Embassy closures and the boy who cried wolf

[Recursion]

My wife works at a Consulate and we're about to travel for her work to south Asia, so I do have a little skin in this game, but still.

I think it's funny that people read the story of the boy who cried wolf and think the target of the lesson is the boy. It's not. The target of the lesson is the rest of the villagers. He lied before, and for whatever reason they sent him out there again. Despite that, when he said "wolf" the third time, they didn't listen. And because they didn't listen, the wolf came and ate all of them. Most people get the lesson of this backwards.

[DCBob]

1. I have colleagues traveling in places mentioned in the alert.

They do indeed take these things seriously.

And yes, that crying wolf lesson is often not understood. Also, just because something doesn't happen doesn't mean the warning is not legitimate.

[Fumesucker]

2. I clicked on this thinking maybe Recursion had a different point of view for once

Fool me once, etc. Won't get fooled again.



Godspeed on your trip to you and your wife.

[Recursion]

5. Heh

Thanks! We'll see how it goes; this may screw up my getting a visa from the host country.

[Bok_Tukalo]

3. I thought the lesson was ...

... the wolf exists.

[Recursion]

4. That's a more succinct summary

I like that

[Fumesucker]

7. And bullshitting about him can be fatal to the bullshitter

Otherwise the story would just be that the boy got eaten by the wolf, there's no other reason for all the embellishment of jokingly calling for help, etc.

[Recursion]

9. And not listening to a former bullshitter can get you eaten

Were there no other boys in the village? Could no adults be spared? The boy learned his lesson, told the truth, and the adults didn't come.

[Fumesucker]

12. I never heard the story that way, the boy and some of his flock were eaten

The rest of the village not so much.

ETA: The villagers did give the boy at least a second chance and came the second time.

[Recursion]

13. Hm. Now I wonder what (if anything) is the "canonical" version of it...

I'll see if I can research that.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. It's Aesop. Neither the boy nor the villagers are killed the flock is scattered

and 'lost'. As with all of Aesop's fables, the moral of the story is included directly, in this case it is the liar's reward is that even when they tells the truth no one believes them.
The version you tell is a free adaptation to say the least.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. I thought the moral of the story was

Never tell the same lie twice?

[Recursion]

8. How is that the point? The people who didn't believe the boy got eaten

The lesson is that if you sent someone out there, you'd better learn to trust him, or find somebody else.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. That was a joke

I heard on Star Trek DS9

[Gravitycollapse]

11. The moral of the story is not that the wolf exists.

The moral is do not take advantage of people's kindness because they will eventually abandon you.

[gulliver]

14. The wolf didn't eat the people.

How is a single wolf going to eat a bunch of people? It makes no sense.

[treestar]

17. It was the flock that got eaten

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_Who_Cried_Wolf

An interesting paragraph from that article:

Teachers have used the fable as a cautionary tale about telling the truth but a recent educational experiment suggested that reading "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" increased children’s likelihood of lying. On the other hand, reading a book on George Washington and the cherry tree decreased this likelihood dramatically.[5] The suggestibility and favourable outcome of the behaviour described, therefore, seems the key to moral instruction of the young. However, when dealing with the moral behaviour of adults, Samuel Croxall asks, referencing political alarmism, "when we are alarmed with imaginary dangers in respect of the public, till the cry grows quite stale and threadbare, how can it be expected we should know when to guard ourselves against real ones?"[6]

[Junkdrawer]

15. The moral of the story is that the US never goes to war WITHOUT...

a "catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor."

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Wouldn't the lesson of that tale have to do with the importance of trust and

transparency in a community facing mutual threat from the outside? I think so. Is it not the secrecy and manipulation of the truth that in your version costs them all their lives? I think it is.

[millennialmax]

19. The moral of the story is that conspiracy theorists are polyps on the ass of society.

I'm glad people that have skin in the game are taking these threats seriously.

People that cry "bullshit" over everything are far more annoying and detrimental to society.