An American Parable

[srf Rantz]

author's note: I wrote this a few days ago. have been trying without any success to get it to go viral. please help.

Once Upon A Time In America

There was an old and faithful dog. He lived with a family who loved him and he loved them back with all his heart. He was accepted as a member of the family and treated as such. All the members of the family respected him and his place in the family.

As a puppy, like all puppies, he was full of energy and sometimes out of control. He pooped and peed in the house and chewed up shoes, but soon grew out of it. When he was a young dog, he became curious about the world outside the family and became an escape artist, digging under the fence or jumping over it to chase cars or knock over the neighbors' trash cans, and causing occasional mayhem, even getting in fights with other dogs. The family worried about him and his safety, but always welcomed him back. Through it all, he never stopped loving them and the family never doubted his love. It was known and accepted that the dog was a valuable part of the family and he had brought them much joy and happiness over the years and would always have a place in their home. He was getting on in years and spent most of his days now sleeping in his special spot on his own cushion in a sunny spot in the family’s house.

One day a distant Uncle came to live with the family. This man had never lived with a dog. He had never experienced the benefits of having a dog as part of the family. He had heard many stories of people being bitten and attacked by dogs. Since he had never known any dogs, he assumed those stories were true, and that was all he needed to know about dogs. This man’s father, the one person in his life who he had looked up to and believed without question, always said that dogs were vicious and evil beasts never to be trusted.

The man told the family that the dog was dangerous and they had to get rid of the dog.

The family was astounded. ‘We can’t get rid of the dog, he is a valuable member of the family and has always given us great joy and happiness,’ they said.

The man became irate and angry, he swore up and down. He called the dog all kinds of names, accused him of all manner of horrible things. Then he began to kick the dog, spitting on it, and cursing it.

The family stood there with their mouths open, not knowing what to do or say. The dog whined and cowered. He looked at the family for help or explanation, but they were frozen with fear that the man might attack them too.

The man worked himself up into greater and greater fits of rage, yelling and screaming about how horrible and vicious the dog was, how dangerous he was, how he would destroy the family if he wasn’t destroyed. Then he grabbed a broomstick and began to swat the dog. The dog continued to cower and whine and he retreated into the far corner of the room with the man chasing and swatting at him.

The family just stood there helpless, not knowing what to do.

Finally, cornered and receiving blow after blow, the old dog, gathered its strength and stood his ground, he began to bark and snarl at the man, showing his teeth and making threatening sounds.

‘See, see!’ yelled the man furiously. ‘I told you he was vicious and vile!!’ And he began to hit the dog harder and harder. And the dog started to growl, and snap and bark louder and louder. Cornered and afraid and confused the dog summoned up all his strength to defend himself. The dog seemed to grow in size and fierceness as he stood up to the blows raining on him and reared back on his haunches, the fur rising on his back as his primal urge to fight back took hold of his being.

‘See, See!!!’ The man screamed. ‘Dogs are vicious and dangerous and must be eliminated!’ and he pulled a gun from his pocket and took aim at the dog.

What do you think happened then?

=========================================
More Study Questions:

Who is the dog?
Who is the family?
Who is the Uncle who hates dogs?
Who is the Uncle's father?

=========================================

Conceived and written in response after reading the following all-to-familiar exchange in a comment thread on a popular news web site:

RW1: (referencing the orignal article)
'Contrast that to the right-wing smear merchants that have gone into high gear to slime .'

As opposed to the left-wing smear merchannts that have been in high gear sliming the tea party and various candidates­? It ain't right but It goes both ways. You know it does ... both sides do it.

LW: It does NOT go both ways. You know it doesn't. Both sides do NOT do it. Look around and see who is spreading the out-and-ou­t lies and the hate. It is NOT the left. There is no "left equivalent­" of Rush or Glenn or Fox News. There is no "left equivalent­" of Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachman. There is no "left equivalent­" of Franklin Graham. You are simply repeating another false premise promoted by the right.

RW2: LOL Lawrence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews--­vicious as can be. MSNBC, Media Matters, MoveOn.org­, Huff-Po---­Pelosi, Reid, Weiner, Grayson, Sharpton, Emmanuel, .....Rush, Glenn, Palin, Bachmann would be unknown to the public if not for the endless, constant, frontpage hate coverage of them. Who do you think catapulted them into fame? If the Dems vitriolic flamethrow­ing is not as widely visible to libs, it is because NBC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC ete etc etc are unabashedly in the tank for them and have deliberately downplayed and hidden their hate-mongering from view.

[srf Rantz]

1. humble suggestion

please refrain from commenting on the idiocy of the RW comments in the footnote. it's pretty obvious how crazy they are, particularly the last half of the 2nd one.

please let me know your thoughts on the concept and execution of the parable itself.

Is the message as abundantly clear to the average reader as it is to me?

thx DU

[Scuba]

2. I like it. And should someone try to mistreat my dogs I'll kick their asses. n/t

[Bandit]

3. Why would any family stand by and do nothing when one of their own was attacked?

In my mind it makes zero sense..I protect what is mine or what is dear to me.

[srf Rantz]

4. because they believe the propaganda

sadly, too many people in this country are believing the crazy Uncle that the dog is dangerous and needs to be destroyed.
or at least it sounds plausible enough and sets up enough cognitive dissonance that they are frozen and hesitate to act.
or they start arguing amongst themselves if the Uncle has a case or not...

[Bandit]

5. I am pretty dense so I probably need more help in understanding the parable.

Are we talking about Libya and if so is it the dog, or are we talking politics and Liberals are the dog, or ??????? Maybe the dog is out System of Justice... :shrug: I need baby sitting I guess.

[srf Rantz]

6. 2nd guess is close

yes, the dog is Liberals, but much more than simply that label alone. its everything that means and stands for and has brought to our nation over the past century.

Its not meant to be an exact x = y but a story that illustrates a point. The basic metaphor can be applied (hopefully) both in macro ways and micro ways.

The basic point being if you beat a dog it will turn on you, and conversely if you accept it into the family and meet its needs it will give you all the love it has to give and then some.

So the dog is working people, its Labor, its the middle class, its "Liberal" values, the ideas and policies that made this country great from the New Deal thru the Great Society and allowed the development of the Middle Class and the growth and sustaining of our economy and world power, the force and energy that made us a great nation and the envy of the world.

(on a very micro level, in relation to the incident that spurred me to write it, it is meant to illustrate the difference the RW complainers deny between "hate" talk and "standing up to hate" talk, the difference between bullies and those who stand up to the bullies. The dog is thus the people who speak out when our interests are threatened, who bark when an intruder approaches, as contrasted to the people that threaten us until we are cornered and fight back. The list of "lefty" spokespersons cited by the RW poster who claims they are 'just as bad or worse' as opposed to the RW mouthpieces. )

Today's current conservatives, the tea partiers, the religious right and their hate-mongering mouthpieces on TV/Radio are the dog-hating/fearing Uncle of course. The Uncle's father represents the big moneyed interests and organizations (both corporate and religious) giving them their rigid ideology, feeding them talking points and their marching orders (and paychecks).

The family represents the USA as a whole, our "Society", the country itself as a Nation of human beings. But it can even be the whole world. Synergy, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Its a way of looking at things. A Holistic vs. Individualistic perception, where each individual is valued and cultivated for the part it plays however meagre or great, leading to the successful and enduring functioning of the whole Society/Nation/Planet. It seems to be a concept beyond the capabilities of "the Uncle" to understand. So he attempts to destroy the dog, and if he succeeds, he will destroy the family as well. If the dog manages to gather its primal energy to leap up and tear the Uncle to shreds before being killed itself, it will also destroy the family (think the Russian Revolution). The family is divided, and if it remains so, it will destroy itself, or be destroyed by either of the other outcomes.

So what's going to happen next?

[srf Rantz]

7. bump

shameless bump because I think this is really really key message we need to spread.
please read and comment
thanks