There’s this kid who keeps another kid in a little cage. He periodically throws in a little food and water to just barely keep the caged kid alive. The caged kid wants desperately to get out, but the only thing he can do is occasionally throw spit-balls at his oppressor. When this oppressor kid actually gets hit with a spit-ball, which very rarely happens, he goes ballistic and beats the caged kid to a pulp, cuts off some fingers and toes, and reduces his food ration.
It turns out that this dominant kid is actually the favored kid of the Principal, and he doesn’t even go to the school that the Principal is principal of (he goes to his own private school). The Principal loves this kid and keeps him supplied with the very finest knives and bludgeons. When the caged kid engages in a spit-ball attack, the Principal showers the favored kid with greater and finer weaponry, protective apparel and discourages any other kids or other schools from coming to the aid of the caged kid. It should be noted that the caged kid has a darker complexion and is from a culture very different than the Principal’s.
There is also some history here. The favored kid’s family was treated very badly. They were scapegoats, persecuted, collectively punished and driven away from the neighborhood. When the community finally woke up and saw how bad the situation was for this persecuted family, it was a lesson for them about their humanity. So they gave this family a home that unfortunately already belonged to someone else, the caged kid’s family. They told these two families to live together and work it out. Well, it didn’t work out very well. The favored kid’s family, with the support of the community, started taking over more and more of the house belonging to the original family. Since the favored kid’s family was treated so badly, they now feel justified in treating this other family as badly as they were treated, as they are now the favored ones; and the Principal of course agrees with them.
A lot of the kids in the Principal’s school, mostly the rich kids, approve of the Principal’s favoritism, as does the School Board, which continually votes unanimously to increase spending on the favored kid, using school funds. Most of the kids at the school think the favored kid is cool; they admire him for keeping the disadvantaged caged kid ineffectual and subjugated. But meanwhile, the Principal’s own school is showing signs of deterioration. It used to be the best school. It had the best equipment, was spiffy and modern, the students won honors and it was the envy of all the other schools. But that is changing: the building is becoming dilapidated, the computers are old and out of date or non-functioning, supplies are low, teachers are not being paid well and it all is starting to feel run-down and stagnant. In addition, the students are not doing well. There is an alarming increase in violence and bullying, kids are apathetic about their studies, they no longer walk tall with their heads up, and in fact other schools are now far surpassing this school and winning the honors. Some of the kids are now starting to wonder if lavishing so many resources on this favored kid is actually a good thing.
The caged kid is undergoing a health crisis. After his last spit-ball attack, the favored kid’s tantrum left him bloodied, hacked up and barely alive. Meanwhile, the Principal’s school just gave the favored kid a new protective apparatus which probably won't protect him from spit-balls but it is ultra-high tech and flashy and extremely expensive, and it’s kind of like a fireworks show so he likes it a lot. They call it the Iron Dome. It does dramatically enhance the favored kid's "cool factor.”
The upshot of all this is that all the other schools are beginning to wonder about this Principal and his relationship with the favored kid. No one has said anything in public yet, but when the other principals get together they are exchanging glances, whispering, shaking their heads. Clearly there is something very unhealthy, if not sinister, going on here. The Principal is noticing that he is not looking that good in the eyes of the other principals anymore. He still cannot get over his obsession with the favored kid, so he is waving his arms around saying that the caged kid shouldn’t be treated like that but still making excuses for the favored kid, and making sure that the caged kid stays in his cage. There are serious concerns for the Principal's sanity. We don’t know yet how things will turn out. But as long as the School Board shares his obsession over this favored kid, we can only imagine that there will be yet another awful lesson for the humans to learn about their humanity.
