Wagging the Dog

For some reason, I have been thinking about the idiom "wagging the dog" lately.  I realize that the traditional sense of the phrase is the idea that something less important is controlling something more important.  The idea is that the tail has been given enough control that it can be the base and the dog's body has to bounce around instead of the tail.

Bree, one of our Farm Office Supervisors at the farm, isn't terribly impressed that I am thinking about this because she believe that dogs are kind of 'air-headed' any way.  What should it matter whether the body or the tail of a dog wags?

A Recent Prompting

It isn't exactly a 'wag the dog' thing, but here's where my brain started on all of this:

We left the farm for a doctor visit or some such thing and came back just after sunset.  That meant that I had to go straight out and close up the chickens for the night.  As I walked out there I heard loud voices that sounded like they were out by our east fields.  After completing chores, I investigated a bit.

What I found was that there were three snowmobiles and drivers out at the edge of our property.  Clearly, one of them was stuck and they were loudly trying to 'unstick it.'  As I walked down the road towards them, they must have succeeded.  Upon doing so, they said something about cigarettes and beer, hopped on their machines, drove rapidly across the road and across our neighbor's field.

Um. ok.

The rest of the story is this.  There is a snowmobile trail that runs to the North and to the South of our property between farm fields.  The path goes around our farmstead by jogging to the West.  There is no trail to our East.  But, we have noticed a few times that there were some folks who seemed to want to go all over our neighbors' fields.  We don't know if they had permission to do so - we just noticed there were a few who were doing this.

Apparently, on this particular night, in the process of running on our neighbors field, one of the drivers thought our little farm would be a neat place to try zipping around.  They hung themselves up on some caged bushes we have in our buffer zone that were mostly buried under the snow drift.  So, we've got some crushed cages and bushes there now - and maybe they have some damage to their machine.  I'll never know.

Letting the Minority Define the Majority

And now we get to my parallel to wagging the dog.  

The temptation after this is for the two of us to conclude that people who drive snowmobiles are ... well...  what should we think?  Let's just say that we're not impressed and leave it at that.  It's so easy to want to grumble at EVERY and ANY snowmobile that goes by our farm after events like this.

But, that's the problem.  We should not allow three individuals define what we think of all who enjoy snowmobiling.  After all, the vast majority of them who go by our farm stay on or near the trail.  They tend to go by at reasonable hours and not at 1 AM as has happened rarely.  They appear to be enjoying themselves while still being responsible and respectful.  

But, these three - and maybe it was just this ONE person - they make us entertain the idea that everyone who gets on a snowmobile is irresponsible and disrespectful.  Should we assume that if we see you on a snowmobile that you are are going to start driving all over one of our lines of bushes we worked hard to put in and care for each year?   Should we paint you with the same brush and curse at you as you drive by?

Bigger Picture

The number of hate crimes against Asian-Americans is on the rise.  Apparently, because some people have made a claim that China "caused" the Covid crisis, anyone who looks like they might have any Asian characteristics is to blame and should be punished.

Without even getting into the whole "what causes a pandemic" thing, let's consider this with the same lens I used for the snowmobile drivers. 

Is it fair if I blame every single person who likes to snowmobile for damage to those bushes and cages?

No.

Does everyone who drives a snowmobile intend to damage my farm or wake me at 1 in the morning?

No.

Why would anyone think it is right to assume anyone who "looks Asian-American" is suddenly to blame for our current situation?   How could you possibly justify your bad behavior towards people because you can't differentiate between responsible parties and everyone or anyone else? That's a tail wagging a dog if there ever was one.

And then, how is it that we are then surprised when everyone who is "like us" is lumped into a group and pegged as violent, uncaring and ignorant? 

I happen to be a white male of European decent.  Therefore, I am aggressive, prone to violence, foul-mouthed, and inconsiderate.  I am domineering and unsympathetic.  I sneer at people of color and think they are inferior to me and I believe women are ok, except when they start acting like they might be smarter than I am.  If that happens, I will put them in their place.  And, of course, I am likely to commit a mass shooting in the United States.

If you know who I am, I sincerely hope you disagree with those statements.  And yet, there is a whole host of examples of people who are ALSO white males of European descent for whom those descriptions fit.  Since I am like them, I must be .... like them?!?

My lesson to myself (and maybe for you) for today?

The next time someone who is not like ourselves enters our world, don't make the assumptions that they are like the worst versions of whatever group we think they belong to. 

That snowmobile driver over there is not necessarily inconsiderate and bent on the destruction of bushes and cages.

The Asian-American walking down the street or living in your neighborhood is not plotting to infect you with a virus, nor are they inclined to do you harm.

And you and I, no matter what groups we identify with, will be lumped with the worst characteristics shown by other people who also identify with that group.  Until we all make an effort to consider individuals on their own merits.

Don't let the tail wag the dog.