Trans, gays, socialism, communist, Nazi, immigrants, yes even fascism… have become meaningless buzz words used to frighten a society into giving up their freedom -KWC

Columnist’s Note- I have rewritten this fable many times. I am sure I will rewrite it again.

    Once upon a time there was a village with a pit just beyond the center of the village. Rumor was a dangerous, horrible monster lived in the pit. Most adults went on their way: watching their children, discussing how their village should be run, advocating but willingly compromising. If they lost the discussion when it came to voting they just waited to win next time, and more often than not they did.
    Not always, but often.
    Most people ignored the stories about the monster. There were more important things to consider than “fear for the sake of fear itself.”
    One of the leaders in the village knew of the fable and knew he could use the stories to gain influence, improve his position, get richer. At first people didn’t take him seriously but he persisted. He would tell anyone he met that people who disagreed with him were evil, were working with the monster, were monsters themselves, of low intellect, “dumb.”
    Some people agreed with the leader began to swear they heard the monster too. Some were far too easy to be influenced, some saw how the leader was able to demonize those they didn’t like and also wanted to use his tactics. They knew that actually focusing on what the community needed distracted from getting rid of, or at least marginalizing, those they disagreed with.
    Eventually one of the believers went out to the pit in the middle of the night and, trying to prove the monster was real, he accidently fell in. A pit so deep the fall itself would kill you.
    The non-believers cried, “This wouldn’t have happened if we had just filled it in!”
    The believers laughed, called them names, and decided instead they should feed the monster. The leader told them this would solve the problem. Encouraged by their leader, they had come to believe the monster was not really a monster. The monster could “save the community.” They just had to feed it. He told them the monster ate very important paper, like what laws were written on, rules and regulations, and people who were the actual problem: the non-believers.
    The leader told those who didn’t believe were “the enemy within.” He informed them the monster also like to eat those enemies and especially strangers. He had gained much power and influence, and with that power and influence hired some of the most radical, violent believers to protect the monster.
    The believers started by throwing more and more non-believer’s right to vote into the pit. Angry, and growing suspicious, the other side did the same. Some of the non-believers began to believe and the arguments started to become about whether the monster was good or evil. More people started to believe all this because they swore once in a while they heard a crunching sound. People from both sides went missing. People who tried to leave the village were also tossed in.
    Was it the monster eating or bodies landing? Depended on who you asked.
    Cruch, crunch, believers swore they heard. The missing people, well, some had been friends, family, treasured acquaintances.
    The community’s laws, their rights, were now gone. Rules and regs that had protected all from such excesses and abuses were gone. They cried at how they had lost so much. Some cried out asking the monster in the pit, some asked the leader…

Who gave you the right?”

    Did the voice come from the leader or the pit? Does it matter as much as it once did? The answer was the same to the question, “Who gave you the right?”
    Here is what was heard…
    ”You did,” said the Monster.
    ”You did,” said the leader.
    And all they ever heard again from either was an evil laugh.

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                                    -30-

    “Inspection” is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 50 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks and into the unseen cracks and crevasses that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
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