An observation with a purpose, from Chicago's Maggie Kohls
Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on
a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go
to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches
the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water. After a while,
another monkey makes an attempt with the same result; all the other monkeys
are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb
the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace
it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the
stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the
stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new
one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous
newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a
third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, and then the fifth.
Every time the newest monkey take s to the stairs, he is attacked. None of
the monkeys that are beating him have any idea why they were not permitted to
climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest
monkey.
After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have
ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again
approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as
they know, that's the way it's always been done around here.
And that, my dear friends and colleagues, is how government policy begins.
--
Maggie Kohls
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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