Bee Wars?

The Cloverfield Bee Wars is an allegory, and most readers don’t know or care what an allegory is. If you’ve read Animal Farm by George Orwell or Watership Down by Richard Adams, you’ve read an allegory. The first example uses farm animals to illustrate human behaviour, and the second uses rabbits… I use bees.

Bees live in a society whose basic structure has not changed for thousands of years. Pharaohs’ tombs contain pots of honey that you could still spread on your toast and safely eat, and ancient drawings of primitive hives indicate that man has been in partnership with bees since before the pharaohs’ slaves built the pyramids.

Humans have evolved in a technological sense, but like bees, their social structure hasn’t changed much. “If it ain’t broke…” has been man’s guiding principle, one where wars are waged against those who are different, justified by nothing but the perception of differences. We have split into herds that we call nations, and we tell one another that our herd is the best and if only other herds were like us…

But what if we didn’t believe that our religion, appearance, and social structure are sacred? What if a messiah was born who had no prejudices against any group or individual? And what if she convinced the majority of society that respect for everyone’s differences would make every society better?

Of course, there would be opposition to that, and the new messiah would be faced with resistance from the established order…and what if the established order were ruled by a tyrant? Social structure has unbreakable rules, but her idea of change is about breaking rules, creating opposing forces. one following the leader against change and another convinced that social change is absolutely necessary. And when the old rules are broken, society’s laws must be enforced. That requires an army, and armies are useless without a war… And a field of clover is a good excuse to fight a war, if you are a bee.