A Generation Gap

27 October, 2003
"Monkey Business" on the Internet, translated from the Hebrew into English

Begin with a cage where there are five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a flight of steps underneath it.  Within a short time, one monkey will start to climb the steps in the direction of the banana. The moment he touches the banana, douse the rest of the monkeys with a stream of cold water.
After some time, another monkey will try again. And once more: a stream of cold water on all the others. Very quickly, whenever one monkey tries to climb the stairs, the others will attempt to prevent this.
Now remove the cold water.
Take one monkey out of the cage and replace him with a naive one. The new monkey will see the banana and want to climb the steps. To his astonishment and horror, all the other animals will attack him! An additional attempt  or two soon show him very clearly, that when he tries to climb the stairs, the others will overpower him.
Now take another animal from the original group and enter a new one. This new monkey will approach the stairs and be attacked. The former naive monkey will join the attack with much enthusiasm!
In the same way, replace the third monkey. And the fourth. And the fifth.
Each time the newest member tries to reach the stairs, he will be overpowered. Most of those who attack have no idea why they don't let the animal climb the steps, nor why they participate in the attack. After replacing the five original monkeys - no one present has experienced the stream of cold water. Nevertheless, not one of them will approach the stairs to reach the banana.
And why?
Because, to the best of their information, this is the way that business is done - always.
And so, my friends, starts a policy within a society.


Do you feel the foregoing is sad or hopeless? Perhaps something has been overlooked?