I swear to God this whole premise was accidentally the perfect ruling class propaganda and/or the inevitable outcome of centuries of said ruling class propaganda.
Like sure, some people do take advantage of people but most people strait up dont unless taught to SPECIFICALLY. And those that do that shit certainly aren’t the ones just advocating for themselves and their wants and needs to be fulfilled by those with the power to do so pretty easily.
Mostly tho I did not like the strait up garbage answers people gave when I asked them if there was some sort of implied issue in this book I was reading. Because you can always say no and obviously that’s the solution to this problem. And also the person in the story never ever expressed any displeasure to the mouse (or even refused, which was already a basic adult and a basic child skill that I was expected to understand and utilize) so how exactly would this seemingly sweet mouse know you are unhappy with the situation? The guy/gal seemed fulfilled enough putting in the effort so isn’t that all good things happening there?
I mean I did get it, it was a book written for children. But I was in point of fact a child. I was expected to ask to have treats or to get things down or even to just fulfill some basic needs. (glass of water at night comes to mind and I feel like I want a haircut can I have one type things)
It really just amounted to “well behaved people don’t overask for stuff and appreciate what they are given” but that was the BEST answer I ever got from any adult and I had to ask several times over multiple days for them to figure that. Most answers were just some version of the mouse is a POS or taking advantage of this person even after explaining or showing them with laughs about how I don’t get it and haha your concerned about this even tho they themselves had no idea WHY it was supposed to be “bad”. “You’ll understand when you have to give your own stuff away.” But I did that already. It was called sharing. And they teach that shit in PRESCHOOL
Anywho likely written to sell and not a lot of thought put into the moral lesson it seemed to be selling on but I have begun to hate how ubiquitous it has become with the “don’t help those damn needy poors” pseudointellectual bullshit propaganda of a dozen or so generations now that that book got popular and was quote unquote understood
Yeah the if you give a moose a muffin book was definitely American propaganda
I was not familiar with this book, so I just watched a video of a Canadian lady reading it.
My biggest takeaway from the book was that “FUCK THAT’S A MOOSE! IT IS GOING TO KILL YOU. THAT’S WHAT MOOSE DO.”
Meese
You ever read Thidwick the Big Hearted Moose, by Dr. Seuss? It kind of reads like Ayn Rand for babies.
I remembered the mouse asking for some crazy stuff after that so I looked it up, and it was all basic needs. He wanted milk, a blanket, and a haircut. Honestly the cookie was the least necessary of his asks.
He wanted crayons and some paper so he could make some art. Some of us have to work for a living and don’t have time for such aloof luxuries.
Have you ever gone up to a stranger and asked them to give you something for free? It’s about 1000x more socially awkward than anything the other person could do. So, the other person doesn’t need to stress, at all.
Whether they give you something once, or they give you more than one thing, or they don’t give you anything, it is a trivial thing compared to asking. My advice is just do what you want to do, and if you think about it and change your mind later, then, just do the other thing.
One time, somebody came up to me on the street and asked me for money, and I said, “sorry,” and he got super pissed off at me. He said something like, “You can shove your ‘sorry’.” I assume he wasn’t used to begging, and was ready for people to either give him money or ignore him, but he wasn’t ready for the awkwardness of somebody speaking to him to refuse. Begging is super awkward.
Healthcare.
That book made me wish I had mice to feed cookies to. He was too cute in his little overalls 😭
