George Jumpsoon does not like his name .
Neither do I.
It is a bitter apple. How soon is soon?
No soon is a good soon, I say.
George agrees.
George likes to smell the flowers
George likes to look at only the trees.
(Or was it the other way around?)
No ledge is the best hedge, I say. George sees it this way too.
Deny it and Defy it, we both say.
Now we can live.
We have found truth and happiness.
Follow in our path and you too will be happy forever. No ledge is the truth you seek.
If a "Bad Thing" happens,
It will happen long after the "me" is gone.
If "the Bottom" is going to hit,
It will not hit until after I have vanished.
I only worry about the "me".
It is my religion.
How many times have you heard a fellow lemming say that?
OK, you are right.
They do not openly proclaim "ME'ism" as being their religion.
They claim they worship some other deity.
Maybe they call the other deity, "Allah".
Maybe they call the other deity, "Jesus".
Maybe they call the other deity, "Jehovah".
In truth they worship "Adam Smith".
Adam Smithism is a religion. It is "ME'ism" by another name.
The first commandment of Smithism:
1. "Ye shall worry about no one but thyself. Ye shall be greedy."
The second commandment of Smithism:
2. "Greed is Good"
Smithists believe in a holy transformation:
3. "And through thy greed there shall arise a societal good."
Smithists claim they are realists,
And yet, they believe in an "Invisible Hand"
Their Holy Prophet, Adam proclaimed:
...every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.
What kind of realist believes in an "Invisible Hand"?
Really.
What kind of realist believes that ALL lemmings must be self-centered?
Really.
The Smithists among us --and their numbers are many--
believe we need to keep burrowing like mad,
we need to keep expanding our infrastructure
of interconnected tunnels
at an exponential growth rate.
Growth is Good.
Greed is Good.
There must be free flow of liquid assets
between all tunnels.
Free Flow of Funding is Good. It is Free Trade.
It says so in the Holy Prophet's book: "The Wealth of Tunnel Visions"
[turn on music ... Jerimiah]
Adlemm Smith was a head'in ground hog hog,
Was a good friend of mine,
Most holeheads didn't understood the words he said,
So he fed them lots of intoxicating wine,
It sure was some mighty fine wine,
Yummy in my tummy for us swine,
Sing it !It brought joy to the world,
Candy to all the boys n' girls,
Didn't help the fishies in the sea that well, But oh what the h___
[end of music] You know, we lemmings truly admire Adlemm ("Adam") Smith.
Adlemm ("Adam") Smith wrote a tome called, "The Wealth of Tunnel Visions" It became a Bible
It was all very simple Most lemms still worship it
Each of us, you see, is a gold digger clawing our way in whatever direction our self interests take us,
Adlemm stated it more eloquently. Something like, "Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally indeed neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good."With all this digging being guided by the "invisible hand" eventually your tunnel meets with mine. My tunnel intersects with the next lemm's work. We create a "Labyrinth of Prosperity".
Soon the Labyrinth gets complicated. No one is exactly sure how it all interconnects. But who cares? All tunnels interconncet. It works. It is strong. It is robust. History says so. You can't argue with history.
You know what they say, a rising tide fills all tunnels. Chairman Greenspin says this is good. Every so often we have to Level the Labyrinths. You have to allow free flow of waters between all tunnels. That makes everything fair and balanced. They call it "free trade".
Our leaders recently announced a new program. Create All Freeflowing Tunnels All-around, CAFTA for short. I think it's ingenius.
Adlemm ("Adam") Smith was a genius.
Go ahead and laugh.
You humans have no more brains than we do.
Heck, we even built an inter-burrow transport system. You humans can't do better. Here's a map of our system.
George loves the word "free".
It means so many wonderful things.
"Free" means you are not caught in a cage like some other poor lemming whose luck turned upside down.
"Free" means relaxing and not having to worry your little lemming head about hard hard stuff.
"Free" is cake for the cranium.
Today, someone offered George a Cup o' CAFTA.
During the swift sales pitch, they slipped in the "free" word.
George likes "free".
He did not understand the rest of the stuff, but he sure as serfdom understands "free".
There was something about "free trade".
There was something about freedoom being on the march.
Lemmings like to march. Lemmings like to march to their FREEdoom.
George Jumpsoon doesn't need no more knowledge. He knows what he knows.
He knows he likes a FREE Cup 'o CAFTA in the morning.
Get your free Cup 'o CAFTA here.
Get a free refill here and munch on some NAFTA nuts while you're at it.
Today, Heather is meeting with the Re-Fi guy.
She wants to grow her burrow. All the other lemmings around her have been burrowing like crazy.
Heather wants to burrow also. Before it is "too late"
You see, A.Lemm Greenspin is threatening to increase burrowing costs.
With all that burrowing, I hope the community doesn't "collapse" due to excessive economic "pressures" (Aside: in real life lemming colony tunnels do collapse if a heavy creature accidentally steps on them. Interesting.)
Meet Larry L. Late
[picture coming]He is embarrased by his middle name.
The L. stands for Ledge-us
What parent would name their progeny Ledge-us?
What does it mean?
Anyway.
Larry is tired.
He was up all night "compromising".
He and his pals were putting together a Renewable Grasses Bill.
Most Lemmings do not understand Larry's work.
It is hard hard work.
After Larry L. and his friends write a Bill
It becomes "the law of the land"
George always obeys the law.
He believes in law and order
Why they even have a tele-burrow show named like that.
At EndRun Corporation,
George trades in futures
in something called
Green Burrow Grasses (GBG's for short)
It's complicated. It's hard hard work. image
Here is a simplified explanation. In the future, Lemming #1 is going to burrow deep underground looking for these GBG's. The grasses are needed to keep the herd going.
A second Lemming (number 2) buys the grasses that Lemming #1 has not yet brought up.
The money that Lemm#2 pays for the not yet proven grasses is used to fund burrowing operations.
As I said, it's very complicated. It's hard hard work.
It's always worked before.
The E-infinity means Exponential growth forever
Very nice, huh ?
This is George's boss, Ken Layoff
It won't happen ...
It won't happen to ME (us) because ....
And even if does ... I (we) will deal with it then
Now we are getting uncomfortably closer to the razor's edge.
You see something unfortunate happen(ing) to another.
Maybe now, maybe in the future.
It's time to establish plausible deniability in one's thinkings.
FILL IN THE BLANK:
It won't happen to ME (us) because ....
_______________________________(why?)
Let's have the TOP TEN answers:
(Warning: some of these links connect to disturbing concepts like personal, mental, racial and religous superiority --as we said, we are getting uncomfortably close to the razor's edge. This site is not an advocate for the denial bases evidenced by the linked items. Rather, the linked items provide evidence of the use of such rationalizations for propping up the general reason for denial.)
0) No reason ... it just won't happen.
1a) I'm "different", I'm "better" than that.
1b) We are different / better than "Them"
2) I will not fall for the same ploy (I'm smarter)
2b) We are smarter
3) It's a long way off and ... 3a) Technology will save me/us 3b) Things always get better with time
4) Nothing that bad has ever happened to me/us before
5) I am a religious person --bad things don't happen to the good
6) Our leaders will save me/us
7) He/she was defective (I'm not)
8) He/she was bad & deserved it
9) Things always get better with time
10) ________ (Yours)
Post-still under construction:
Answer #0 No reason When you have no articulated reason at all, that is often referred to as "irrational," meaning you have failed to provide a rationalizating explanation for your behavior. There still may be a reason buried deep in your subconscious. But who has a right to judge here? Maybe irrational living is the way to go? Got no worries, got no concerns ... a kuna makkata (sp?)
Answer #1a I'm Different ... This is different
A very distinguished answer !! You are mentally dissasociating yourself from the possibility. Good job. This is probably the number 1 popular answer. Variations of it get into some nasty deeper details
From example, I'm different because I posses superior genes (DNA). There are subsets of this answer: a) Only I personally have these superior genes (that will let me live forever) b) My immediate family has superior genes (that will save me from the big C) c) My tribe or "race" has superior genes (that make me and us immune)
...still under construction
Lemmings are easily excitable.
Once the emotions start churning, reason steps over the edge.
They are quick to jump to conclusions .... wrong conclusions.
The rush to the ridge does not spontaneously arise from nothing.
First there must be instigation.
One thought is implanted and then the next.
Slowly. Step by step.
Just as the frog in the kettle does not realize temperatures are imperceptibly rising to a boil, the instigated jumper does not realize he or she is being played, egged on, goaded.
From nowhere, the first bubble of rage suddenly errupts and rises. More bubbles follow. The emotions are set into a foaming fury. And then there is that maddening rush, out of reason, and branching out onto unsupportable assumptions.
Luckily.
Human beings have brains.
We cannot be egged on, goaded, confused and incited into doing irrational things.
We cannot be programmed like Pavlov's dogs.
Take for example this piece on the issue of "Peak Oil". In the end the author simply seeks for you to send sustenance to his depleting bank account: http://www.vialls.com/wecontrolamerica/peakoil.html
But in the run up to that conclusion he wants you to train yourself into jumping on command.
1) First you must agree that, unlike his depleting bank account, depletion of oil is a hoax.
2) Next you must agree, and perhaps you have been programmed to doing so before, that there are "Zionist cabals" out there. Peak Oil is just another example.
3) Finally as your emotions rage and you have gained unstoppable momentum, his tin cup comes out for some chump change ... as you continue your journey over the edge.
But of course, it will not work on "reasonable" people.
We are above it all.
Can you chat on the cell phone and
change lanes at the same time ... in rush hour traffic?
Paying attention is hard hard work.
Our bodies and minds have only a finite amount of energy.
That energy has to be directed to the most important tasks at hand.
But what are the key challenges ahead?
Did mamma program you right?
Should you stay with the program,
follow the herd,
or seek a different path?
Over the Mill-Lemmie-um
(that's many many years),
the Lemming brain has evolved
into a
highly tuned instrument
of sound logic.
If it "sounds" good, it is good.
One of the prime directives of "sound logic"
is continuance of the music.
Continuance of song resonates
with
continuance of the self.
Of course Chick' Lil'
could tell these tumble heads
that a thousand wrongs "before"
do not logically un-right"
the upcoming right
on one's path.
But then again,
these dumb lemm heads--
all they remember is that
cliff-noted cliche
about the two wrongs,
and the right, and the ...
what was it?
Oh yeh, something doesn't make it so.
Remember, saying it's "sound", doesn't
rightfully make it so
Lemmings Looka Like.
But they're not.
Some have unique spotting patterns.
Take A. Lemm Greenspin for example.
He's not your run of the cliff clever-miester.
God has gifted him with special talents.
For reasons unknown,
A.Lemm is Loquacious and Lovable.
We don't understand what he says,
But we don't care
He sounds so clever
That he must be on the right track.
People, of course, are not Lemmings.
We have brains.
Through thousands of years of Evolution,
Our brains have developed into
purely logical machines,
that are divorced entirely
from herd mentality.
