Hey everyone, as many of you know by now there has been a call to action for a troll hunt by @fulltimegeek, @berniesanders, @hendrix22 and many others. While I think this is a righteous and appropriate course of action, I was surprised to learn that there are some members of the community that don't agree; they believe there are moral and ethical issues with this plan.
Any time I have trouble analyzing a situation and deciding if something is wrong or right, I often find that creating an analogy where the situation is basically the same, with certain aspects altered, can help to bring clarity to the matter. For example, when looking at a war, just switching the country names to ones you don't have biases for or against can often make it easy to see if either side is justified in their actions.
Originally this parable started out as much shorter response to another blog post but as I continued to add more details I thought it would be worth sharing with everyone. I hope you enjoy the story and that it adds to the lore surrounding the hunt.
The Parable of the Community Orchard of Steemiroth
SourceOnce upon a time, long ago in the kingdom of Steemiroth there was a community orchard where the people would go to pick apples in the fall. They would use the apples to make preserves and ciders to help them through the long hard winters.
Everyone was pretty fair about only taking the apples they needed for themselves and their families. While there were a few families that picked, what seemed like, more than their fair share of apples, these families also bought new trees or tools for the orchard or would spend more time pruning and maintaining the trees than other community members. The families would sell these apples at a nearby market to pay for their expenses or to make up for the time they lost not tending their own fields while they were maintaining the orchard.
Everything went well for generations, with everyone only taking what they needed or deserved until one year something unusual happened. There was a man named Grog who decided one harvest to take more apples than he needed, or deserved, just to see what would happen.
Photo by Joanna Nix on UnsplashThe first year Grog took extra apples from the orchard, few people noticed. There was an abundance of apples for everyone and the people of Steemiroth were unusually polite so no one said anything.
Emboldened, the next fall Grog took even more apples. He took so many apples that he couldn't even use them all for his own preserves and cider. Instead, he brought them to the market and sold them, making a handsome profit for himself. Some of the other community members who worked and tended the orchard, were also selling apples that day and noticed what Grog was up to. They had never seen Grog do any work, other than harvesting apples in the orchard and were a little upset that he had taken way more than what he needed.
Handsome Herold, a particularly dashing fellow, decided to have a peaceful conversation with Grog to let him know that what he was doing was unacceptable. Everyone knew that the community orchard would only succeed if people only took what they needed and no more.
Even though Herold explained the situation, after making such a great profit from the extra apples at the market, Grog wasn't willing to listen to any of this reasoning. He was already fantasizing about the palaces he would build and maidens he would be able to court with all the wealth he could accumulate by selling apples. Instead, he punched Herold in the face, knocking out a few of his teeth and making him a little less handsome.
SourceThe people from Steemiroth who were at the market were generally peaceful. They were not used to witnessing this greedy and violent behavior, so they decided not to step in. They figured that steering clear of Grog would be best, since he had such a hot temper.
Year after year, Grog harvested and sold more and more apples from the community orchard. He never planted or tended to any trees nor did he give any apples to the needy. He just took and took. Anytime someone confronted him about his actions they were met with more violence by either himself or the goons he had hired to protect his growing business.
Finally, one fall a large group of Steemirothians decided they had had enough of this behavior. They were tired of having to make due with less apples and watching their children sometimes go hungry because Grog was taking more than his fair share. They noticed that a few other people had also started taking extra apples and began selling them at the market too. In fact, the price for apples at the market was starting to drop because there were so many of them for sale now. In turn, this began to hurt everyone who contributed to maintaining the orchard.
The next time Grog tried to enter the orchard to collect apples, he was met by an angry mob wielding hay forks, sickles, and timber axes. These were simple folk, farmers, tradesmen, and merchants. Grog thought that he and his goons would easily chase off the mob who were confronting him on foot while Grog and his men were on horse back and wearing the finest armor, an impressive sight to say the least.
But when he charged the mob, they stood their ground. Grog was a bully and would act fearsome when he knew there would be no repercussions but he was a coward at heart. At the last second, Grog lost his nerve and pulled back on the reigns of his horse only to be flung to the ground. He was quickly captured and put in chains.
SourceWhat were the people of Steemiroth to do with him? Some wanted to hang him in the town square but he had broken no written laws that he could be punished like that for. Eventually, after much arguing the people decided.
Grog was dressed in rags that had been dipped in sheep's piss and paraded around the square while children threw wormy apples at him. He was allowed to go free after promising to never abuse the privilege of using the community orchard again. Regardless of what he did next, Grog would never be as revered and respected as he had once been.
New Discord Channel for Coordination!
https://discord.gg/vtrn7s9
I especially like the way your rage comes out in the end with sheep's piss reference.
Check out @anomadsoul's latest post for another way of joining the battle.
I was mainly trying to be funny and emphasize the public shaming but there may be a little rage there!
I did check out his post and it makes a lot of sense to be a healer if you don't have the rep and SP for front line battle. Thanks for keying me in to it.
I knew the beginning of the story. Thanks for the ending. ....sheeps piss... :)
I'm glad people are finding it funny. Thanks for reading!
great photography with amazing writing sir...👍
Nothing like a good analogy to explain a situation by removing all the bias! I love this...so clever.
My friend @davemccoy set up a curation trail for the @stewardsofgondor to help during all of this; like @anomadsoul's "healers" idea. In Dave's post about it, he explains how easy it is to set up, that it doesn't affect your voting power, and it doesn't compromise your account in any way. Here's the link if you're interested:
https://steemit.com/stewardsofgondor/@davemccoy/do-you-want-to-help-fulltimegeek-but-don-t-know-how-a-peaceful-way-is-through-friendsofgondor#@davemccoy.
I love seeing so many getting on board with this in the hopes of bringing the "community orchard" back to it's original purpose!
Cheers :)
Thanks!
I think I saw this post and it is a good idea. I haven't set up a steemauto account yet but it is something I will have to look into.
Hey no problem. And I just set mine up, because I kept putting it off thinking, 'ugh one more thing to learn" haha, but it was unbelievably simple!
Very good way to explain this @canadianrenegade! I 100% agree with you! Its good to see so many people trying to explain it too... Many hear the word "war" or "battle" and immediately shut off. I think its awesome that you explain it in this way!
Thank you! I am glad some people are understanding the message I was trying to convey. I think the war talk isn't doing our cause much good. While I am sure some people see it that way I just want to stop the pillaging of the reward pool.
You forgot one key character.... The crazy, drunk, rich poo slinger. He confuses everyone because he communicates poorly and flings his own feces about the place....sometimes even onto innocent community members...even hard working community members.... It just all gets so confusing.
Nice story! :-)
Peace
Lol, yeah that would have been an interesting character!
I didn't want to complicate the story too much or make it too long to hold most people's attention.
Glad you enjoyed the story 🙂
If you ever decide to run a campaign on Roll20, @canadianrenegade, please save me a spot. 😎
I don't get what you are saying.
You would make a good Dungeon Master in my opinion.
Oh, I looked at that dice link but had no idea what you meant by it.
Thanks!
Great analogy, thanks a lot. Resteeming!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
Very creative! Well done my friend.
Thanks!
Hi there - I have never heard of this and it was a very interesting read. Thank you for sharing... I gave you a follow because I look forward to reading more of your content
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a great parable that is poured in the story. you are great. @canadianrenegade