We know that the sheep live in denial; that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are dozens of times more likely to be killed, and thousands of times more likely to be seriously injured, by school violence than by school fires, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their children is just too hard, so they choose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, “Baa.”
Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog. – Lt. Col. Grossman
Then, I just returned from an African trip that took me to three countries.
When I left on this trip I left with a "jaw" ticket.
When I was returning I had to go through Heathrow airport to make connections home and hold up in an airport hotel outside London overnight. Next morning I went to the airport early so I could sit inside the secure lounge area and watch sheep move about the airport terminal.
As I was checking in this time I was asked to step aside and stand over at a designated area. I did.
As I stood there I noticed something peculiar. Sheepdogs like those you talk about in this thread started to appear in various places. They just started appearing. I thought it strange but simply stayed focused on getting through an interrogation with a lady from the airline.
As I began answering questions she was asking I thought it very strange the many and varied questions being put to me to answer. Oh well, this is very strange, these questions, I thought to myself as I patiently answered them.
I just tucked it away as I noticed several more sheepdogs in other various places in the area of the terminal where I was being questioned. All of them were with their automatic rifles hanging on their shoulders and held at the ready. These men and women were close in distance from us, not that close but close. I thought they were unusually close to my area of the terminal in any event. I hadn't seen this level of security before and I have been through many international airports from various countries over the years.
Now after the interrogation is completed the lady politely said to me we would have to wait a bit longer as the airline was going to verify my answers. Now I thought that was odd because the lady didn't leave my side. She stood there with me and we waited and waited. About forty minutes goes by by now and then the woman asked me to step over to another designated area and open my luggage so that a man could inspect the contents.
As I was moving over to this new area this lady was leading me to there was a table set up and a man standing on the other side of it waiting for us. I noticed the sheepdogs were now closer to us than before at the first area where she was questioning me. There were two or three standing together here and there just chatting away with each other. I tucked that insight into my mind pondering "what's up with that? Why all this tight security"?
After a thorough going over the contents of my luggage there came over both the lady and this man a sye of relief as they rapped things up. The lady then said to me "ok, you can now pack your luggage for us".
Hmmmm, after fifty minutes of this I am wondering what was really going on? I glanced up to look at the sheepdogs and I was completely caught off guard at what I saw. I didn't see them anymore! They were all gone! I turned around and looked and I saw just two of them way down in the distance towards the other end of this terminal section.
Now my blood was boiling and I was almost starting to lose it as I figured out that those sheepdogs were there because of me.
Finally I asked the lady "just what was all this about"? She calmly explained to me with a non-explanation what had happened and apologized for any discomfort and inconvenience I experienced, "but", they had to do what they had to do to determine that I wasn't a threat contemplating some nefarious action once I had boarded the plane and it was half way across the Atlantic. With that she smiled and pointed to the check in counter and there standing was a smiling ticket agent beckoning me to come over to her!
Once I got back to America and my home turf and I could talk to a close friend who owns and operates their own travel agency I found out what was up!
It isn't always as it seems!! :)
It was the ticket, stupid! The ticket, a "jaw" ticket and the itinerary!
Interesting the word verification for this comment is "jawaill"! Ha!!
Words like "self-justifying", "patronizing", and "contemptuous" come to mind as I read this unfortunate article. Sadly, I have no doubt that this kind of mindset dominates the military culture both here in the US and abroad. Just look at the American-backed military junta in Egypt right now.
It's the old "Leviathan" argument: life is a constant state of war, nasty, brutish, and short. Therefore, we need a "benevolent" tyranny to protect the poor, dumb, disarmed sheep from Al Qaeda, evil right-wing militias, or whatever boogeyman needs to be conjured up.
Why am I seeing a parallel between this and sheep who think theology is bothersome?
ReplyDeleteYes, it works at both a political and theological level, doesn't it? A bonus point.
ReplyDeleteThen, I just returned from an African trip that took me to three countries.
ReplyDeleteWhen I left on this trip I left with a "jaw" ticket.
When I was returning I had to go through Heathrow airport to make connections home and hold up in an airport hotel outside London overnight. Next morning I went to the airport early so I could sit inside the secure lounge area and watch sheep move about the airport terminal.
As I was checking in this time I was asked to step aside and stand over at a designated area. I did.
As I stood there I noticed something peculiar. Sheepdogs like those you talk about in this thread started to appear in various places. They just started appearing. I thought it strange but simply stayed focused on getting through an interrogation with a lady from the airline.
As I began answering questions she was asking I thought it very strange the many and varied questions being put to me to answer. Oh well, this is very strange, these questions, I thought to myself as I patiently answered them.
I just tucked it away as I noticed several more sheepdogs in other various places in the area of the terminal where I was being questioned. All of them were with their automatic rifles hanging on their shoulders and held at the ready. These men and women were close in distance from us, not that close but close. I thought they were unusually close to my area of the terminal in any event. I hadn't seen this level of security before and I have been through many international airports from various countries over the years.
Now after the interrogation is completed the lady politely said to me we would have to wait a bit longer as the airline was going to verify my answers. Now I thought that was odd because the lady didn't leave my side. She stood there with me and we waited and waited. About forty minutes goes by by now and then the woman asked me to step over to another designated area and open my luggage so that a man could inspect the contents.
As I was moving over to this new area this lady was leading me to there was a table set up and a man standing on the other side of it waiting for us. I noticed the sheepdogs were now closer to us than before at the first area where she was questioning me. There were two or three standing together here and there just chatting away with each other. I tucked that insight into my mind pondering "what's up with that? Why all this tight security"?
After a thorough going over the contents of my luggage there came over both the lady and this man a sye of relief as they rapped things up. The lady then said to me "ok, you can now pack your luggage for us".
Hmmmm, after fifty minutes of this I am wondering what was really going on? I glanced up to look at the sheepdogs and I was completely caught off guard at what I saw. I didn't see them anymore! They were all gone! I turned around and looked and I saw just two of them way down in the distance towards the other end of this terminal section.
Now my blood was boiling and I was almost starting to lose it as I figured out that those sheepdogs were there because of me.
Finally I asked the lady "just what was all this about"? She calmly explained to me with a non-explanation what had happened and apologized for any discomfort and inconvenience I experienced, "but", they had to do what they had to do to determine that I wasn't a threat contemplating some nefarious action once I had boarded the plane and it was half way across the Atlantic. With that she smiled and pointed to the check in counter and there standing was a smiling ticket agent beckoning me to come over to her!
Once I got back to America and my home turf and I could talk to a close friend who owns and operates their own travel agency I found out what was up!
It isn't always as it seems!! :)
It was the ticket, stupid! The ticket, a "jaw" ticket and the itinerary!
Interesting the word verification for this comment is "jawaill"! Ha!!
Words like "self-justifying", "patronizing", and "contemptuous" come to mind as I read this unfortunate article. Sadly, I have no doubt that this kind of mindset dominates the military culture both here in the US and abroad. Just look at the American-backed military junta in Egypt right now.
ReplyDeleteIt's the old "Leviathan" argument: life is a constant state of war, nasty, brutish, and short. Therefore, we need a "benevolent" tyranny to protect the poor, dumb, disarmed sheep from Al Qaeda, evil right-wing militias, or whatever boogeyman needs to be conjured up.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?