Does anyone remember the children’s fable—Chicken Little?
While walking in the forest, an acorn falls on Chicken Little’s head and the chicken is so alarmed that she believes the “sky is falling”. In a panicked frenzy, she runs through the forest telling all the other animals that the sky is falling and that they need to beware. The other animals follow Chicken Little frantically trying to find a place of safety from the horrific event that is sure to happen. A wily fox convinces the hysterical crowd that he knows where there is a place of safety and to follow him. Out of unreasonable fear and terror, they follow the fox into his cave where they are all devoured.
This children’s tale is a perfect allegory for every horrible, hateful act that’s taken place in history, but also what is happening today—everywhere.
Passing on rumors, unreasonable and unfounded fears turns us into babbling amnesiacs—we forget to stop, think, investigate the facts and evidence and then come to intelligent conclusions. Examine the source of the information. And most importantly—examine the source’s motivation—selfish gain or public interest?
Unfortunately, some unscrupulous individuals in our world, capitalize on our fear that, indeed, “the sky is falling”. They have learned the power of crowd psychology, the flavor of that intoxicating old time tent revival, whipping the masses into a whirling passionate frenzy.
Regrettably, most of these individuals do so, not out of unselfish public interest, but for a more insidious and self-seeking reason, that has little to do with the people they claim to serve and more to do with their own ego. We can hear them on the airwaves, on television, and even on the Mall in Washington.
Don’t be manipulated like Chicken Little. You just might meet that same fate in the fox’s cave.
