The Fisherman and the Genie

One of my favorite stories from the 1001 Nights Entertainment is the “Fisherman and the Genie”. In the story, a poor fisherman drags a great jug out of the sea. When he opens it, a genie appears and demands the fisherman choose how the poor fisherman wants to die. It seems the genie has been waiting so long to be released that he has grown angry with whoever will eventually release him. He has sworn to give his benefactor death as his reward. Of course the fisherman is taken aback – but he thinks to himself, “I MUST OUTWIT THE GENIE. SURELY I MUST BE SMARTER THAN HE; FOR EVIL SPIRITS WOULD NOT BE EVIL IF THEY WOULD USE THEIR HEADS.”

The behaviors of many evil doers in the world today seem to bear out the Fisherman’s pronouncement:

1. I think of the rioters in Toledo, Ohio a week or so ago. Enraged that a group of Nazis were about to march through a portion of their city, a bunch of “civil rights demonstrators” proceeded to attack their own community. Claiming that the Nazis supported violence, a mob of idiots proceeded to commit the most gratuitous acts of violence. Eager to grab headlines, many Ohio blacks behaved exactly as the Nazi hate mongers predicted they would. Talk about playing into the hand of your enemy in order to prove their point!

2. I think of the “peaceful and sophisticated” citizens of France who for approaching two weeks now have been rioting and burning down their own communities. Overcome by boredom, impotence, and raciest bigotry they have turned upon themselves. We are reminded that these are the descendants of the same people who turned a Revolution for Freedom into a Reign of Terror. Now the French (need I really come up with a pejorative more telling) grope for attention on the world stage by committing national suicide. How like them!

3. Think of protestors in Argentina during the meeting of the leaders of the nations of North and South America. In a ridiculous, if not laughable, attempt to get the attention of the world media, anarchist protestors destroy and burn; providing proof that their way must be avoided by thinking people at all costs.

4. Democrats, seeking to gin up some press for their anti Bush agenda, - the only agenda the Democrats in office in this country seem to possess - burst into flames last week. The obligatory crash which followed was spectacular. Failing to get any significant indictments against the “movers and shakers” in the Bush administration for the non crime of outing the non covert agent wife of a non reliable Joe Wilson, the Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid, proposed to kill the nation that gives him freedom. In a publicity stunt that was all hot air, Reid dragged the U.S. Senate in to an unnecessary closed session to demand things which have already been done be done again. He was forced later to recognize, if not admit, that the “re-do” was already scheduled before his tantrum. Thus the Democrats blocked the business of the nation in order to grandstand for the political points the media rushes provide. Meanwhile the fishermen, and farmers, the workers and owners, the simple minded citizens of American, realize that politicians who thus refuse to use their heads must surely be evil.

The fisherman in Scheherazade’s tale at last convinces the evil genie to go back into his bottle. The Fisherman does this with a simple appeal to the genie’s ego. He asks the “wonderful genie” to prove that someone as great as he could actually fit into the jug. Determined to prove himself possessed of the greatness the fisherman implies, the evil genie turns himself into smoke and reenters the bottle. The fisherman replaces the stopper. The media has given full reign to the monsters of the moment, and their egos are swollen with hot air to the bursting point. I wonder if now the media has pulled the cork, the simple citizens of this nation will be able to get the genie back in the bottle. Perhaps their first step is realizing just how stupid the evil doers really are.