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Chocolate and Strawberry: A Parable

By: The Baron

Deep in the mountains, lives the Troggle clan—short humanoid creatures who live peacefully together in a small village.

There are two kinds of Troggles: brown and pink--and, other than their skin color, they are exactly the same physically in every respect. Virtually all the huts in the Troggle village consist of a brown and a pink Troggle living together as a family unit.

Troggles subsist on one thing, and one thing only: ice cream. At the back of their village lies a huge factory where most Troggles work during the day, producing all the ice cream the village needs to survive. Once a day, each brown Troggle receives a container of chocolate ice cream from the factory, and each pink Troggle receives a container of strawberry ice cream.

In one corner of the village are four huts, each with one brown and one pink Troggle living within.

In the first hut, we have Alex and Bobby Troggle. Alex, a brown Troggle, gets its chocolate ice cream from the factory every day, and is happy. Bobby, a pink Troggle, gets its strawberry ice cream from the factory every day, and is happy. Neither one has any complaints about how things are.

Not so for Chris and Dorsey Troggle, who live next door.   Chris, a brown Troggle, receives its chocolate ice cream from the factory every day, and is happy. However, Dorsey, Chris’s pink companion, is not satisfied with the strawberry ice cream it receives every day.

“I don’t care much for strawberry ice cream,” Dorsey says, “I’d rather have chocolate”.

But, the factory elders say, you’re a pink Troggle. Pink Troggles get strawberry ice cream. That’s how it is.

“I’d rather have chocolate…” Dorsey says, and goes home unsatisfied.

Across the road, live Leslie and Morgan Troggle. Leslie, the pink Troggle, receives strawberry ice cream every day and is happy, however its companion Morgan is not satisfied with the chocolate ice cream it receives.

“I don’t like chocolate ice cream much,” Morgan says to the factory elders, “can I have strawberry instead?”

No, say the elders, you’re a brown Troggle. Brown Troggles get chocolate ice cream. That’s how it is.

“I’d rather have strawberry,” says Morgan. “It’s not fair that I can’t have strawberry just because I’m brown.”

That’s silly, respond the elders, there’s nothing ‘unfair’ about it.

“Both flavors of ice cream are made with the same quality ingredients and provide the same amount of nutrition,” says one elder, “there’s no difference between them other than color, and no reason to suppose one is somehow ‘better’ than the other. Therefore there’s no real reason why Troggle society should allow you to have a different color ice cream than everyone else.”

“Our factory produces a certain amount of chocolate and a certain amount of strawberry every day”, says another elder, “if brown Troggles started eating strawberry ice cream instead of chocolate, we’d soon run out of strawberry, and the extra chocolate would go to waste. Can’t you see it’s much more efficient the way things are?”

“I’d rather have strawberry…” says Morgan, and goes home unsatisfied.

In the fourth hut, live Sam and Taylor Troggle. Sam, a brown Troggle, discovered some time ago it preferred strawberry to chocolate. Likewise, Taylor, its pink Troggle companion, happens to prefer chocolate to strawberry. So, every day they dutifully bring their allotted ice cream home…and then switch with each other. Both end up (albeit unconventionally) satisfied and happy.

Discussion Questions:


(1) The village policy is:

    (a)    Fair towards everyone

    (b)   Unfair towards everyone

    (c)    Unfair towards pink Troggles only.

    (d)   Unfair towards brown Troggles only.

    (e)    Unfair towards Dorsey and Morgan specifically, but fair towards everyone else.

(2) If (c), (d) or (e), can the village policy be fair to some and unfair to others if the policy treats everyone exactly the same? If so, how?

(3) Does the color of the ‘elders’ of the village matter? If so, how?

(4) If the factory output of both flavors is indeed fixed, what restrictions are ‘proper’ for the village in order to ensure no shortage or waste occurs? Would it be more or less fair to everyone for the village to grant the ability to choose ice cream flavor to some Troggles and not others? What happens if everyone is granted the ability to choose and the choices aren’t divided 50/50?

Print | posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007 10:58 AM | Filed Under [ The Baron ]

Comments:

#1: The Baron

[Tune in next week as Troggle society collapses when two brown Troggles decide to live together in the same hut...]
11/15/2007 11:04 AM

#2: Eric Nielson

Let me try again...

1) The answer is b.

These poor Troggles live in a highly socialist society, and can not really hope for anything better. What they really need is a democratic form of government and a free market economy.

3) It does not matter.

4) To ensure no shortage or waste it appears some must take what they don't want. Maybe a rotation could be set up where on certain days you get what you want, and on other days you get what you are assigned. A first come first serve could be set up with the last in line getting what is left. This would lead to long lines and a lot of waiting. Something not uncommon in socialist societies.
11/15/2007 3:13 PM

#3: Tristi Pinkston

I'd be willing to bet that if all the unsatisfied Troggles were to get together and swap their ice cream, just like Sam and Taylor did, they'd all end up with what they wanted. Why wait for the government to change the policy? The people have the power to control their own happiness. When we start expecting the government to make us happy, that's when we start getting into trouble.

That said, who on earth would prefer strawberry to chocolate? This is definitely a fiction story. :)
11/25/2007 8:19 PM

#4: The Baron

Unfortunately, only the two Troggles that live together can 'switch', just like--and perhaps this wasn't as obvious a parable as I might have thought--a wife who feels constrained not to work outside the home has no one to 'switch' with except her husband (a guy across the street who stays home with his family while she works really makes no difference)

Eric's 'rotation' idea has potential through the idea of part-time jobs, but issues remain: is society better off with X number of 'chocolate' eaters, and X number of 'strawberry' eaters? What are the social consequences of enforcing or NOT enforcing gender roles?

In any case, the main point is: is 'chocolate' fundamentally better than 'strawberry'? How can pink Troggles being constrained to have only 'strawberry' be more unfair than brown Troggles in exactly the same way being constrained to have only 'chocolate'? And does it matter if all the elders happen to be 'brown' Troggles? If so, how?
11/26/2007 7:37 AM

#5: Tristi Pinkston

I don't think anyone can say that chocolate is fundamentally better. I think it is because that's how my tastebuds are wired. But there will always be those who prefer strawberry.

And I don't think it matters if the elders are all brown. I'm sure that some of them would prefer strawberry regardless of their color. It's not like they chose what flavor to get assigned -- they can't help it if they're brown or pink.

Okay, so now you've got me wondering. Is there going to be a point to all this revealed at a later date, or are you just messin' with our heads?
11/26/2007 1:50 PM

#6: The Baron

Too obscure for my own good, I guess...(?)

There is much discussion in the bloggosphere about how gender roles prescribed in the Proclamation on the Family (and generally in the Church) are 'limiting' (and 'unfair') to women...with very little mention of how those same gender roles equally are 'limiting' to men in exactly the same way. The Church encourages women to 'stay at home'...but encourages men to 'stay away' as well. The assertion seems to be working outside the home (chocolate) is 'better' somehow than staying at home (strawberry), because...well, I don't know. If a woman wants to work but is pressured not to by Church culture, is that more or less unfair than a man who doesn't want to work but is pressured to do so anyway? (We should note that families where both parents work still function better than families where neither parent works simply because the second family will be living in a tent without food before too long... Doesn't that imply men actually have less flexibility in choosing a life path?)

Does it matter than the leaders of the Church are 'brown' (male)? It seems to, to some people, who seem to assume that if the men are the ones proscribing gender roles, then obviously the male role must be the 'better' one.

I see it as two flavors of ice cream: chocolate and strawberry. Different...yet the same. Some people of either gender might have preferences of one 'flavor' or the other, but aren't both genders still fundamentally equal in how they are treated by Church policy? How can the existing policy be unfair towards pink Troggles (women) without being equally unfair to the brown ones as well, since the 'limitation' is the same? How would perceptions be different if all the 'elders' were pink instead of brown?
11/26/2007 2:35 PM

#7: Tristi Pinkston

Ah, but you make an interesting statement, saying it's the leaders of the Church who are making the policy. It's not the leaders who have made it -- and this is where a lot of people get hung up. The Proclamation was inspired by God. It was not written by men. Those who have a problem with it (i.e. feeling it's too limiting or giving the better part to the men) have not gained a testimony for themselves that it came from God and not from men. There are also those who say that since God is a man, of course the church favors men. Well, it doesn't. When the Priesthood is administered the way it should be, the men and the women work side by side, not one ahead of the other. If it doesn't work that way at someone's house, it's because they aren't doing it right.

But I still say the Troggles could rebel. And so can members of the Church. It's the whole free agency thing.
11/27/2007 10:35 PM

#8: Tristi Pinkston

Let me add, in the interests of being fair -- you didn't flat out state that the policy was made by the leaders, as I implied in my first sentence. But there was enough implication that I felt I ought to address it from that angle.

Not wanting to put definite words in your mouth that were only implied. :)
11/27/2007 10:40 PM

#9: Eric Nielson

Hooray Tristi!
11/28/2007 12:33 PM

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