Or what lessons might we learn from a small Scandinavian rodent ...
A popular (though somewhat scary) image from my childhood school learnings was that of thousands of small rodents called Lemmings pouring over a cliff to their deaths, each blindly following the Lemmings in front of them, who were in turn following the ones in front of them until we get to the first jumper(s) and have to wonder what the heck they were thinking and did they know the impact of their verticalistic impulses on their fellow Lemmings.
Never mind that the suicidal aspect of the Great Lemming Jumps has been discredited, it is still an apt metaphor for some (or a lot) of the political insanity that's been playing out in the news and social media.
If there a better way to explain the steadfast support that many are showing for a certain republican candidate for President, no matter how many warnings they receive that he may be about to lead them off a cliff? It seems these supporters are following the lead of those further up towards the front, in the form of some conservative 'news' pundits or faded political stars trying to stave off the end of their careers, who all seem to be clinging to a desperate belief their candidate can somehow jump off the cliff but fly, not fall, and they (if not the rest of the Lemmings behind) will grow wings and fly with him.
If that is what the pack-in-back thinks, gravity of a political sort may soon give them a painfully demoralizing lesson.
Let's imagine a reality in which the Lemmings and their human political analogs watched their Leader(s) teetering on the brink, noted the height of the fall and the distinct lack of wings, and turned and walked away, muttering something about idiots.
A popular (though somewhat scary) image from my childhood school learnings was that of thousands of small rodents called Lemmings pouring over a cliff to their deaths, each blindly following the Lemmings in front of them, who were in turn following the ones in front of them until we get to the first jumper(s) and have to wonder what the heck they were thinking and did they know the impact of their verticalistic impulses on their fellow Lemmings.
Never mind that the suicidal aspect of the Great Lemming Jumps has been discredited, it is still an apt metaphor for some (or a lot) of the political insanity that's been playing out in the news and social media.
If there a better way to explain the steadfast support that many are showing for a certain republican candidate for President, no matter how many warnings they receive that he may be about to lead them off a cliff? It seems these supporters are following the lead of those further up towards the front, in the form of some conservative 'news' pundits or faded political stars trying to stave off the end of their careers, who all seem to be clinging to a desperate belief their candidate can somehow jump off the cliff but fly, not fall, and they (if not the rest of the Lemmings behind) will grow wings and fly with him.
If that is what the pack-in-back thinks, gravity of a political sort may soon give them a painfully demoralizing lesson.
Let's imagine a reality in which the Lemmings and their human political analogs watched their Leader(s) teetering on the brink, noted the height of the fall and the distinct lack of wings, and turned and walked away, muttering something about idiots.
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