On the Nature of Ants and Man

Hmm. Apparently this is my 2,000th post on the old blog here. I used to post daily, and then for a few years not so much while I was doing Tech News. But I intend to ramp things back up going forward. Right now I’m just swamped with a move, a remodel, and building a new building! But more on those later, because I just got bitten by an ant. And it got me thinking…

On To The Story

I was carrying some trash out, and walked through the grass. Apparently, an ant decided to hitch a ride, but of course I didn’t notice. Because an ant weights about 2.5 milligrams, and I weigh 81,646,626.6 milligrams. So for a while, this ant was getting a free ride. But then all of a sudden it decided to bite me. I mean, what a dumbass! I wasn’t messing with him. He was getting a free ride. He could have hopped off at any time!

But now, he’s got my attention. So what do I do? Reach down without so much as a though and squash him like an ant. Literally. Because I’m 32,658,650.64 times more powerful.

What’s This Got To Do With Anything?

If you really think about it, we’re all a little like that ant. Just going about our daily life, not messing with anyone. But there are those around us who are MUCH more powerful than we are. Take big corporations for example. Or politicians or celebrities. If one of them comes marching through your life, messing with your stuff, what are you gonna do?

If you jump on them, they don’t even notice. If you take a bite out of them, they squash you. So how do you combat that???

Well, the only way that little ant was going to take me down was if he got together with a TON of friends and they all attacked me at once. Even then, think how hard it would be to take down a healthy human! It would take hundreds of simultaneous bites at a minimum. And in order for that to happen you’d have to be overwhelmed and immobile to get that many on you without doing anything.

Once I stepped in an ant pile and was paying attention to something else. Ants were all over my foot before I started getting bit. So, I stuck my foot in some water, and almost instantly solved the problem.

Who Cares?

Well, I guess the point is that if you want to take down someone big and powerful you are going to have to really gang up and attack from multiple angles. And sometimes you can’t do it alone.

For the ants to get me, I’d need to basically trip and fall on an ant pile, while simultaneously knocking myself out on a rock. Or maybe fall down a hole that I can’t escape from. I would need to be unaware I was being attacked, or unable to escape it.

When you look at a culture like North Korea, you’ve got one VERY, VERY powerful ant at the top of the food chain. And the people just can’t do anything about it! They lack all of the tools other societies have for initiating change. No Internet or mobile phones – so they don’t know what the options are, and they can’t communicate or organize an attack. No private TV or freedom of speech – same problems. No weapons. No friends outside the country…

Look at Egypt. Even though they were pretty repressed, at least they could communicate!

How About Trump?

Trump is one of those powerful ants. Of course, it’s because everyone granted him the power. Through media, and publicity he’s amassed the ability to do and say whatever he wants. And although many little ants have tried to hitch a ride and bite back over the years, he’s always been able to squash or drown them.

However, when he is attacked from every direction, and there’s no place to go, it’s turning out to be nearly impossible for him to prevent it from being lethal. Only time will tell…

That’s All. Really.

I’ve got nothing else to add here. So what do you think? Am I missing an angle, or completely off base? Drop a comment and let me know.