The Fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper…the PC Version

Jump to Last Post 1-6 of 6 discussions (43 posts)
  1. GA Anderson profile image88
    GA Andersonposted 3 years ago

    The Fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper…the PC Version
    February 17, 2010 by Dan Mitchell

    TRADITIONAL VERSION

    The ant works  hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and  laying up supplies for the winter.

    The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

    Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

    The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

    MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

    ——————————————————————————

    OBAMA-REID-PELOSI VERSION

    The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

    The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

    Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

    CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

    America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

    How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

    Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.’

    ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.” Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.

    President Obama condemns the ant and blames capitalism for the grasshopper’s plight.

    Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry  King  that the ant  has  gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on  the ant to make him pay his fair share.

    Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

    The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

    The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn’t maintain it.

    The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

    The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.

    The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.

    MORAL OF THE STORY: If you choose to become a parasite, don’t kill your victim.

    Yep, I am a Dan Mitchell fan.

    GA

    1. gmwilliams profile image85
      gmwilliamsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Gus, a million applauses.   Let go Old Testament here(I am not traditionally religious but a New Ager).  If one is abled intellectually, psychologically, & physically, get off your assets & work.  If one chooses not to work, one can starve & die for all I care.  There are far too many parasites who want to live the good life of others instead of exerting effort to work in order to have a good life.

      The late Dr. Hawkins indicated that the WORST thing one can do for a poor person is to give them help & aid for such make poor people more dependent & lazy.  The only way to help poor people is to teach them to do for themselves.  People who receive aid lose incentive to do for themselves.  Take for instance, welfare.  Welfare was meant to be a temporary respite to eventually help people to be self-sufficient but oh no, welfare has become a GENERATIONAL, even MULTI-GENERATIONAL thing among some people.  Gus, how do you like your steak & martini?  I love my steaks rare to medium rare but skip the martini- I will have bottled water with a twist of lemon.  Gus, this is a GREAT TOPIC as usual!!!

      1. gmwilliams profile image85
        gmwilliamsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

        There are far too many people who want THAT GOOD LIFE but they REFUSE to work to earn it.  They want the good life through other more affluent relatives, the gub'mint, or other outside forces.  What happened to the concepts of pride, responsibility, & independence.  My late father taught me that independence is the GREATEST thing of all.  He despised freeloaders, parasites, & others who refused to help themselves.  You Gus inspired me to do a thread...…..

      2. GA Anderson profile image88
        GA Andersonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

        My martinis are dry and my steaks are medium-rare. Thanks for the comment.

        GA

    2. Sharlee01 profile image77
      Sharlee01posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Well, what a tale... I have heard that ants are the most numerous insects in the world. So, can we expect that in the end, the ant's will come up with some way of working around the grasshoppers? Maybe, providing them good mental health care.  Oh, and make it free.

      1. Randy Godwin profile image59
        Randy Godwinposted 3 years agoin reply to this

        Ants love grasshoppers, so much so, they eat them with relish. Haven't you ever witnessed a grasshopper  which has been overcome by ants?

        "Squirming like a worm in an ant bed," is a common saying down here, and it's the same with a hoppergrass.  And no, this isn't misspelled. tongue

        1. Sharlee01 profile image77
          Sharlee01posted 3 years agoin reply to this

          Yes... I have witnessed ant's devouring grasshopper. Then, if I am understanding your analogy you believe the ant's, in the end, will win out over the grasshoppers?

          1. Randy Godwin profile image59
            Randy Godwinposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            No, simply pointing out the old fable isn't apt. The grasshopper, and many of the ants, won't live long no matter how hard they toil. The ants are "social" insects. So does this mean a socialist society is better than a solitary one? Nope.

            1. Sharlee01 profile image77
              Sharlee01posted 3 years agoin reply to this

              Perhaps let's look at the word social as a noun. Do the ant's toil so grasshoppers can enjoy the same level of socializing as their hard work has provided them?  Do ant's feel they need to pay for a socialist society, provide for grasshoppers?  Not sure this ant does... LOL

              I agree socialist society is not better than a solitary one.

              1. Randy Godwin profile image59
                Randy Godwinposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                It's why we can't put much stock in old fables comparing different species actions, Shar.

                1. Sharlee01 profile image77
                  Sharlee01posted 3 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes, very true...

  2. Randy Godwin profile image59
    Randy Godwinposted 3 years ago

    I thought you didn't write fiction, Gus?

    1. GA Anderson profile image88
      GA Andersonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Wrong again. Although I didn't write this, I do fancy myself to have a fair hand when it comes to fiction writing. I will have to dig up some of my old username stories to offer.

      GA

  3. Randy Godwin profile image59
    Randy Godwinposted 3 years ago

    I've never noticed an ant which toiled alone, Gus. There are normally thousands of ants working together, with the Queen ant as the sole leader.

    Grasshoppers, as their nature dictates, are creatures of a solitary life. Aesop often got it wrong.

  4. IslandBites profile image90
    IslandBitesposted 3 years ago

    https://sosajacott.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/g-1.png

    1. gmwilliams profile image85
      gmwilliamsposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Ahhh, what's wrong little kitty?  Little kitty looks so sad...….(Elmer Fudd voice).

    2. GA Anderson profile image88
      GA Andersonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      That is a look I am familiar with.  Have you been talking to my wife?

      GA

    3. profile image0
      PrettyPantherposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I like this response much better than the one I was going to give.  Lol

      1. GA Anderson profile image88
        GA Andersonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

        It must be a 'woman-thing'. I don't think guys can do that look.

        The best we can come up with is a dry 'Really?'

        GA

  5. Live to Learn profile image59
    Live to Learnposted 3 years ago

    As with so many things political this is too simplistic. It creates division because of the simplicity. A very old tale of the death of a grasshopper.

    Sounds to me like the ant wrote the story in an attempt to assuage his guilt at the misfortunes of the grasshopper. Or, worse, to cover up some illegal activity that caused his success and created a toxic environment that prohibited the grasshopper the ability to take advantage of the same opportunities.

    As a beetle, although I too toil, I must accept that the ant probably is also responsible for my troubles and we need to rewrite the history as told by the ant with a kinder, gentler understanding of what we would like to believe motivated that grasshopper.

    A full blown investigation is warranted.

    Oh, and thanks to all the grasshoppers who banded together to make this investigation possible. As a dung beetle, my fortunes are growing.

    1. wilderness profile image94
      wildernessposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      lol That's about the way of it, all right!

    2. GA Anderson profile image88
      GA Andersonposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Good one. ;-)

      GA

    3. Randy Godwin profile image59
      Randy Godwinposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      With all of the fortune you spend on these forums, I'd think you'd be running low! lol

      1. Live to Learn profile image59
        Live to Learnposted 3 years agoin reply to this

        ?? My first post in 4 or 5 days. That didn't cost much. Considering the bs being spread around here I actually gathered more than I spread.

        So, all in all, I'm ahead. As a dung beetle, that is. I would think, for all your posts you'd be really hungry by now.

        1. Randy Godwin profile image59
          Randy Godwinposted 3 years agoin reply to this

          Indeed not, it doesn't take much energy to sweep your fortune into the flower beds. Roses love fertilizer....

          1. Live to Learn profile image59
            Live to Learnposted 3 years agoin reply to this

            No grasshopper, you are too small to sweep a ball of bs away alone.

            Anyway, the flower bushes died long ago from too much fresh bs being thrown about indiscriminately.

            1. Randy Godwin profile image59
              Randy Godwinposted 3 years agoin reply to this

              Yours seems too weak to affect anything much at all, LTL. Must be Trump BS you're slinging.

              1. Live to Learn profile image59
                Live to Learnposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                I never said I thought I could affect anything. Any poster on this site who thinks they have any influence is quite delusional.

                However, I'm not really a dung beetle. I don't touch poop. Are you saying that's what you are flinging and your pile is more potent than mine?

                I have no doubt.

                1. Randy Godwin profile image59
                  Randy Godwinposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                  I don't have a pile, I'm simply cleaning up after you. Gosh, you coulda fooled me!  tongue

                  1. Live to Learn profile image59
                    Live to Learnposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                    You appear to be easily fooled so,again, not surprised. smile

  6. gmwilliams profile image85
    gmwilliamsposted 3 years ago

    The ant represents work ethic while the grasshopper didn't.   The ant worked, strategized, & economized for the future while the grasshopper practice immediate gratification.  The ant had while the grasshopper didn't, well serves the grasshopper right.   The moral is that those who work smart, strategize, & save will succeed & prosper while those who squander their time will be in dire straits.  Those who work-get while those who don't-well starve, who gives a crap.   

    I don't feel sorry for the indolent.  The indolent deserves what they get.   Nothing is free in this world. If one wants something, h/she must work & earn it.  If h/she doesn't work nor earn it, h/she should do without.  Yes, funky grown abled people should work & earn their way & they should suffer if they refuse to work.  There is no sympathy from me here.  There are far too many parasites in America who drain their families, relatives, & the economy. 

    Social programs are causing poor people to lose incentive to improve themselves.  Social programs make poor people's lives easy.  My solution: cut the social programs & the poor will realize that they have to work & earn their way in society.   Before social programs, poor people realized that they had to depend UPON THEMSELVES if they wanted a better life.  Now, the gub'mint provides the poor with a better life.   The WORST thing to do for a poor people is to financially help them for it makes them lazy.  The BEST thing is to teach them to be self-supporting...…...

    1. Randy Godwin profile image59
      Randy Godwinposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      The grasshopper dies anyway, no matter if he stores for the winter, or not. Try the rich man and the poor man for a righteous comparative fable.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)