How a Stupid Donkey Fable Explains the Sad Truths of Social Media Reality
“Stupid is knowing the truth, seeing the truth, but still believing lies.” Morgan Freeman
--
The purpose of a fable is to teach a life lesson or imply a moral between right and wrong. What moral can be gleaned from an old donkey fable that may pertain to modern times and social media implosion?
The donkey said to the tiger, “The grass is blue.”
The tiger replied, “No, the grass is green.”
The discussion heated up, and the two decided to submit their discussion to arbitration, to go before the lion, the King of the Jungle.
They reached the forest clearing where the lion was sitting on his throne. Within earshot, the donkey began to shout,
“Your Highness, is it true that the grass is blue?”
The lion replied, “True, the grass is blue.”
The donkey with perked-up ears hurried over and continued:
“The tiger disagrees with me, he is so contradictory saying the grass is green. This annoys my peace of mind, so please punish him.”
The king then declared, “The tiger will be punished with 5 years of silence.”
The donkey did a merry four-step shuffle and went on his way, contently braying,
“The Grass Is Blue…I said the Grass is Blue and it is Blue…”
The tiger walked up to the lion with wide surprised golden eyes. He accepted his punishment, but in puzzlement he had to ask,
“Your Majesty, why have you punished me? After all, the grass is green. Look around.”
The lion replied, “In fact, the grass is green.”
The tiger asked, “So why are you punishing me?”
The lion replied, “This has nothing to do about questioning the reality of whether the grass is blue or green. The punishment is because you are unworthy to try and explain reality to those who don’t have the capacity or perhaps perversion to understand it. It is not possible for a brave and intelligent creature like you to waste time arguing with a donkey, and on top of that, come and bother me with that…
