General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSome have referred to the legend of the Trojan Horse. I offer the fable of the apricot tree.
The Apricot Tree (translated from the original Wachautaler)
Once upon a time there was a farmer who wanted to try out a fruit tree he had never had before. In his day, he had planted apple trees, orange trees, walnut trees, but never an apricot tree.
So one day, the farmer talked it over with his family and they agreed that while not all of them were wild about apricots, that the idea of a new kind of tree was exciting.
So the farmer got himself a seedling and planted an apricot tree.
He watched it grow, but it didnt grow any faster than any other fruit tree. This frustrated him. He thought, this tree is special, it is my first apricot tree. It is my ONLY apricot tree. I want it to bear fruit, sweet juicy fruit!
So the tree grew, but it didnt grow any faster than any other tree. Its fruit would be special, but it would not be any more plentiful than the fruit from any other kind of tree. And it wasnt there yet.
Seemingly forgetting how long it had taken for his other trees to reach a mature height and bear fruit, the farmer began to get angry with his apricot tree. During times of drought, he gave it less water than he gave his other trees. In those times, the tree grew even more slowly than before. This angered the farmer.
When rains came, and the tree started growing again, it still couldnt yet bear fruit.
The farmer raged at it, plucked off its leaves, snipped off live twigs from its branches in rage and frustration.
But while a tree bears no grudges, nor does it grant favors. A tree prospers if cared for, and grows as best it can if not. It bears fruit when nature says it can and should, not when a farmer says it can and shouldeven the farmer who planted it.
Before the apricot tree could bear any fruit at all, the farmer was so disgusted with it, that he ignored the growth it had enjoyed, disregarded the flowers it produced, with promise of bearing fruit in due time. He uprooted it one day in a fit of rage and frustration, broke the wood into green twigs, chopped what he couldnt tear with his bare hands, and left the wood to dry so it could be burned for kindling.
When the kindling had been burned, the farmer said that was all apricot trees were good for, and he would never plant another one.
He was one farmer. Embittered by his experience, he never again tried to grow an apricot on his farm.
Other farmers took better care of their apricot trees, remembering that they could not rush nature to please their whims.
The world has not run out of apricots.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)DFW
(54,436 posts)I'm not some fanatic Fox-sucking Republican. I don't say my way of seeing things is the only one--just another one.
Spazito
(50,453 posts)preferably sooner rather than later.
Thanks for posting it..
Orrex
(63,224 posts)But all he got was plumb tuckered out.
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]Aspire to inspire.[/center][/font][hr]
tblue37
(65,487 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)DFW
(54,436 posts)But if there's a law that says I gotta run with the crowd every time there is one, I must have missed it.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)Not apropos unfortunately. Assuming you are referencing the post that hangs the Trojan Horse label on Obama, and trying to counter that with a different viewpoint. Problem is, the policies President Obama has pushed--like free trade and austerity--have been tried before, tried for years, and failed to yield many apricots.
Hoppy
(3,595 posts)DFW
(54,436 posts)It is ridiculous to imply that Obama has done nothing for six years other than to cut taxes for the benefit of rich offshore Republicans, refused to try to stimulate the economy according to Krugman's guidelines, and tried to implement what has essentially been described as NAFTA on steroids.
Granted, he left his magic wand somewhere on the campaign trail in 2008, but anyone who assumed he was Harry Potter was dreaming in the first place. Anyone who implies he's after Romney's agenda is yelling at Kilauea for their car overheating in Montpelier.
I think he's trying for some apricots with a few angry farmers yelling at him because his tree isn't growing fast enough. If we wanted Largo Caballero, we would have voted for someone like him (and lost).
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)President Obama has been a brave defender of the status quo. He has not challenged the way things work in the federal government in any substantial way. Even his signature accomplishment, the ACA, was essentially written by the Heritage Foundation and fails to contain even a public option, which he ran on, and signed away in a backroom negotiation. His foreign policy hasn't been obviously stupid like his predecessor's (that would hardly be possible) but nevertheless has been destructive of American values at home and American interests abroad. His Austerity Light was also terrible, for the way it legitimized the right wing framing (America is Broke!), and it slowed the recovery. His spying programs and prosecution of whistle-blowers is disgraceful.
Are you familiar with the website politicalcompass.org? It is a tool for evaluating your own political stances, and placing them on a grid (left-right for economic issues, up-down for social ones), and then permitting you to compare yourself to the candidates in your country or party (it is a UK site, and covers the major English-speaking countries plus Germany). I have found it fascinating and appalling all at the same time. The fascinating part is what every single person who took the test has reported back to me (take it yourself and you may discover what I mean). The appalling part is partly illustrated by the below links, regarding the most recent national elections. I suggest you read what the analysts have to say about Obama in 2008 and then in 2012, and bear in mind that as foreigners, they don't have a dog in the fight over here.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2008
http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2012
If you really want to investigate the site, and possibly learn something about yourself, I suggest that you take the test first, www.politicalcompass.org and look at election analyses afterwards. It is fascinating (although one thing I would love to see is a "map" of the positions of past leaders (FDR, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton etc) for comparison purposes. I would love to see how the parties have moved over time. Can't have everything.).
ETA: Maybe we do want a Largo Caballero but how would we ever know? He would first have to get through the Money Primary, something Bernie Sanders is attempting right now.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_we_the_people_and_the_republic_we_must_reclaim?language=en
MFrohike
(1,980 posts)The underlying logic is that without unwavering support, and no criticism, the little tree that is the President of the United States won't bear fruit. I'm sorry, but that's completely asinine.
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)It's an axe.
DFW
(54,436 posts)It was about Obama.
Sorry if I didn't paste his photo onto an apricot instead of a scene from the Iliad.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)it wasn't ignored just mis-interpreted.
BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)We know what unrestricted free market/free trade and austerity policies do as we have about two decades of data, roughly speaking.
A more appropriate analogy would be a fruit tree that everyone plants because it is supposed to be so incredible to the point where basically all the farmers plant them instead of other trees, but the fruit it provides is actually poisonous.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid
I'm only a part-timer. I don't know who are the right ones to piss off and who are the wrong ones. There are ALWAYS plenty of ready and willing volunteers on DU to let me know I'm wrong about absolutely everything, from the company I keep to the gender of my spouse. So it stands to reason that I have to be wrong here, too, even if some missed the point entirely (that's my fault, too).
steve2470
(37,457 posts)DFW
(54,436 posts)My elder daughter is slaving away in NYC, the rest of us were all 3 at a 65th birthday party for my wife's cousin in Frankfurt on Sunday. Now, 48 hours later, I was in Brussels today, my younger daughter is on her way up to London for work, and my wife braved the impending German train strike to get up to her mom's place because her mom is having an eye operation tomorrow to try to save her eyesight. My wife's broken wrist is not healing properly, so she only really has one hand to use for now. I have to be in Holland tomorrow, France on Thursday and have no earthly idea how I'm going to manage it if the strike persists.
Other than all that, everything is peachy keen!
And yourself?
steve2470
(37,457 posts)Best wishes to your wife and good luck with your transportation!