I sent my friend this
article that my daughter sent me, and my friend took all the thoughts meandering in and out of my brain while I read it and put them into a coherent interpretation.
The Temnothorax story about the parasitic tapeworms definitely could be a metaphor for a number of sociological issues. What comes to mind for me is the tapeworm's ability to overtake a group of unsuspecting ants and change the whole social order in imperceptible ways, a process similar to the far-right Trumpian deceptions working insidiously to infiltrate school boards and the minds of susceptible people. I see the Democrats in Washington working hard to pass the $3.5 trillion spending bill, trying multiple strategies and compromises, working hard for policy. Then there's a majority of Republican lawmakers still stuck [in] stagnant screaming through their bullhorns about fraudulent voting issues and how Trump really didn't lose the election. I liken the Democrats to uninfected Temnothorax ant workers laboring harder, strained by the additional burden of "wormed up nestmates". The tapeworms could symbolize in this scenario any of the "infections" (along with the fraudulent election lies), including Covid 19 vaccine and mask resistance, Qanon supporters and their beliefs, and the pushing of white Christian nationalism. The article states that although tapeworms only infected one part of the Temnothorax workers, they in effect "puppeteered the entire society". Again, in the U.S. society scenario, this puppeteering by those voices spouting off and pushing parasitic viewpoints leads to voter suppression laws, mask mandates shot down, multitudes of unvaccinated people spreading Covid or dying themselves, and the eroding of constitutional rights for women's health. The people who follow Fox News and other far-right personalities, who feed into dissatisfaction and disenfranchisement, end up playing right into the "parasite's hands". The parasite in this sense could be numerous entities and people, including the Trumpian politicians and even large corporations, intent on keeping their total grasp on the economy and power.
The ants who are infected spend their time lazing around and become "easy prey" by losing their natural fear of the enemy. Again, conspiracy theories find easy homes in the minds of those who don't work to separate themselves from the echo chambers of far-right opinions and beliefs. The tapeworms are "agents of an insidious social sickness that sets reality only slightly, barely, perceptibly, askew". This social sickness slips in almost unnoticed as far-right candidates become winners in school board elections and as lawmakers drop their allegiance to real Republicanism and continue to spread false information about election integrity, threatening democracy in the process. With the strength of the parasitic bold-faced lies being fed to them, people feel invincible, just like the infected ants. Invincibility led to the January 6th insurrection at the capital, and it leads to increased acceptance and norming of misogyny, racism, and homophobia. The infected ants "sap the energy of those around them" and actually "become parasites themselves". The ants becoming parasites themselves is a great metaphor for those people who insist that Trump won the 2020 election, COVID vaccine is dangerous, and the government is not to be trusted; and then they share these beliefs with others, infecting them with the dangerous and deadly lies. Society is harmed by these infections infiltrating the American people, growing legions of hateful citizens. Hopefully, unlike the infected Temnothorax ants, they don't become flash frozen into a preserved state; but that can be argued, since it is very hard to change the minds of staunch Trumpian people, and they almost appear "flash frozen". Nature gives us a very good lesson and warning, and we are closer to the ant world and other creatures around us than we think.
