In the old fable, an acorn falls on Chicken Little’s head.  Chicken Little makes an erroneous assumption and then proceeds to whip everyone into a mass hysteria by running around screaming, “The sky is falling; the sky is falling.”  The fable has a variety of endings, but the most popular teaches Chicken Little about courage and to have courage while facing problems.

In the politics of Chicken Little, we have the first part of the fable being played out almost daily.  Somewhere a Chicken Little takes one factoid and uses it to construct an apocalyptic prediction, generally involving the environment and the end of the world as we know it. We never get to the part about courage.

You can trace one version of the modern Chicken Little back to Rachel Carson’s book The Silent Spring.  This book detailed the horrors of DDT, a pesticide used to rid the world of malaria and typhus.  As a result of this book in 1962, DDT was banned in the US and its use was widely curtailed in the rest of the world.  However, the ban may have been premature and it prevented the eradication of malaria.  Robert Gwadz of the National Institutes of Health said in 2007 that "The ban on DDT may have killed 20 million children." 

A more recent Chicken Littleism is that of global warming.  We suddenly heard that, because of a variety of human activities, the temperature of the earth was going up drastically.  Of course, we never heard much discussion that today’s temperature-sensing instruments were far superior and able to detect smaller fluctuations in the temperature than the thermometers used in 1875 or 1903 or even 1935.  Neither was there much talk about whether there might be a longer cycle of temperature change than we have been able to record, given humans’ short history of scientific study.

Incidentally, when the global warming issue came under fire from other scientists, suddenly the catch-phrase became “climate change.”  The talk moved from whether the earth was getting warmer to whether human activities were causing climate change.  One of the more idiotic claims was, because humans tended herds of animals for food, milk, and wool, that increased levels of carbon dioxide were a direct result of “cattle flatulence.”

The latest threat from the Chicken Littles who walk and squawk among us is that of “The Collapse.”  This theory holds that, suddenly, every country in the world will suddenly hate the US and stop buying products, will call in all loans, and that—simultaneously—terrorists will bomb every train overpass in the US.  This will deprive all Americans of any food that needs to be shipped around the country.  Oh, yeah—this Chicken Little theory also assumes that all oil-producing countries will commit economic suicide by refusing to sell and ship oil to the US.  Therefore, our economy and our society, as we know it, will “collapse.”

The reason for this latest fable?  Simply that these CLs want the right to raise and sequester farm animals and other livestock inside the city limits.  How can this assumption be made?  Look at the language regarding urban gardens.  There was a huge push to change city ordinances to permit urban gardens.  No problem. I voted for it because I think it’s in a neighborhood’s best interest to have a community project to work on.  Where the problem arrives is the jargon-creep from the Chicken Littles.  If you listen closely, they now refer to “urban farms.”  The idea of gardens has gone away and now they speak of entire “farms.”

Incidentally, this version of the “collapse” means that we won’t again have Iowa sweet corn, steaks from Nebraska, strawberries from Arkansas, peaches from Georgia, apples from Washington, or syrup from New England.

How long do you think it’ll be if chickens are permitted in the city limits before some group starts to lobby for ducks, or guineas, or even pigs?  Perhaps a milk cow is in the offing. The cow can help fertilize the urban garden.

Seriously now, think about it:  how many chickens would have to be in the city limits to feed all the folks who eat eggs for breakfast?  How about all the chicken sandwiches that are eaten for lunch?  The artichoke chicken that you get at your favorite restaurant? Or even barbecued chicken at picnics?  If we eat all those chickens, we won’t have any left to lay eggs.

The original Chicken Little fable taught about courage.  Unfortunately, the new contemporary Chicken Littles are laying a great big egg.