A hornets nest

Here is a parable for you to consider:

A man walks up to a hornets nest with a baseball bat intent on hitting it. You, being an observer, warn said man that if he whacks that hornets nest he will be swarmed with angry hornets. The man looks at you with a smirk and says he's gonna "shock and awe" them hornets into submission, then give all of their honey to his friends.

You back up a few paces and inform the man with the bat that there is no honey in a hornets nest. "There is nothing in there but half-digested paper and hornets!" you say, trying to be helpful.

Unheeding the man whacks the nest with the bat and angry hornets come flying out looking for someone to sting. Staying the course with resolve he continues to swing and miss at the hornets while they sting unmercifully. As hornets are stinging his eyelids the man starts to realize that he needs to ramp up his assault and picks up a nearby stick and begins to swing with both arms.

You back up a few more paces and say, "The only sensible thing to do is leave. You should have listened to reason in the first place."

"You lousy, no good, liberal intellectual!", screams the weilder of the angry bat. "I am safer now that...gack", he spits out a hornet, "I am safer now that....gack", he spits out a hornet, "Uh..." he says with his hand now in front of his mouth, "I'm setting these hornets free!"

You, sensibly, leave and hope the angry dullard has the sense to follow. Each day for a year and a half, though, you witness a hornet-stung, bat weilding, stubborn maniac swinging and swinging and swinging and rambling something incoherent about mauve alert levels and honey reconstruction revenues and staying the course.


Shock and Awe has a flaw