A long time ago, in a country called Eagles Landing, many people needed shoes. Many had none and others could only obtain wooden ones. A group of businessmen joined their expertise and devised a new style of shoes which were affordable for more people. They were more comfortable than the current wooden shoes and less expensive than the old-style gold shoes. The Eagle Shoe Association formed. It took out patents on their new inventions. Shoe installers liked the dyno-mite shoes because they were easier to install than the gold shoes and their customers found them more comfortable than wood shoes and liked the moderate price.

The new patrons liked the dyno-mite shoes and often they would either exchange their shoes as they grew tired of them, or, they would die of "old age", "natural" causes, or accidents --- and their old shoes would be buried with them. The longer they lived and the older their shoes became, the more they seemed to visit their doctors with injured feet. Sometimes they asked the doctor if the reason might be some defect in their shoes but the usual response of disbelief made them feel foolish and ashamed for asking the question.

After some decades, one of the authorized shoe installers began to have misgivings about the safety of the dyno-mite shoes. Clients who had kept their shoes for a long time complained to him that their shoes had exploded and blown off their feet. The installer reported this to the patent holder and franchisor, the Eagle Shoe Association. He was told that the shoes were safe and that his complaining clients had either accidentally injured their feet, or, had intentionally cut them off ... and were now trying to cover up this negligence by seeking to sue the franchisor. After some heated discussions, the franchisor succeeded in persuading its shoe installers and its prospects that its dyno-mite shoes were safe.

More decades passed.
Gradually, the economy began to tighten and the buyers of the dyno-mite shoes found that they had less money to spend on shoes. More and more of the dyno-mite shoe owners began to keep their shoes for a longer and longer time. The incidence of exploding shoes began to increase and a few articles and books were written about the danger of buying and using dyno-mite shoes. It seemed that problems arose after the shoes had been worn for 7 to 10 years. But since the dyno-mite shoes were perfectly safe until they had aged that duration or more, and the nitro-glycerin glue in them had begun to leak out --- those who complained were largely ignored.

The dyno-mite shoe-installers typically told their patrons that dyno-mite shoes were entirely safe and that they had only heard of anecdotal reports of exploding shoes ... the stories must have been over-dramatized and based on superstition. This continued even though the shoe research organizations worldwide reported that the shoes had relatively defined safe periods after which their potential to explode rapidly increased. A few concerned shoe-installers determined that the risk of the dyno-mite shoes for their patrons was too high and they chose to install plastic, porcelain, and shoes made from special metals which remained safe. Since these newer style of shoes were often more expensive than the dyno-mite shoes, many people continued to have the dyno-mite shoes installed.

More and more people began to have their toes or feet blown off by their aged dyno-mite shoes. The government looked to the dyno-mite franchisor as the authority on the safety of dyno-mite shoes. The Eagle Shoe Association insisted that their dyno-mite shoes were safe --- and the government chastised their citizens for being so careless and increasing the healthcare budget so much to cover injuries. Foot injury management and shoe replacement became seen as an unnecessary and uncontrollable expense by both the government and the insurance industries ... so such expenses were no longer accepted as legitimate claims.

Persons who became the victim of exploding dyno-mite shoes found it difficult to find employment. They became fearful that if they could not trust their shoes, what could they trust. Persons who had lost their toes always had sore feet and their constant complaining led to their spouses leaving them and their friends and associates avoiding them. Doctors could not explain the foot injuries --- choosing to believe the government and the Eagle Shoe Association rather than their patients. With no answer, empathy or choice of solution, patients with lost toes and feet became confused about how the loss could have happened. To ease their anxiety and pain, they took drugs and adopted behaviors which dulled the pain and reduced their awareness of the loss.

THE RESULT:
Soon, the majority of the people in the country of Eagle's Landing had sore or no feet, and were depressed, unemployed, divorced, addicted, constipated, arthritic, and paranoid. Years later, it is difficult to understand why such apparently intelligent and educated persons and the political leaders they chose could be so duped and deceived for so long by shoe salespersons who had been so skillfully manipulated by the shoe suppliers.