“Hey diddle diddle, The Cat and the Fiddle, The Cow jump'd over the Moon, The little dog laugh'd to see such Craft, And the Fork ran away with the Spoon.” [original version] When you hear a nursery rhyme, you will often overlook something at first — they’re absolutely nuts. Seriously, they’re concerningly strange. Yet we accept them because they often rhyme. Our brains recognise the structure, the pattern underlying them. It gives us a sense of comfort and predictability. That, in turn, opens the door to be taken down an implausible path.
'This has been the tactic employed by many famous creative and downright weird people over the centuries.'
Dictators too.