Like a frog in a cauldron of water.

I am rather familiar with this analogy but I thought I’d share it with those of you who aren’t. It also serves as a reminder for me.

“Author and commentator Malcolm Muggeridge once told a story about some frogs who were killed without resistance by being boiled alive in a cauldron of water. Why didn’t they resist? Because when they were put in the cauldron, the water was tepid. Then the temperature was raised ever so slightly, …then a bit warmer still and on and on and on. The change was so gradual almost imperceptible that the frogs accommodated themselves to their new environment – until it was too late.

The point that Mr. Muggeridge was making was not about the frogs but about us and how we tend to accept evil as long as it is not a shock that is thrust on us abruptly. We are inclined to accept something morally wrong if it is only a shade more wrong than something we are usually accepting.” – Thomas R. Rowan, National Press Club Forum.