Silly Little Country

A Parable About Regulation?

Rdan over at Angry Bear posts a great joke that was new to me. It goes as follows:

A man tries on a made-to-order suit and says to the tailor, "I need this sleeve taken in! It's two inches too long!"
The tailor says, "No, just bend your elbow like this. See, it pulls up the sleeve."
The man says, "Well, okay, but now look at the collar! When I bend my elbow, the collar goes halfway up the back of my head."
The tailor says, "So? Raise your head up and back. Perfect."
The man says, "But now the left shoulder is three inches lower than the right one!"
The tailor says, "No problem. Bend at the waist way over to the left and it evens out."
The man leaves the store wearing the suit, his right elbow cooked and sticking out, his head up and back, all the while leaning down to the left. The only way he can walk is with a herky-jerky spastic gait.
Just then two passersby notice him.
Says the first, "Look at that poor crippled guy. My heart goes out to him."
Says the second, "Yeah, but his tailor must be a genius! That suit fits him perfectly!"

It seems to me this is a perfect description of how regulations accrete and what the impact is. I am sure that is not how Rdan sees it, knowing his blog.
It also seems to me I need to find a copy of "Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar".

Labels: jokes, regulation

posted by Alan Adamson @ 11:30 AM