On "sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs"

December 13, 2012 12:06 PM

On "sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs" Let me expand on this old soldier’s excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial; that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

posted by KokuRyu (20 comments total)

Ah, an analogy. Then it must be true.
posted by SkinnerSan at 12:13 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Lawful evil / whiteknight.
posted by now i'm piste at 12:14 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep

This person has never worked on a farm. Or even visited one for a day.
posted by yoink at 12:18 PM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep.

Funniest one-liner I've read this year.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:19 PM on December 13, 2012

I posted this after a link to the website (a maker of concealed-carry holsters) showed up in my Facebook feed via a friend. This way of thinking (people are sheep, and only a wise, chosen few will protect the rest of us) is so totally annoying.

The blog post is also a great example of multiple logical fallacies.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:20 PM on December 13, 2012

But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

Pull the other one.
posted by rtha at 12:21 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Holy crap--google "sheep, sheepdogs and wolves" and you'll see that this hilarious/sickening nonsense is just *everywhere* amongst the gun nut crowd.
posted by yoink at 12:21 PM on December 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

Plato, is that you? You were wrong back then, too. There is no Philosopher-King.
posted by absalom at 12:21 PM on December 13, 2012

Makes an interesting case for the removal of sheepdogs. Doubt that's what they were going for, though.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:22 PM on December 13, 2012

There's nothing wrong with being a sheep...but being a sheep is defined as a state of denial. There's nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog, except that sheepdogs are necessary and the poor sheep cling to them during the really hard bits of life. At least toward the end he mostly drops that pretense and just tells people to be sheepdogs.

The really frightening bit about this, to me, is the total conflation of the roles of soldier and police officer. A soldier, a person whose primary job responsibility is to inflict force on an unwilling opponent is completely equated with a police officer, whose job is more nuanced. The problem with this is that the police officer who seem themselves as a warrior is pretty likely to kill people, after all that's part of the warrior job description. I for one would much rather the police my neighborhood saw themselves as in the business of law enforcement rather than war.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:24 PM on December 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

I bet George Zimmerman thought he was a sheepdog. It would not surprise me if a lot of people think he was a sheepdog.
posted by mhum at 12:24 PM on December 13, 2012

Why did you post something that you found fallacious and annoying without any other context? At least post a well reasoned argument (from either perspective, if not both). This is a bad post for Metafilter.
posted by fermezporte at 12:24 PM on December 13, 2012

Also: Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog

The entire tone of gun culture notwithstanding.
posted by absalom at 12:24 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

"To me it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell."
posted by griphus at 12:25 PM on December 13, 2012

Holy crap--google "sheep, sheepdogs and wolves" and you'll see that this hilarious/sickening nonsense is just *everywhere* amongst the gun nut crowd.

Yes, even amongst seemingly sane, rational people. I nearly lost a friendship over this very issue.

I wonder what deep, psychological need is forcing people who have the legal right to carry firearms to spout such overbearing, frankly totalitarian rationales for their interest in handguns.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:25 PM on December 13, 2012

(If someone has a more sarcastic clapping GIF, please provide.)
posted by griphus at 12:25 PM on December 13, 2012

"Quis canisodiet ipsos canis?"

~ tents fingers ~
posted by boo_radley at 12:27 PM on December 13, 2012

I wonder what deep, psychological need is forcing people who have the legal right to carry firearms to spout such overbearing, frankly totalitarian rationales for their interest in handguns.
posted by KokuRyu

That's a pretty broad brush you got there. Gun culture is weird and scary (to me, anyway) but all sorts of people have carry permits for all sorts of reasons.
posted by workerant at 12:32 PM on December 13, 2012

Laugh it up, sheep. It's these guys who keep you from getting molested at the mall while you buy your latest copy of Computer Gaming Monthly.

via
posted by dr_dank at 12:33 PM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

I would be more ok with this if I thought there were any chance that dogs that worried sheep would be put down.
posted by darksasami at 12:33 PM on December 13, 2012