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafted the Economic Equity and Anti - Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant was fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home was confiscated by the government Green Czar.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he was in, which just happened to be the ant's old house, crumbled around him because he did not maintain it.

The ant had disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper was found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, was taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorized the once peaceful neighborhood.

Moral of the story: Be careful how you vote in 2012.

The story is now politically correct.

ruveyn

I did not fail to notice that no one thought to take the grasshopper in themselves, feed him, house him, clothe him, and provide free medical care for him. They must be Democrats.

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The mere fact that science may not yet adequately explain an object, event, or experience does not mean the immediate explanation should automatically default to a conspiratorial, extraterrestrial, paranormal, or supernatural cause.

Philologos
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12 Aug 2011, 5:49 pm

Most of all, nobody noticed that thre grasshopper and the ant are totally different species, neither of whom is physically capable of the other;s life style, and that when not being used in a fable designed by Socializers to reinforce their instinctive style the grasshopper and the ant have been equally successful in their respective ecological niches.

A better lesson might be learned from the great thinkers who annually invade the woods to eradicate garlic mustard, or perhaps those who put up those signs warning paasersby of the poisons the use to control the dandelion.

ruveyn
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12 Aug 2011, 5:55 pm

Philologos wrote:

Aesop's fables are parables and not intended to be taken literally. He clearly marks his stories as parables and examples.

ruveyn

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12 Aug 2011, 5:58 pm

ruveyn wrote:

Philologos wrote:

Aesop's fables are parables and not intended to be taken literally. He clearly marks his stories as parables and examples.

Careful, Ruve ... breaking the fourth wall has its consequences!

marshall
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12 Aug 2011, 7:26 pm

:roll:

I could modify the fable to better represent reality but why should I bother?

Inuyasha
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12 Aug 2011, 7:29 pm

marshall wrote:

:roll:

I could modify the fable to better represent reality but why should I bother?

Let's see you turn the ant into a greedy scum (which isn't true), and you make the grasshopper into some saintly figure (also would be a lie), then you would try to use it to further your blame the rich agenda.

Sorry, but I highly doubt your modifications would reflect reality, only a far left mindset of reality.

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12 Aug 2011, 7:39 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

marshall wrote:

:roll:

I could modify the fable to better represent reality but why should I bother?

It would reflect the stories posited by, "CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC" which "showed up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food" within the parable, most likely.

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12 Aug 2011, 7:41 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

marshall wrote:

:roll:

I could modify the fable to better represent reality but why should I bother?

I wouldn't want someone hooked on drugs in my home near my kids. I am a nice guy, but that doesn't mean I'm a stupid idiot that will put myself and my family in jeopardy.

marshall
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12 Aug 2011, 7:51 pm

Inuyasha wrote:

marshall wrote:

:roll:

I could modify the fable to better represent reality but why should I bother?

Okay. Here you go...

In the real story a heavy rainstorm washes all the ant's stored supplies away a few days before winter sets in. All the other ants, in hindsight, decide this ant was stupid to build its house where the rain water could get to it. They therefore refuse to share their supplies with this particular ant. They instead decide to share their supplies with the grasshopper because they admire it's wonderful jumping ability. The moral of the story is the ant should have learned from the grasshopper how to jump so it could be accepted by the other ants into their nest.

And a link...

http://worksofliterata.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/just-world-fallacy/

Philologos
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12 Aug 2011, 7:56 pm

ruveyn wrote:

Philologos wrote:

Aesop's fables are parables and not intended to be taken literally. He clearly marks his stories as parables and examples.

ruveyn

Which the human mind will readily detect I know perfectly well.

The mind of the alert skeptic, however, looks beyond the Socializer's fabulous point to see the inevitable counterargument.

For well-nigh every proverb there is a counterexample. Because the Way runs atop the dike, Scylla to the right and Charybdis to the left. Does anyone know off the top of the head is that heading north or south?

iamnotaparakeet
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12 Aug 2011, 7:57 pm

marshall wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

marshall wrote:

:roll:

I could modify the fable to better represent reality but why should I bother?

Knocking over the same old strawman yet again?

marshall
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12 Aug 2011, 8:01 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

marshall wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

marshall wrote:

:roll:

I could modify the fable to better represent reality but why should I bother?

Knocking over the same old strawman yet again?

Pot calling the kettle black? What use is a cute fable that bears no resemblance to the real world?

iamnotaparakeet
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12 Aug 2011, 8:18 pm

marshall wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

marshall wrote:

Inuyasha wrote:

marshall wrote:

:roll:

I could modify the fable to better represent reality but why should I bother?

Knocking over the same old strawman yet again?

Pot calling the kettle black? What use is a cute fable that bears no resemblance to the real world?

Who says it doesn't? Yes, some people lose everything to no fault of their own. This world is not just, but a person who does nothing to earn a living is often jealous of those who have more than they do, and come up with a multitude of reasons as to why they are being discriminated against. If anything, the "just world" of the democrats is one where the "has less" population leaches off from the "has more" population. Those who are actually poor and homeless being ignored practically in favor of supporting craploads of people on a welfare system in which they are encouraged to work only so much or else they'll lose their monthly thousand dollar check from the SS.

Philologos
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12 Aug 2011, 8:29 pm

The use of a parable or functional equivalent - which includes some though not all of the unreachable videos people post here - is to present a point.

It is neither more nor less valid than the point made. The grasshopper and the ant says: "I am an organized serious mildly OCD Socializer and you need to be like ME instead of the Wanderkind you are by nature."

The point never sang to me, because though I am no Wanderkind the Thinker cannot live in the anthill.

By the same token, the Socializing or Socialized ant does not readily buy into "The man who has never travelled believes his mother to be a good cook". With Thinkers and Wanderkinder it is preaching to the choir.

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12 Aug 2011, 8:36 pm

I think it's best to go with concrete examples rather than analogies because with analogies there is way too much discretion when it comes to what you take into account. It's just a complete clusterf*ck

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