Reflections From a Murky Pond

When it comes to teaching, the importance of the parables can hardly be overestimated. Scholars, rhetoricians, politicians, and philosophers as long ago as Socrates Aristotle used the didactic approach of these succinct stories to teach and illustrate deeper truths and moral or spiritual lessons in a fascinating and intriguing manner that engaged the student.

In light of that, I present the Parable of The Lions:

The Lions

There was a pride of lions in the African Savannah that did very well. They were the envy of the plains. They did so well that often the other prides would get to feed on their leftovers. In fact, some actually lived on these remains. Their success was based on their great leadership. The Alpha pair would not tolerate laziness or cowardice from the others in the pride. After a while, the other lions’ envy grew and with it so grew their resentment. They said it was not fair that these few should have so much and meanwhile, they only shared in the scraps and their plight was always a struggle.

As their envy grew, so did their boldness. One day, with the help of other sympathetic beasts, they managed to kill the Alpha pair. They rejoiced in their deed. They now had achieved the equality they sought after for so long.

After a while, the laziness set in for some of the others in the top pride. Without the strong leadership of the Alpha pair, this laziness became more and more prevalent throughout the pride and their skills and abilities diminished.

“What!?” Said the others. “You are no longer leaving scraps for us to take. That’s not fair! We are also hungry!” So, the others began laying in wait for them to make the kill and then they would pounce on them, overcoming them in numbers and stealing their meat.

The more that this happened, the less that the top pride was willing to hunt. Some that still possessed the cunning and drive moved from the Savannah to another part of the country where again they flourished and built up the pride as it once was.

In the end, the Savannah lions, no longer able to get sustenance for themselves, turned on each other. Now they live a meager existence and share in their equality.

— Michael M. Garcia

Yes, “The Lions” is a compelling parable that presents both some of the political woes besetting America and rest the Civilized World and the underlying societal and moral failures that have engendered those horrific and destructive political issues.

Tags: Eaters | Economics | Egalitarian Consumerism | Egalitarianism | Entitlement Society | Equality | Ethics & Morality | Fairness | Liberals | Makers | Parables | Poverty | Progressives | Scavengers | Society | Takers

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2015 at 8:40 am and is filed under Ethics & Morality, Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

There are a plethora of problems, failures, and issues with the Liberals’ and Progressives’ economic agenda. In fact, there are so many of them that it beggars credulity that anyone of a serious bent and possessed of a real education would take them seriously. All these problems, however, stem from the same root cause and that can be addressed simply.

The entire Leftist economic dogma is based upon a philosophy that I describe as Egalitarian Consumerism.

Egalitarian Consumerism

Function: noun

Date: 2013

Definition(s):

1. a belief that people are intrinsically equal and, therefor, deserve equal access to all material goods and services.

And therein lies the core of the problem. The Liberals and Progressives may stridently complain about capitalism, corporations, and America’s consumer culture but they’re entire economic agenda is directly and irrevocably tied to just those things. They don’t want to put an end to these things; they just want everyone to be able to have all the same stuff, whether they’ve earned the privilege of doing so or not.

There are a plethora of problems, failures, and issues with the Liberals’ and Progressives’ economic agenda. In fact, there are so many of them that it beggars credulity that anyone of a serious bent and possessed of a real education would take them seriously. All these problems, however, stem from the same root cause and that can be addressed simply. The entire Leftist economic dogma is based upon a philosophy that I describe as Egalitarian Consumerism.

One need only look at who they claim are poor, or at how the Liberals and Progressives have created a permanent “underclass” based upon a relative scale, to see this as being the truth.

And therein lies the core of the problem. The Liberals and Progressives may stridently complain about capitalism, corporations, and America’s consumer culture but they’re entire economic agenda is directly and irrevocably tied to just those things. They don’t want to put an end to these things; they just want everyone to be able to have all the same stuff, whether they’ve earned the privilege of doing so or not.”

This in a nation where one of the common, recurring complaints of these same Leftists is that “the poor” are overfed to the point of morbid obesity!

No. The Left is all about stuff. Worldly goods are their primary concern – so much so, in fact, they will scream at the top of their lungs that it’s unfair that some few people can buy so much more useless crap than others can and achieve a material quality of existence better than others can.

What’s far worse is that they cling to the dictates of Egalitarian Consumerism with such fanatical devotion that they honestly don’t care if the only way that they can achieve this is to lower the overall material wealth of the nation to a point where the the lowest economic classes are no longer considered “underprivileged.”

Tags: America | Consumerism | Egalitarian Consumerism | Egalitarianism | Liberals | Money | Politics | Progressives | Society | Wealth

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 15th, 2013 at 8:19 am and is filed under Politics, Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Consider this – In this modern and woefully (mis)educated age the greatest and some of the most pernicious examples of injustice have been and are being perpetrated for the sake of abolishing the perceived inequalities of outcome of certain protected individuals and groups. Properly blind justice has been sacrificed on the alter of forced egalitarianism.

Tags: Egalitarianism | Injustice | Justice | Law | Political Correctness | Politics | Racial Politics | Society

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 29th, 2013 at 2:53 pm and is filed under Ethics & Morality, Musings, Politics, Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.