"Real Artists Ship"

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Archive for the ‘Analogies’ Category

Shaky Analogies (1)

Monday, August 28th, 2017

When I hear about the gun debate in the USA, it sounds to me like this:

Alice: “So, in your workplace, how do they make sure that people do their work well?”

Bob: “Well, its straightforward really. Its written into our contracts—which we’re all very respectful of—that our bosses can hit us over the head with a large piece of wood if we are even a little bit slacking. So, each of the bosses has this piece of wood, and they walk around with it all day,…”

Alice: “But that sounds terrible. Why do people put up with it?”

Bob: “Well, actually it’s not too bad. You see, we have a very strong union, and they’ve agreed that we can all have large pieces of wood too, and so we can hit back and defend ourselves.”

Alice: “But, wouldn’t it be easier for you to all agree not to have the pieces of wood in the first place?”

Bob: “I’m not quite too sure I get you there…”