They Sold Us Our Own Loss as Entertainment! Rumi Warned Us...

Summary

Sarah opens with a moment of surprise: she catches herself singing a Sabrina Carpenter lyric about liking an incompetent man, even though that is not what she wants. The experience makes her wonder how easily people repeat messages as jokes or entertainment without considering what those words might normalize.

The story of the donkey

Sarah retells a story from Rumi’s Masnavi Manavi:

• A weary Sufi traveler arrives at a lodge with his donkey. He cares for the animal and explains to a servant how to look after it.
• The lodge’s residents are desperately poor and hungry. They sell the donkey and use the money to buy food and candles for a feast.
• Unaware of what has happened, the traveler joins the celebration. During the music, the Sufis repeatedly sing a refrain meaning, “The donkey’s gone.”
• He hears the words but does not understand them. Caught up in the group’s excitement, he sings along more enthusiastically than anyone.
• In the morning, he discovers the donkey is missing. The servant explains that he tried to tell the traveler, but mistook his enthusiastic singing for a sign that he knew about the sale and had accepted it.
• The traveler realizes that joining in without understanding left him unable to prevent or undo the loss.

The story warns against blind imitation: people may hear what is being said but fail to understand it when they follow a crowd’s emotions instead of thinking for themselves. Sarah does not excuse the lodge residents’ actions, but cautions against judging the poor too simply, noting how hunger and desperation can shape people’s choices.

Conformity and media

Sarah connects the tale to social conformity, recalling an unnamed experiment in which a woman in a waiting room begins standing whenever others do, despite having no reason to do so.

She suggests that conformity may once have helped people survive, but can be dangerous in a modern media environment. Repeated claims that something is popular can make it seem popular, and perceived popularity can make it feel necessary.

Pause to examine what you are repeating or joining in with—whether in a crowd, a song, or through media—and ask: “What are you dancing to?”

Speakers and sources

• Sarah, the narrator and host, who introduces the story and offers commentary.
• Rumi (Maulana Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi), whose Masnavi Manavi is the source of the donkey story.
• A Sabrina Carpenter song, referenced by Sarah; the specific song is not identified.
• An unnamed social-conformity experiment, described by Sarah; no researcher or source is named.