The Elephant and the Rats: A Parable
Inspiration: A recent article by Ivo H. Daalder about the War on Terror (click title above for link)
Category: Parable
I wrote the original version of this about a week after September 11, 2001 while sitting in an undergraduate history class at the University of Florida, about the same time the administration was developing its plans to invade Afghanistan; a war which I supported, as much as a pacifist can. I lost the original, but the artice by Daalder refreshed my memory. Hope you like it.
A few rats have attacked an elephant. The elephant rightly feels that he must meet this threat, so the elephant goes into where the rats are holed up. Using his great size the elephant stomps about and manages to kill some of the rats. The elephant though in his overzealousness to destroy all the rats, accidentally kills many mice as well. But not all the mice are killed, no some of the younger mice live and remember what the elephant has done; he has killed their fathers who were good mice and only were concerned with the mundane tasks of caring for themselves and their families. Now these young mice are angry and the words of the rats who dwell among them seem more appealing them they had ever before. Before long these mice become rats and now there are more rats than before the elephant made his retaliation. Now these new rats attack the elephant, the elephant retaliates again, more rats are killed and more mice are killed alongside; and thus the cycle continues, the rats grow, the mice dwindle, and the elephant stumbles blindly on not realizing the errors of his ways.
posted by Matt Stambaugh @ 4:13 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I also supported the war in Afghanistan; it was a proportional response to the attacks on 9/11, and was supported by the international community. Although it did not address the root cause of Islamic Jihadism, it did supply a temporary fix to the al Qaeda threat.
As a subscriber to the Lean Management philosophy pioneered by Toyota, I always look to address the root cause of any problem immediately after applying a quick fix. Unfortunately, the U.S. government did not move on to the critical root cause analysis step; they decided to address a separate issue altogether, Iraq. As a Lean advocate in the manufacturing world, I know how easy it is for leaders to forget about root cause analysis when the potential corrective actions are extremely complicated. It's often way more convenient to just move on to the next dilemma.
Bush/Dr. Evil (a.k.a. DICK Cheney) knew that confronting the root cause of Islamic jihadism was something that would require decades of multi-lateral cooperation and proactive culture change in the Middle East. It would have required, among other things: stabilization of the Israeli/Palestinian turmoil, dialogue with secular but "evil" countries like Syria, and support of the secular elements of otherwise religious nations such as Iran. These types of endeavors would require global communication skills, compromise, patience, and competence; none of these are Neo-Con traits.
It was much more satisfying for the current administration to stick to their strong-points: the use of cold-war era politics and large-scale mechanized armies. Both of these talents are outdated and sub-optimal in today's climate.
So, now we have a quagmire in Iraq that has taken countless lives, robbed America of a trillion dollars, allowed Iran and North Korea to strengthen their position, and most disturbing in my opinion, contaminated America's image as a global leader. The Bush administration is toxic, and one can only hope that future regimes will be able to restore faith in America as a positive force in the world.
You bunch of bleeding heart liberals!!! You didn't learn these traits growing up in the backwoods, deep south of Polk County, FL. You must have been brainwashed at that Liberal institution the University of Florida while smoking herb and listining to Jimi Hendrix.
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