Monkeyshines
As we get closer to a presidential election again, it is time for the annual onslaught of monkeyshines from the parties involved. Every dirty political trick in the book and many new ones are in play to keep the incumbent president in power. In fact, any day now will see them calling in the flying monkeys.
In looking at the origin of the flying monkeys, I found many interesting things. Flying monkeys is a term used in popular psychology, mainly in the context of narcissistic abuse, to describe people who act on behalf of a narcissist towards a third party, usually for an abusive purpose (e.g. a smear campaign). The phrase has also been used to refer to people who act on behalf of a psychopath, for a similar purpose. (Wikipedia). Okay, that explains a lot of things having to do with the current presidential administration.
Winged monkeys (often referred to in adaptations and popular culture as flying monkeys) are fictional characters created by American author L. Frank Baum in his children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). They are jungle monkeys with bird-like feathered wings. They are most notably remembered from the famous 1939 musical film by MGM. Ever since, they have taken their own place in popular culture, regularly referenced in comedic or ironic situations as a source of evil or fear. (Wikipedia). So the winged monkeys were never referenced in the books as flying monkeys, that seems to be a typical corruption of an actual literary reference. The term is from the winged monkeys used by the Wicked Witch of the West in the book, (and the subsequent films based on it) to carry out evil deeds on her behalf.
If I remember my reading of the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, from many years ago, the winged monkeys were actually helpful to Dorothy after being servants of the Wicked Witch, (Actually they were controlled by a golden cap and whoever had that hat, commanded the monkeys). But Hollywood loves to rewrite everything they get their hands on, I guess they feel the need to juice things up. And of course there are a multitude of meanings and theories assigned to the books, parables, allegories, spiritual, monetary and naturally, political overtones.
(I scan the skies daily for signs of the flying, (winged), monkeys, but I guess I will have to wait until the presidential election gets closer. Meanwhile, I remain concerned and worried about my sense of reality becoming more and more distorted by it.)
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