A children's story to explain politics.

The debate of four monkeys


The jungle had been in constant unrest for many years with the ruling primates clubbing any others who got in their way of how decisions were made. Even the trees wore scars from the constant fighting.
 

There were three main groups hoping to make life better for the jungle, with another group who wanted to make things better only in their corner of the jungle. Many cycles ago it had been decided that all of the primates would vote to decide which group would govern for a set period of time. What they did not take into consideration is the fact that one group could lead with only one third of the monkeys wanting them to, because of a rule that says the group with the most support became the leaders, and since there were four groups wanting power, it was determined that a group with less votes than the combined number of the other monkey groups' votes, became the group that decides how everyone else lives.
 

Now at a time of unrest, one group received thirty percent of the support from the tribes, and because this was more than the other groups received individually, they became the leaders. The problem was that this small group decided that stealing even one banana (even if it was a starving orphan doing the stealing) was the greatest evil and should be punished and sent to a secluded part of the jungle and be separated from monkey society for an un-negotiable period of time. The other groups were very upset but could do nothing but scratch there armpits and scream.
 

Next, the ruling group made new laws that said the other groups no longer had the right to challenge the new government through the great Monkey Court because the funding would be cut. The females made to signal their outrage, but then their funding was also cut. But instead of speaking out in tribal circles, which was their right, they decided to remain quiet and say nothing; so nothing was done.
 

The ruling group then decided to take a look at all the bananas that were given to monkeys living outside of their immediate jungle and an old monkey sage told them about a great prophecy that talked about rebuilding an ancient great monkey temple that had been destroyed in the past. The prophecy stated that the rebuilding of the temple would herald the return to the Great Monkey God, who would then destroy the jungle and bring all of his favourite monkeys to a new jungle in a different world where everyone was happy. This monkey's prophecy was very specific of which monkeys would be invited, and more importantly, which monkeys would not.


In this other area of the jungle, there lived two tribes who claimed ownership of the area: a tribe who had lived there for centuries, and a tribe who had recently moved in and taken over. The ruling group, in the main jungle, decided to support the new tribe because the prophecy said that they would be the ones to build the new temple. Because of this, the Great Monkey Decider of Other Monkey Tribes, decided to end support of groups that gave bananas to the pre-existing tribe. She pretended to approve a banana delivery and then inserted the word “not” in the approval from, and claimed ignorance about why the delivery was cancelled. The other monkey tribes threw their feces in defiance.


Now the other monkey tribes were starting to look back on other decisions the rulers made and realized that many lies had been hidden: the ruling party had promised that they would not take away the bananas from the other monkeys, but then declared that the biggest monkeys with the biggest houses deserved more bananas, and sent their helpers to take away the bananas that everyone had put aside for hungry times and give them to their bigger friends. The ruling monkeys also wanted to have a party for their neighbours and told everyone that it would only cost one year’s banana harvest. All monkeys started to scream when ten harvests disappeared and that no bananas were given in return. All they were left with was a lagoon that was so shallow they could not even bathe in the disappointment.
 

The ruling monkeys decided they wanted to trade everyone’s bananas for new vines to travel to the outskirts of their jungle area for protection against invading enemies, but they refused to tell the other monkeys how many bananas they would need. They also said they would need even more bananas to set aside parts of the jungle for miscreant monkeys who did not conform to tribal rules. The other monkeys made suggestions to buy cheaper vines and to help the miscreant monkeys adapt to the tribe and insisted the ruling monkeys let them know exactly how many bananas they wanted to give away for their projects.


Well, the ruling monkeys lied and refused to tell the truth, so the other monkeys said enough was enough and asked the Wise One to decide who was right. The Wise One, after a very long time deciding, decided that the ruling monkeys were wrong. The other monkeys then decided that the ruling monkeys no longer deserved the right to manage all of the other monkeys, and threw their collective feces to end their rule.
 

According to custom, there would be a new discussion to decide which tribe would rule above all others, and one of the ways to do this was to have a great monkey debate. On the night of the debate, the four ruling tribes sent their strongest leaders to defend their different needs and concerns. Every monkey in the audience held the greatest expectations for victory, and the leaders looked ready for any debate. Unfortunately, being monkeys, they threw their feces, and the audience ended up covered in shit.


The end.