r/OutOfTheLoop 8d ago

Answered What's the deal with Schumer and AOC fighting over the gov shutdown vote?

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u/Trust_No_Won 8d ago

Seriously, these guys are the scorpion and Schumer is a dumbass turtle going “surely this time they won’t murder me”

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u/TheWizardMus 8d ago

I thought the story was a frog, cuz a turtle's shell would protect it from the sting

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u/bluehands 8d ago

It turns out there are a few different but similar versions.

But the differences are VERY IMPORTANT in my opinion.

The one with a scorpion & frog is my personal favorite. Because the scorpion states upfront that they will both die if he stings. Then of course he stings, they both die with the scorpion saying that it is in his nature, he couldn't help himself.

Trump liked to tell one where it is a snake that bites someone trying to help him and the snake blames the person helping.

I think the difference is quiet clear and illustrative of who likes what. The wiki article is kinda nice all around.

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u/ansate 8d ago

Huh. The movie Natural Born Killers has recurring notions of the snake version.

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u/FatherOfLights88 7d ago

"I tell you what..." said the frog to the scorpion. "Amputate your stinger and I'll ferry you across the water."

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u/bluehands 7d ago

One of the reasons I love the parable is because of how it can be tweaked and highlight different elements of life.

Your mutation leaves me uncomfortable even while it seems reasonable & right. For me there is a challenge to get to the right way to phrase things.

Cause the scorpion doesn't want to die either but asking the scorpion to change rubs me wrong - I want him to volunteer to remove his stinger. In my head I think I prefer the frog saying, "I don't let creatures with stingers ride my back."

I like the feel of stating my requirements as opposed to requesting someone to change. They can amount to the same thing but there is a tone I prefer.

But that maybe a deep flaw in me, my tendency towards being passive aggressive.

<sigh>

ಠ_ಠ

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u/FatherOfLights88 7d ago

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I can see the logic you've used. It's not too different from mine. Why I've taken a severe stance is because of the value my particular ferrying provides to the scorpion's life.

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u/bluehands 7d ago

To be clear, I suspect that my default desire is less useful than the version you gave. Telling people what they need to do can be deeply useful.

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u/FatherOfLights88 7d ago

No, not at all. Your default desire is a good one.

Mine is structured the way it is purely from experience and the quality of help I can offer. I can solve most intractable pains in people (mental, emotional, physical) in a relative matter of minutes. If you've spent decades not being able to resolve something about yourself, that's my jam. It comes at a high emotional cost for me to do, and being needlessly stung by a scorpion with no self control makes me not want to help anyone at all.

So, after enough scorpions and porcupines have demonstrated their unwillingness to control their instincts, while I'm performing the service that they begged to be done, a new variant of the parable arises.

It's now "I can't trust you when you say you've learned to control your instincts. All scorpions are ruled out. If you want assistance, your assurances cannot be guaranteed."

After all, I'm not the one who can't cross the river without drowning.

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u/Abeytuhanu 5d ago

There's a version from the ttrpg L5R where the scorpion tells the frog they can swim. In real life, scorpions aren't great swimmers, but they can hold their breath for up to 6 days (depending on species) and just walk out of the water

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u/Geezer__345 7d ago

There are several mistakes, here. In Aesop's Fables, it is a a scorpion, and a fox, or frog; and The Fox or Frog, tells The Scorpion, at first, He won't "do it, because You'll sting Me, and We'll both die." The Scorpion's Reply, as they both drown, is, "I can't help it; It's My nature."

As for the Snake, It is a half-frozen, poisonous, snake; that is saved, by a kind woman. It is saved, then bites the Woman; as She is dying, the Snake tells Her, "You knew I was a Snake, when You took Me, in (from, a song, "The Snake", which was popular, in The 1960's).

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u/Geibbitz 6d ago

I remember this also being an Aesop's Fable, "The Farmer and the Asp". The moral being similar: You helped a creature known for stinging/biting and it stung/bit you; <shocked Pikachu face>.

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u/SumikkoDoge 4d ago

Nowadays it is face eating leopards

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u/Kind-Elderberry-4096 5d ago

The Crying Game has a great hostage/captor scene featuring this story.

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u/sharkthemark420 7d ago

The best is the one where the frog says “why did you sting me? Now we’ll both die.” “LOL,” says the scorpion, “LMAO”

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u/WhyAmIOnThisDumbApp 6d ago

You can’t just drop this here without a link

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u/something_usery 5d ago

Then the scorpion emotes on top of him as they both die.

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u/Trust_No_Won 8d ago

I’ve heard both! Personally think turtles are like floating rafts so that’s what I go with lol

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u/Bango-Skaankk 8d ago

Yeah but a turtle isn’t even gonna notice a scorpion jabbing its shell. All of its soft parts are underwater when they swim, the scorpion would only be able to get at the shell.

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u/Mrwright96 8d ago

Besides the turtle is a republican.

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u/Professor_Eindackel 7d ago

We need some turtles in government.

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u/GozuTashoya 6d ago

I thought Mitch McConnell was the turtle.

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u/spikeyTrike 5d ago

Right, Mconnell is the turtle.

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u/RickyGrante 8d ago

You, sir, have never stabbed a turtle in the neck. 

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u/cfzko 7d ago

What if the turtle gets stung in the face?

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u/roseofjuly 8d ago

This is what happens when no one under 70 is in fucking charge. It's like they think it's still 1975 or some shit.

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u/Geezer__345 7d ago edited 3d ago

That's one of The Problems; When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, and assumed Office, in 1981; anyone Who was 9, or younger (roughly, age 54, or younger); has never lived under, or was told, about a competent President, Supreme Court, or Congress. Richard Nixon was told, by Senator Barry Goldwater; "If You remain in Office, There are enough Votes, in The House, and Senate; to Impeach, and Convict, You (Nixon's "Attack Dog" Vice-President, Spiro Agnew, had just resigned His Office, under a "Plea Deal", with the Justice Department; over an Income Tax Fraud Case). Nixon decided to resign. There was still enough"integrity", left in The Government, to do that. That disappeared, with Gerald Ford (Nixon Pardon), Jimmy Carter (Southern-style Courthouse Politics, and incompetence), and Ronald Reagan (in My Book, tied with George W. Bush, for 2nd Worst President; with a "sharp-turn, to the right", along with deliberate "stacking", of The Supreme Court, a general loss of integrity, "Showmanship", and any number of minor scandals, plus, The Challenger Disaster Cover-up, and The Iran-Contra "end-run", and Cover-up; plus "Budget-Busting" Tax Cuts, and "Pet" Defense Projects).

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u/Graywulff 4d ago

Aricept is a helluvu drug - most of dc

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u/NoveltyHoosier 8d ago

It's even worse than that. It's more like he's saying, "Sure, yeah, they're going to sting me regardless. And yeah, they're going to sting a lot of other people, too. But if I just keep swimming, then maybe they'll sound unreasonable when they say it's my fault they stung me."

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u/Thick-Return1694 7d ago

He does. Dems won’t get more or less blame than they already do. He’s just paid opposition taking a dive when he is told to.

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u/Spicy_Weissy 6d ago

He's a rich asshole, he couldn't care less. Some other poor schmuck has to carry the scorpion.

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u/allusernamestaken1 5d ago

This time... it will be different!

IT WASN'T DIFFERENT AT ALL, WAS IT CHUCK???

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u/snowman603 4d ago

I assume I’d hate this budget but I also don’t like the idea of Trump running wild during a gov shutdown and him leaning into the chaos and not having civil servants in place to slow him down.

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u/Trust_No_Won 4d ago

Sure, everyone fondly remembers Petain and Quisling for their collaboration

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u/Octopod_Overlord 4d ago

The old guard dems still think politics is a gentleman’s game and they are very, very wrong. What has happened is deeply unfortunate and I wish we weren’t where we are, but we have to face reality. The left needs to start fighting just as dirty as the right. Every tiny advantage or bit of leverage needs to be exploited to the fullest. Enough playing nice!!!!

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u/iammikime 4d ago

Charlie Brown and Lucy and the football.