A stray reference to the U.S. as “the turtle on top of the pile,” in response to my post below regarding the new Bush doctrine of U.S. uber alles, has incited a stirring exchange involving the (highly relevant) saga of Yertle the Turtle. (Here’s the condensed version.) Being “top turtle” may not be all it’s cracked up to be; you may recall that Yertle, the ruler of all that he sees, is eventually laid low when a peon at the bottom sneezes.
(This is not to be confused with the celebrated tale of the scientist confronted by the old lady who insists that the world is a flat plate supported on a tortoise’s back, and when the scientist challenges her as to what the tortoise is on, she replies, “It’s turtles all the way down.”)
And while I am gamely analyzing the Bush doctrine in light of Dr. Seuss, Frank Lynch is finding his way in via Dr. Johnson.
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