Does Aesops Fables have any moralistic relevance in todays society?

[Sitswithamouse]

Fables have been used throught time and history to contain hidden messages and in most fables animals and objects are used to tell the story. These stories are used to relay to humans the consequences of our actions.

THE ANT AND THE DOVE- moral-one good turn deserves another.

THE FARMER AND THE STORK-Moral- Birds of a feather flock together

THE FISHER - Moral- When you are in a mans power you must do as he bids you.

That last one I interperate as to mean some form of slavery.

So are these fables relevant today and what do you percieve has changed over the years to make some of them irrelevant?

 

[Bombila]

I loved Aesop's Fables when I was a kid. Must read them again to see if the dry humour I remember is really there, or if I read it in.

They are tales of common human behaviour IMO, rather than moral tales, so of course they remain relevant, as human nature is not much changed.

 

[Bombila]

http://www.umass.edu/aesop/fables.php

Aesop's Fables online.

 

[gwenmead]

Sure, why not?

A lot of what I learned about ethics, I learned from both Aesop's Fables and from folklore like Grimm's Fairy Tales. Stuff like "use your head", "don't judge a book by its cover", "don't think too much of yourself", and "if you share your last meal with a strange, wrinkled old man or woman, they'll probably turn out to be a powerful fairy and will help you succeed in life".

Actually I think that most of the morals in Aesop can be summed up with "Use your head and don't be a jerk."

 

[cantata]

Don't see why not.

Lots of bits of ancient literature contain some moral truths; Jesus' parables, for example.

 

[RolandofFrance]

But Aesop is a Dead White Mael! Oh noes! Obviously those stories need to be changed to greater deflect modern driversity, just like the Three Little Pigs should be changed to The Three Insignificant Dhimmies to be sensitive to Muslims. Aesop, a Greek (forerunners to those Evil Imperialist Romans) was white, so I will reveal the obviously evil motives behind his Eurocentric propaganda! GyaHAAA!

Announcing:
THE ANT AND THE DOVE- moral-one good turn deserves another. Am I the only one who sees the OBVIOUS RACIAL CONNOTATIONS HERE!?!?!? ANTS are BLACK and WORK HARD, just like the slaves did! DOVES are WHITE and soft and fluffy, like the ARISTOCRATIC WHITES of the SOUTH! This so called 'moral' is obviously trying to teach us that slavery boosted the economy of the South when they needed cheap labor, so since 'one good turn deserves another' we should create a huge agricultural guest worker program and create a new slave class of Hispanics from down South!

THE FARMER AND THE STORK? MORE LIKE THE WHITE PLANTATION OWNER AND JIM CROW-Moral- Birds of a feather flock together, so society should be separate but equal.

THE FISHER - Moral- When you are in the boss' possession you SWIM away we have the Fugitive Slave Act to FISH you back up and make you do as we bid.

I think I've done a pretty good job of exposing this racist demagogue. We should replace all of Aesop's Fables with copies of Heather Has Two Mommies, because white Christian hetero m@les are teh evul.