The Swine Soup Kitchen

So I’m upstairs reading a book to Daphne the other day…

Specifically, “If You Give a Pig a Pancake” by Laura Numeroff.

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When it occurred to me that what I was really reading to my daughter was a thinly-veiled neoconservative fable about the dangers of socialism and/or government entitlements.

Yes, really.  Let me explain how I got there.

The tale begins with a pig begging for sustenance outside the window of what appears to be an affluent suburban home.  And the resident of the house (a young light-skinned girl), guiltily acquiesces to these requests and provides the pig with a pancake off of her very own plate.

But soon the food isn’t enough.  The ravenous animal asks for syrup to go with the pancake.  Then it needs to use the bathroom.  Then the piggy needs new clothes.  And before you know it, the penniless swine feels entitled to free postage, vacations, and even her very own home, all of which must be provided by the sweat off the brow of the homeowner.

By the end of the story, the cycle has started again with the hungry parasite pig demanding even more food from her altruistic, but now exhausted, benefactor.

happypigexhaustedhonkeyDelicious maPol [Pot] syrup

It’s not exactly a stretch to see what the author is really trying to say here.

The message that children are left with at the end of the tale is that the little girl should NEVER have given this Marxist swine her blini in the first place, because it turned a little piggy into an insatiable hog-monster that demanded more and more and more…

Well, that or the story ended before the little girl made clear her plans to fatten the pig for low-income labor delicious bacon later.

j.s.

 

[Note:  I hate that I even have to say this, but given the current political climate I feel compelled to qualify this post as little more than a sardonic joke.  And if we could refrain from allowing what was meant to be a silly observation to spark any political aggression that would be super peachy.  Thanks.]

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