🌟 What’s the Answer When They Talk in Riddles?
Sometimes wisdom arrives disguised as wordplay—or as an image that refuses to explain itself.
A few riddles for our times—about what happens when expertise is mocked, and incompetence takes the mic. Some answer themselves.
I am the craftsman fired by fools.
When I’m gone, their hands forget the tools.
What am I?
What happens when the toolbox calls the hammer arrogant?
Every nail gets bent.
Who replaces the expert when the expert’s dismissed?
The one who thought they didn’t need one.
What’s the one skill you lose the moment you stop valuing skill?
What happens when the pilot’s tossed from the plane?
The passengers learn they can’t fly.
Who throws the navigator overboard—then blames the stars for getting lost?
When know-how goes, who knows how?
What can repair ignorance but can’t be repaired by it?
Who crowns the fool once wisdom is exiled?
The court that mistook laughter for truth.
What happens when you drive out expertise?
Ignorance takes the wheel.
What do you get when you fire competence?
Incompetence—promoted.
What grows when you uproot the gardener?
Weeds with opinions.
What vanishes first when wisdom is scorned—and leaves no one skilled enough to bring it back?
When you cast out the teacher, who will show you how to hire the next?
What happens when the mechanic’s replaced by the machine?
The breakdown becomes permanent.
Who knows enough to know they don’t?
Four Riddles Without Words
Including the images above and below.
What do they say—together or apart?
You don’t have to solve them.
Just ask which one feels too familiar.
Further Paths
If these riddles struck a chord, you might explore where real expertise still works for the public good:
Public Services & Civil Service Protections
A ranked guide to organizations defending fair, professional public institutions.Public Libraries & Museums
A ranked guide to advocacy groups protecting access to knowledge, culture, and community services.Science, Research & Public Policy
A ranked guide to organizations defending science and evidence in public decision-making.
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