Anatomy of a Lemming
Lemmus trimucronatus is a medium-sized rodent, a little bigger than a rat, that lives in cool climates. They are sort of like tundral-ground hogs. Back in the late fifties the Disney nature documentary "White Wilderness" showed a herd of lemmings rushing headlong over a cliff and falling to their deaths in the icy water. “Why do they do this?” we all asked. But as the film said, “It is not given to man to understand all of nature’s mysteries.” Regardless, the vision was so powerful it instantly became part of our culture and was applied to all manner of self-destructive group behavior. Except of course for the fact that the entire sequence was faked. (Which in retrospect should have been obvious.) The lemmings were actually imported into the area and then induced by the film maker into panicking and rushing over a cliff. See it for yourself à here. I guess Disney wasn't as eco-friendly then as it is now.
As our President said a few days ago, if we don’t act quickly and give him $750,000,000,000 ( 750 Gigabucks, .75 Teradollars, etc.) our financial system will collapse. You know, when he says that I can just see him standing before the nation telling us all that if we don’t act immediately, Saddam will have nuclear weapons in just a few months. And he’ll use ‘em, partner. Turns out he didn't, couldn't, and probably wouldn't. Which in retrospect should have been obvious. To some of us it was.
Lemmings. Just who are the lemmus trimucronatus here? And who’s the film maker?
In fact, lemmings do not naturally commit mass suicide. They do however have an easily exploitable flight response, or perhaps herd instinct is a better choice of words. Sort of like another species. Disney has exploited this many times as have others. So if you see a large mass of lemmings people all headed in the same direction my advice would be to stay away.
Futbol Guru, http://mises.org/Community/blogs/not-a-lemming