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What you are witnessing here is a blatant example of exploitation by the ‘Haves’ over the ‘Have Not’s’. It appears to be a rather bucolic example of prairie life but when you look past the superficiality of the scene you will notice an extreme difference in lifestyles brought about by those with the most seeds over those who don’t have a pot to store them in.

These Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) are a migrating species of insect and seed eating birds that travel from one end of the meadow to the other on a regular basis. They forage and spend their time getting ready for the long winter by eating as much as they can hold and therein lies the problem.

If you observe closely you can see that the greater majority of the flock is walking, while a few who have cleverly figured out a way to coerce these buffalo into being their unwitting servants, carry them from one end of the meadow to the other. So what? you might ask, well the ones riding are not expending any energy to get where they want  to go while the poor dumb masses are dragging their hineys through the dirt, expending untold amounts of energy and losing the weight they need to get through the winter, while the fat birds ride in comfort, that’s what.

It’s another clever underhanded plan by those who toiled and saved their seed, invested it and are now reaping the rewards of their efforts. These heartless capitalists are flagrantly flaunting their hard-earned wealth by using it to better their lives, the bastards, while those who don’t work and want to live off the efforts of the successful are thwarted. Where is the fairness there? What is needed here is a strong Cowbird leader that will take most of the seed from these unnaturally wealthy, smart and successful few and give it to the poor Cowbirds that have done nothing to earn it but deserve it because of the dumb choices they’ve made. Then things will be right.

So the next time you see an idyllic scene like this just be aware that all is not as it seems. The Institute tries to stay objective and not be partisan in any way but sometimes you just have to take a stand. We are all about social justice here and are always on the lookout for seeing the wrongs and righting them. It’s what we do because we care.