Wh1tE_Tr4sH
07 Jun 2005, 02:08
The Ant & the Grasshopper.
An ant and a grasshopper lived in the same field.
During the summer the ant works all day and night bringing in supplies for the winter, and he prepares his home to keep him warm during the cold months ahead.
Mean while, the grasshopper hops and sings, eats all the grass he wants and procreates.
Come winter, it gets bitterly cold and the grass dies. The ant is well fed and warm in his house, but the grasshopper has not prepared for the winter, so he dies, leaving a whole horde of little grasshoppers without food or shelter.
The moral of the story is that one should work hard to ensure that you can take care of yourself.
The African Version.
The first part of this story is the same, but because it now happens in Africa, there are a few complications of course.
The starving offspring of the grasshopper demanded to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed, while next door they are living in terrible conditions without food and proper clothing.
A TV crew promptly shows up and broadcasts footage of the poor grasshoppers, contrasting this with footage of the ant, snug in his comfortable home with a pantry full of food. The public in the neighbouring fields are stunned at what they see.
How can it be, in this beautiful field, that the poor grasshoppers are allowed to suffer so, while the ant lives in the lap of luxury?
In the blink of an eye, the AGU (African Grasshopper's Union ) is formed.
They charge the ant with "species bias" and claim that grasshoppers are the victims of 30 million years of green oppression.
They stage a protest in front of the ant's house and trash the street.
When interviewed by the TV crews, they state that if their demands are not met, they will be forced into a life of crime. Just for practice, they loot the TV crew's luggage and hijack their van.
The TRC (Take & Redistribute Commission) justifies their behaviour by saying that this is the legacy of the ant's discrimination and oppression of the grasshoppers.
They demand that the ant apologises to the grasshoppers for what he has done, and that he makes amends for all the other ants in history that have done the same thing to grasshoppers.
PAGAD (People Against Grasshopper Abuse & Distress) states that they are starting a holy war against ants.
The President appears on the 8 o'clock news and says that he will do everything he can for the grasshoppers that have been denied the prosperity they deserve by those who have benefited unfairly during the summer.
The government drafts the EEGAD (Economic Equity for Greens and Disadvantaged) act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to employ a proportionate number of green insects, and, having nothing left to pay his back taxes, his home is confiscated by the government for redistribution.
The story ends as we see the grasshoppers finishing off the last of the ant's food while living in their new government house (Which just happens to be the ant's old house) and also the house end up crumbling down around them because they are too lazy and incompetent to maintain it.
Showing on the TV (which a grasshopper and a couple of friends stole from another ant), the President is standing before a group of wildly singing and dancing grasshoppers, announcing that a new era of "equality" has dawned on the field.
The ant, meanwhile, is not allowed to work because he has historically benefited from the field. In his place, ten grasshoppers, who only work two hours a day, steal half of what they actually harvest.
When winter comes again and not enough food has been harvested, they strike and demand a 150% increase in their wages so that they can buy more food, which now has to be imported because the grasshoppers were not productive enough to produce enough food.
The ant packs his things and migrates to another field, where he starts a highly successful food company again and becomes a millionaire by selling food to the grasshoppers in the field from where he came.
(Does this story sound familiar?)
An ant and a grasshopper lived in the same field.
During the summer the ant works all day and night bringing in supplies for the winter, and he prepares his home to keep him warm during the cold months ahead.
Mean while, the grasshopper hops and sings, eats all the grass he wants and procreates.
Come winter, it gets bitterly cold and the grass dies. The ant is well fed and warm in his house, but the grasshopper has not prepared for the winter, so he dies, leaving a whole horde of little grasshoppers without food or shelter.
The moral of the story is that one should work hard to ensure that you can take care of yourself.
The African Version.
The first part of this story is the same, but because it now happens in Africa, there are a few complications of course.
The starving offspring of the grasshopper demanded to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed, while next door they are living in terrible conditions without food and proper clothing.
A TV crew promptly shows up and broadcasts footage of the poor grasshoppers, contrasting this with footage of the ant, snug in his comfortable home with a pantry full of food. The public in the neighbouring fields are stunned at what they see.
How can it be, in this beautiful field, that the poor grasshoppers are allowed to suffer so, while the ant lives in the lap of luxury?
In the blink of an eye, the AGU (African Grasshopper's Union ) is formed.
They charge the ant with "species bias" and claim that grasshoppers are the victims of 30 million years of green oppression.
They stage a protest in front of the ant's house and trash the street.
When interviewed by the TV crews, they state that if their demands are not met, they will be forced into a life of crime. Just for practice, they loot the TV crew's luggage and hijack their van.
The TRC (Take & Redistribute Commission) justifies their behaviour by saying that this is the legacy of the ant's discrimination and oppression of the grasshoppers.
They demand that the ant apologises to the grasshoppers for what he has done, and that he makes amends for all the other ants in history that have done the same thing to grasshoppers.
PAGAD (People Against Grasshopper Abuse & Distress) states that they are starting a holy war against ants.
The President appears on the 8 o'clock news and says that he will do everything he can for the grasshoppers that have been denied the prosperity they deserve by those who have benefited unfairly during the summer.
The government drafts the EEGAD (Economic Equity for Greens and Disadvantaged) act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to employ a proportionate number of green insects, and, having nothing left to pay his back taxes, his home is confiscated by the government for redistribution.
The story ends as we see the grasshoppers finishing off the last of the ant's food while living in their new government house (Which just happens to be the ant's old house) and also the house end up crumbling down around them because they are too lazy and incompetent to maintain it.
Showing on the TV (which a grasshopper and a couple of friends stole from another ant), the President is standing before a group of wildly singing and dancing grasshoppers, announcing that a new era of "equality" has dawned on the field.
The ant, meanwhile, is not allowed to work because he has historically benefited from the field. In his place, ten grasshoppers, who only work two hours a day, steal half of what they actually harvest.
When winter comes again and not enough food has been harvested, they strike and demand a 150% increase in their wages so that they can buy more food, which now has to be imported because the grasshoppers were not productive enough to produce enough food.
The ant packs his things and migrates to another field, where he starts a highly successful food company again and becomes a millionaire by selling food to the grasshoppers in the field from where he came.
(Does this story sound familiar?)