those poor lemmings....rumors...and metaphors...

I love a good metaphor. But, truly it must have some basis in fact. So, when my friend and I were talking today, he said, "Well, they are a bunch of lemmings". This was in reference to the Democrats. Now, although I know what he meant...we all do...lemming suicide is a frequently-used metaphor in reference to people who go along unquestioningly with popular opinion, with potentially dangerous or fatal consequences.

However, after thinking about the poor lemming, I decided to investigate. Could this be just a rumor? Did the scientists get it wrong? Have the lemmings been...well lemminged?

This...from Wikipedia...
While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not the case. Driven by strong biological urges, they will migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great. Lemmings can and do swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat.[7] On occasion, and particularly in the case of the Norway lemmings in Scandinavia, large migrating groups will reach a cliff overlooking the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to jump off the cliff and start swimming, sometimes to exhaustion and death. Lemmings are also often pushed into the sea as more and more lemmings arrive at the shore.[8]

The myth of lemming mass suicide is long-standing and has been popularized by a number of factors. In 1955, Carl Barks drew an Uncle Scrooge adventure comic with the title "The Lemming with the Locket". This comic, which was inspired by a 1954 National Geographic Society article, showed massive numbers of lemmings jumping over Norwegian cliffs.[9] Even more influential was the 1958 Disney film White Wilderness, which won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature, in which footage was shown that seems to show the mass suicide of lemmings.[10] A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, Cruel Camera, found that the lemmings used for White Wilderness were flown from Hudson Bay to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where they did not jump off the cliff, but in fact were launched off the cliff using a turntable.

So...the poor lemmings have a terrible public image...created of course...and my friend called the Democrats... lemmings...which really means they are victims of lies...oh my goodness...now what?

Well, me being me, contacted my friend, and explained the poor circumstance of the lemming, to which my friend replied..."you really do need to get a life." Perhaps...but I have at least made the lemming respectable...and that gives me a greater purpose in life...

Oh...

and there is this...



Do you think they were Democrats? Well...I know they were not lemmings.

Love,

The Lass