Trump

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‘The Dog, the Meat, and the Reflection,’ ‘The Dog and the Shadow,’ ‘The Dog in the River,’ ‘or ‘The Dog and the Piece of Flesh.’ Or number 133 in Perry’s index. A simple comic fable about a dog—a silly, greedy dog—who sees its reflection in a pond and tries to steal the meat from its own mouth and in so doing loses what it had recently gained.

(Silly, in part because of the failure to recognize its own reflection, but for a dog that failure can be forgiven. A dog’s world is a world rich in odours, meaningful, identifiable smells. It may not have a visual self-image, but it would likely pass a sniff test for self-identification. See ‘Aesop’s Animals: the Science Behind the Fables‘ by Jo Wimpenny.)

The moral failing is one of greed, or more precisely, covetousness, wanting what someone else has. The dog could just as well have continued on his way, or forged a connection with the other based on their common interest in a good meaty dinner. But no, the sight of another dog who shares the same good fortune seems to provoke the animal. It cannot be allowed.

For me, what motivates the dog is not the simple desire for more, to increase upon what it already has, but rather an impulse to dominate, to ensure a rival loses or ends in an inferior state. This is why it is fitting that in some versions the dog has stolen the meat from the butcher: it is, in human terms, a criminal and a sociopath.

I am of course reminded of Donald Trump and his transactional, zero-sum view of the world: for him to win, the other party must lose. It is enough therefore that they lose for him to believe himself superior. And this is how my version plays out. It is less important that the dog ends up with nothing—the meat is forgotten once the contest begins—than the rival appears to end up with less.

We may laugh at the deluded triumph of the dog in this version, because it is the only one who has ended up with less, but it is so completely out of touch with reality the facts don’t matter. We laugh, until this destructive, nihilistic solipsism is wrought on political norms, systems, institutions, relations founded on reciprocity and mutual benefit, and the guy stands smirking in the rubble declaring victory.

You can read the new version here: ‘The Dog and its Reflection‘