July 28, 2004
Fairy Tale for Today
Wizbang posts an allegory: bq. A Modern-day fairy tale bq. (Author's note: the following story is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to any persons or events living or dead are purely coincidental.) bq. A long time ago, in a land far away called Usania, there were four sisters. Their names were Cordelia, Regan, Goneril, and Miranda. They were all very intelligent and ambitious women, and all wanted to gain great power to do great things. bq. One day they were talking about how they would achieve their goals. Cordelia spoke first. “Usania is a very sexist land. The people are afraid of strong women, and will not let a woman lead them. We will need to work with our husbands to do our great deeds. I will find a rich, powerful man and marry him, and together we shall do great things for the people.” bq. Next Goneril spoke. “I agree. If we women are to achieve what they need to do, we need to have husbands that will the people will accept. I will find a poor man, but one who is cunning and ambitious and charming. I will marry him, and together we will rise to power and do great things for the people.” bq. Then it was Miranda’s turn. “Yes, sisters, you are right. We cannot succeed on our own; we will need husbands to get us past the discrimination and bias of the people. I will find a husband of my own, a man who is young and wealthy and handsome, and I will shape him and drive him to greatness and power, and then we can do great things for the people.” bq. But Regan disagreed. “Yes, sisters, the people of Usania are still prejudiced against women in power. But we don’t need to accept that. I believe that if we work very hard and do all we can, we can be accepted on our own as good, worthy people and leaders on our own merits. bq. There's More! Read the rest of the story bq. The other sisters just laughed at Regan, though, and went on toward achieving their goals. Cordelia found a wealthy, powerful man named Hans and married him, and the two moved to the capitol and began working on great deeds. Goneril found a man named Jeff who was poor, but cunning and charming and ambitious, and married him. She moved to the poor province that was his home and they began building support. Miranda found a man named Nicky who was young and wealthy and handsome, and began grooming him to lead and be loved by the people. But Regan went off to the university and began studying and learning all she could. bq. But Usania was a strange land. It had a king, as is only natural, but each king was only king for four years at a time, and the people chose their king from between two groups. A king could get chosen a second time, but no king could be king three times. And the two groups, who called themselves The Dudes and Dudettes and The Righteous Ones, argued back and forth who was better suited to rule. As someone once said, read the whole thing. Posted by Jim Webb at July 28, 2004 01:21 PM | TrackBackComments
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