The Farmer and the Snake
A fable for our time
One of Aesop’s fables is also one of our soon-to-be president’s favorite stories. His preferred version is a recitation of a song by the late Oscar Brown, Jr., The Snake. The original story goes like this:
Once upon a time, a farmer came upon a freezing snake. The snake was dying. Taking pity, the farmer picked the snake up and warmed it in his coat until it was well. But once the snake had regained its strength, it bit the farmer, and the farmer died.
The moral? In the dying farmer’s words, “Learn from my fate not to take pity on a scoundrel.”
Brown never commented on who the snake was supposed to represent in his song. But as a Black nationalist activist who once belonged to the Communist party, it’s hard to imagine he and Trump were envisioning the same people representing the slithery stand-in.
I always thought it was a weird tale for Trump to latch on to. “Like, you’re talking about yourself obviously, right? You’re the snake?”
I’ll admit that this story always makes me feel a little ashamed and panicked: I am naturally very trusting, and am fairly easy to fool.
First of all, flattery will get you everywhere with me. And secondly, I really do think the best of people. Unless someone is practically cartoon-villain obvious about their intended evil deeds, I most likely won’t catch it.
Once someone’s shown themselves to be cruel, though — the bite, I guess? — I’m pretty much done forever, the piece of my heart reserved for them turning to ice. Message received! I’m that self-respecting, at least.
I’ve been hurt more than once by my own naivety, of course. But I mean, I haven’t died. Plus, if someone’s deceived me, shame on them.
Besides, trusting people usually pays off, because most people are mostly trustworthy most of the time… at least when it comes to the little things, which is what most of our lives are made up of.
This is true in my own life, and this has been true in human life in general: cooperation, not conflict, is what has helped us evolve into the social creatures we are. Indeed, trust and cooperation are what keep us moving forward. Hunting, gathering, agriculture, child-rearing, building a freaking urban infrastructure: these are all results of enough of us getting on the same page and trusting that the rest will do their parts.
Yes, some people are downright psychopathic and behave in ways that hurt others. In fact, we’re all, every one of us, capable of it. But does this mean, as the story suggests, that we should automatically cast off or ignore those we determine to be, or worse, are told by others, are “snakes”?
Because people are not actually symbolic animals, and we are not as smart and discerning as we think we are. I know I’m not.
And that’s why this story is so sticky; none of us can see into the hearts and minds of others. We falsely label lots as snakes, and don’t recognize the real ones. We’re just bad at it, which is how we get police shooting terrified black kids while Jeffrey Epstein gets to rape underage girls in lavish peace.
But we all love a good story, and plenty of people think that Trump is the best story-teller around. So when he swears that the snakes he speaks of are “illegal immigrants,” people buy it. “Hmm, yes, of course. Wise words from a Very Stable Genius.”
Never mind that the majority are law-abiding residents who work grueling and precarious jobs that result in much lower prices for us than they otherwise would be. Never mind that most pay money into a system (social security) that they will never get back because of their undocumented status: Just because their social security numbers are fake doesn’t mean their real money isn’t going into the social security coffers.
If you ask Trump, they’re simply criminals, full stop, and there’s nothing else you need to know about them. We should not ever be surprised if one should harm us. “It’s their nature,” he tells us. “It’s practically inevitable.”
The irony, of course, is that the “crime” most of them have committed is crossing into the country desperate for the same things our own immigrant ancestors were looking for: freedom from persecution, safety, opportunity. Or maybe your ancestors were brought here illegally against their will, only to have their captors’ descendants screaming about the “criminals” coming over now.
“BuT tHeY dId It LeGaLlY.” Want to bet? (Most white Texans were “illegal immigrants” into Mexico and actual criminals. Oh, what bitter irony!)
So to distract us from the criminal behavior that actually does have a negative effect on our lives — price-gouging, anyone? — we’re to focus our collective anger on some dude from Honduras who would really like to earn more than $5 a day for 12 hours of labor, and maybe even prevent his kids from being forced into gangs.
Look out y’all, he’s about to strike!
Give me a break.
If you want to identify a snake, you need to look less at who you believe or want that person to be, and much closer at their behavior.
For example, have they…
sexually assaulted people?
committed tax fraud, very much on purpose?
run off with top-secret government documents and then refused to return them?
actively tried to reverse the results of a democratic election (then mysteriously gotten reeeeeal quiet about all the “election fraud” once they were winning)?
told so many obvious and provably-false lies that we can’t even keep up?
made sure that women all over the country are denied the ability to make decisions about their own bodies and ensured plenty of their deaths as a result?
separated children from their parents and are prepared to go way, way beyond that to get and keep immigrants out of the country?
claimed to be on the side of working people while surrounding themselves with billionaires salivating over the prospect of making even more money that will also not go to workers?
Oh dear.
Ladies and gentlemen, it appears we have a snake. And that thing it’s doing with it’s teeth — that’s not a massage, alright? We’re getting bit.
Excellent description of the snake we will have to beware of for four years!!!
Oof! So true.