
Boiled Frogs and the Long Arc of History - blasdel
http://squashed.tumblr.com/post/195883052/boiled-frogs-and-the-long-arc-of-history
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JacobAldridge
I'm going to completely ignore the political rhetoric that seems to be driving
this, and wonder aloud myself - is there another analogy to replace the
slanderous misrepresentation of a jacuzzi-bound frog?

Working on it right now ... watch for updates!

Edit: There's a reasonably well-known poem by Martin Niemöller - "First they
came for the Communists, and I did not speak out for I was not a communist
etc". Seems to convey the same concern regarding a creeping threat, though
without the solid visual of a frog.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came..>.

Edit 2: Spent some time rolling through options - a car that needs regular
servicing, because incremental wear and tear will stop it; a fish in a pond
that begins drying up, not leaving until it's too late to escape; even
comparisons to compound interest or the 'one cigarette won't kill me' school
of thought.

Then I realised I'd been sucked in by the assertion that a comparison didn't
exist - when one does.

It's the Turkey that doesn't have an appetite off switch - if you keep putting
food in front of it, it will keep eating until it dies.

Seems a relevant analogy. Now whether _its_ true is a subject to research.

~~~
MaysonL
See James Fallows's post _Once and for all with the frogs_

[http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/09/once_an...](http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/09/once_and_for_all_with_the_frog.php)

for a great kitty litter box analogy...

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rsheridan6
The boiling frog story is true.
[http://books.google.com/books?id=Hr0aAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA299&#...</a><p>The modern
researchers who "debunked" it simply heated up the water too quickly.

