monkey story

[Tom-D]

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage hangs a banana on a string and a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb toward the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, all of the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes the attempt with same result, all of the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put the cold water away. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the snot out of him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted. Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.
Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, and then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs OR even why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. Finally, after replacing all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys has ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not?

Because, as far as they know, that is the way it has always been done around here. And that, my fellow Americans, is how Congress operates – and precisely why we need to REPLACE all of the original monkeys this November.

 

[kgruber]

Let's just not replace them with baboons!

 

[steingar]

What looks like bananas, smells like bananas, and tastes like bananas, but isn't bananas?

Spoiler

monkey puke

which is about all that little story was worth.

 

[SkyHog]

Sounds like the battle for reparations to me (and not because of the monkey reference, I'm not being racist).

Most people are so separated from the "water" that they never knew what it felt like to be held back, but a lot of them still try to claim they have been.

 

[John Baker]

Let's just not replace them with baboons!

You say that like you think it would be a bad thing. Myself, I wonder if the baboons might, in fact, handle the whole mess in a much more sophisticated manner.

John

 

[Tom-D]

Sounds like the battle for reparations to me (and not because of the monkey reference, I'm not being racist).

Most people are so separated from the "water" that they never knew what it felt like to be held back, but a lot of them still try to claim they have been.

I thought it was typical of the way many organizations work.

"we just do it that way because nobody thought about it."

 

[gprellwitz]

Because, as far as they know, that is the way it has always been done around here. And that, my fellow Americans, is how Congress operates – and precisely why we need to REPLACE all of the original monkeys this November.

Short of revolution or a constitutional amendment, impossible, not to mention counterproductive and insane. Voluntarily throw out all institutional memory, good as well as bad? I'm with Michael on this one.

 

[gismo]

I thought it was typical of the way many organizations work.

"we just do it that way because nobody thought about it."

I used to run into that a lot. Seems that after enough time/experience in an industry and this diminishes a bit. Either I've acquired enough credentials and/or persuasive powers that my ideas aren't met with as much skepticism as they once were or I've grown my owns set of blinders. I've usually responded to "because we've always done it that way" with "So you're always been idiots/stupid/dummys/(other words requiring censorship here)" with the final word chosen on the basis of my perceived consequences for the choice. FWIW, I can't say such replies have ever furthered my cause effectively though.

WRT to Congress etc. it doesn't seem likely that any single critter or even a small group of like minded critters could ever pull off a meaningful change because the current mess is the basis of power for too many current participants and power is the currency of D.C.

 

[Ddayle]

replacing bad with worse is a poor option. I would rather keep our current senator, than a corrupt challenger who supports continuing failing policies, that have always failed. It is a poor change. DaveR

 

[flyingcheesehead]

replacing bad with worse is a poor option. I would rather keep our current senator, than a corrupt challenger who supports continuing failing policies, that have always failed. It is a poor change.

I sure hope that we can keep our US Senator that's up for election, Russ Feingold. He's the only guy that had the balls to stand up and vote NO to the "Patriot" Act.

He's actually behind in the polls. Unbelievable.

 

[Tom-D]

replacing bad with worse is a poor option. I would rather keep our current senator, than a corrupt challenger who supports continuing failing policies, that have always failed. It is a poor change. DaveR

That's the problem, neither party knows the answer.

Stop and think about it, what were the steps that lead to us loosing the manufacturing base that supplied the workers jobs, and payed the taxes.

No job, no tax income, no credit, no social programs, they they riot when the welfare check doesn't come.