Click here for a TIF photo of Tom Isern that is
suitable for printing. (1.5MB b&w photo)
NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
April 20, 2000
Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University
©2000 Plains Folk
Reading Ian Frazier's book "On the Rez" a few days ago, I was reminded of a wry
joke we often tell in North Dakota. You may have heard it, even if you're not from here.
It's about a bucket of crabs.
There was this fellow crab fishing, you see, and he had several buckets of crabs with lids on them to keep the crabs from escaping. A passer-by noticed this, but also noticed there was one bucket of crabs with no lid on it.
"Why don't you have a lid on this bucket?" the passer-by asked.
The fisherman replied, "It doesn't need one. Those are North Dakota crabs. Whenever one of them claws his way to the top, the others drag him back down again."
All right now, hasn't anyone noticed that this story doesn't make any sense? Crab fishing in North Dakota? Well, that's not the point. People tell the story because it describes a social condition as they have observed it here, but the story is not confined to North Dakota. Frazier tells it about Pine Ridge. In fact, it turns up all over the English-speaking world.
Well perhaps not all over the world, but the story does seem to live wherever people consider themselves to be in an oppressed, colonial place that they might wish to escape. Statistically, North Dakota has been such a place.
While visiting with friends from New Zealand, I learned that they have a similar story, with a title--"The Great Kiwi Clobbering Machine." Whenever one of them gets above the others, or thinks he is, he is knocked down by this machine.
Across the Tasman, in Australia, they tell another story, titled "The Tall Poppy Syndrome." Whenever one poppy lifts its showy head above the others, it is cut down. This same story lives in other countries, too.
Community leaders on the northern plains often talk about the crab, clobbering-machine, tall-poppy complex as a barrier to economic growth and community development. It can seem that way, and it's easy to cite examples. For instance, the greatest businessman in the history of North Dakota was Harold Schafer, founder of Gold Seal Company. Schafer ran for public office more than once, but unsuccessfully--perhaps he was a tall poppy.
I think, though, that Schafer, master salesman that he was, never learned to present himself as a product palatable to people in his home region. He insisted on being not just the tallest, but also the showiest poppy in the patch. His public manner invited clipping.
I bring all this up because a few weeks ago I wrote a column that must not have been well written, because some people have taken it differently than I meant. It had to do with leaders of agricultural cooperatives in this part of the country, and in particular, with Ken Throlson, former veterinarian and founding father of the North American Bison Cooperative.
The column recounted a whole list of disparagements about Doc Ken--oh, he wasn't very good in school, and had trouble with public speaking and so on--but my point was not that these things were so, but that he tells them about himself. Doc Ken has done what Harold Schafer never learned to do, despite his amazing talents in other facets. Doc understands the attitudes of people in the region and has devised a manner of presenting himself that allows him to lead people without falling to the clippers.
Through specialized knowledge and sheer personal drive, Throlson emerged as a leader of the bison industry. He is a tall poppy. So, like many other successful leaders on the plains, he tries to focus public attention not on him, but on his cause, by deprecating himself and elevating the cause. When you watch this and understand what is going on, then you know you are observing genius at work. It should be written up as a case study for M.B.A. candidates. This is the sort of leadership that lifts a country out of the mud banks of economic dependency and nudges it into the fresh air of self-determination.
###
Source: Tom Isern (701) 231-8339
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136
Click here for a TIF photo of Tom Isern that is
suitable for printing.
(1.5MB b&w photo)
Click here for a TIF photo of Tom Isern wearing a
hat that is suitable for printing. (1.3MB b&w photo)