wheels on the cart go'round&'round

[Tango3]

A very clever analogy from a latoc thread:
"Why haven't the wheels fallen off yet?"here( http://www.doomers.us/forum2/index.p...,57026.15.html)

Why have the wheels not fallen off yet? Okay, let's stay in the picture here.



Imagine there is a cart. A large one, like the ones you can rent to have a party on them. And there is a bunch of people on it, having the celebration of their life on it. Way to many people, actually, the cart is kind of overloaded and it makes some warning creaks already. Maybe one of the passengers even hears it and says something like "Hey, did you hear that? That noise? Is there something wrong with the cart?" But the others don't want to hear it. They are having a party. They are getting drunk. They want their fun. So the cart goes on. The noise worsens, though and after a while even the hardcore fun-lovers cannot deny it any longer. Something is going wrong. They keep on partying, but ever so often the creaking of the cart becomes a topic of conversation:
"Shouldn't we stop and fix it?", someone asks. The others ridicule him.
"Stop? The party would be over. We cannot stop. The cart can never stop."
"Then let's at least slow down?", someone else suggests. The others grab him and push him off the wagon which now seems to be creaking slightly less. So that's what they start to do. Whenever the creaking becomes too loud, they push someone off to lighten the load and keep the cart moving. Leaves more beer for them as well.
The ones who have been pushed off are pissed, of course. They struggle to get back on, but since the cart keeps moving and hasn't even slowed down, it costs all their strength to just keep up with it, not leaving enough power to climb back on. Sometimes one of the remaining passengers will look down on them and with a pityful expression pour some beer over the sweaty faces of those running behind.
"Here, you poor folks, have a drink. I am really sorry, but you have to understand, we had to sacrifice you, the cart must not stop."
"We have to stop the cart", one of those on the ground decides. He looks around. Most of his companions in misfortune are too busy just keeping up or trying to climb back on the cart to even listen to him. But one or two gang up with him. In an immense effort they try to loosen one of the wheels to make the cart break down.
As soon as the people on the wagon notice that, they start throwing empty beer bottles at them.
"They try to spoil our party! Envious mean creatures! Party-crashers! Terrorists!"
One of the attackers is already on the ground, bleeding, but another one hangs on, determined to stop the cart which is still going at unreduced speed. Now the people on the ground grab him and pull him off.
"What did you do that for?" he asks. "I was trying to stop the cart."
"The cart must not stop", they say.
"But they threw you off. They keep on partying without you!" he cries.
"We will get back on later. The cart must not stop", they say, breathless from the effort of keeping up and fighting him off at the same time.
The people remaining on the cart, there are not too many of them left, have positioned themselves defensively at the railing, prepared to fend off any new attackers. Their singing has stopped. Defending the party has become more important than celebrating. The creaking of the cart is now even louder and more profound.
"Couldn't we throw off some of the beer? We don't need that much, now that there is only so few off us left?" someone suggests sensibly. But before he even finishes the sentence, he is pushed over the railing.
So the cart goes on, all wheels creaking but still attached, carrying a few who consider themselves fortunate to still remain partying, even though there is not much fun in it anymore, due to the fear to be attacked and the beer taken away.
"The cart must not stop. The cart must never stop", they keep mumbling.

	Logged

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If in doubt, panic!