Fables
It’s peculiar, about “fables” or “fairy tales,” or, parables. We often act as though we don’t understand these tales at a deeper level. We appreciate the gist, but the lessons therein don’t resonate and don’t reflect in our behavior.
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Identifying the perils of pomposity, pride and sycophancy is hitting a pretty broad target, but humans never change and never seem to overcome those emotions. In fact, most people don’t see anything wrong with sycophancy, but see it as a means to an end, when required.
I read a recent story questioning whether everything has to be only practical, “Does actual TRUTH matter, or is EVERYTHING pragmatic and political?”
Well, that’s certainly rhetorical because, no, truth just doesn’t seem to matter.
The fable involves a king parading around naked because he was told he was garbed in regal clothes so fine that only those of the highest sensibilities could see them. Since he didn’t want to admit he couldn’t see them, and therefore be caught out and humiliated, he pretended to see them, and thereby was hoodwinked by hucksters into buying this very expensive — and nonexistent — suit of clothes, based on this manipulation of his ego and vanity.
Outing this persistent truth about humanity is not actually all that “funny,” as people would have it. It’s somewhat shameful. To various degrees, we all share the failings of being puffed-up with vanity and let down by gullibility,
It is a world of the logical disconnect.
When they say delusion runs deep, it’s true. If the emperor were out naked, we probably would see clothes if we were told he had them. That is to say, actually hallucinate them.
Here’s an anecdote: I used to discuss the toxicity of some of the spray can chemicals they had kicking around work with a friend there.
One day I contrived to “fake spray” him with a spray can. I was careful to turn the nozzle so it wouldn’t actually spray him if my fake-out went awry.
I pointed the can at him, pretended to press the nozzle, and hissed through my teeth like the “poison” was surging out. He did panic, jumping back frantically.
He quickly saw the joke, fortunately. He told me that he actually saw, hallucinated, the spray exploding at him.
It’s, at times, like our own minds are in a conspiracy against us.
Probably better to say, we are in a conspiracy against our mind. We want to avoid truth, which has the consequence of making everything work out for the worse.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
The boy of the story was tasked to ensure no wolves got into the flock. He was to yell a warning when the wolf approached. But with wolves being a no-show, the boy, bored and lonely, decided to yell anyway. After a few of these false alarms, people ignored his cries, even when the wolf did come eat the sheep.
How do we not clue into this one? Governments have been using this trick forever, but conjuring non-existent wolves. Yet that particular trick never seems to be rightfully discredited, no matter how many false alarms are raised.
Chicken Little
The tale of Chicken Little — about a hysterical chicken claiming the sky is falling after getting beaned in the noggin by a falling acorn — is certainly a cautionary tale of the dangers of jumping to conclusions. But that hasn’t stopped anyone from fanatic alarmism, and, like Chicken Little, it can lead them and their associates into peril and, potentially, death.
The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg
Another very important parable, one that’s even more misunderstood.
From this fable, we should have learned not to cut open something that lays golden eggs to get all the eggs at once since egg-laying is a process, not the rationing out of units from a reservoir of completed units. But we have strong evidence people don’t extrapolate this lesson to the real world, an issue we see with all of the fables.
For example look at bosses, something we started in the Management series of articles.
People are being forced by management to work more and more hours, for the same or less wages, with progressively more work piled on them.
Instead of valuing employees, and recognizing they are performing a valuable process, “bosses” are acting as if employees are “the golden geese,” and trying to get all of their work out of them at once.
What would happen if we told a “boss” that his behavior paralleled that of the story of the goose that laid the golden eggs?
We all know the reaction would be of the “boss” rearing up and saying, “They’ll do what I goddamn-well tell them to do! If they don’t like it, they can go work somewhere else!”
One should ask, why are these types, “bosses” in the first place, when they don’t understand the Law of Diminishing Returns? This law is well-recognized in software development, where there is a productivity fall-off, ever more extreme the more people you throw at a project. (They talk as if the law of diminishing returns applies to throwing more people at a problem, but it also applies to overworking people.) It’s a pointless endeavor. (But it falls victim to the “This Time Will Be Different” fallacy.)
These parables, fables or “kid’s stories” aren’t just fluff, they’re highly insightful. They were made to convey a complex idea in a way that is:
- Entertaining
- Simple
- Non-threatening.
They appeal on a visceral level, that is why they endure over centuries. But we have the mental block of not being able to extrapolate them to the real world as useful imperatives, so they are usually neutered in accomplishing their mission to enlighten.
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