In order to truly understand the lesson of the frog and scorpion (or turtle and snake, or any other variation thereof)The question one must ask is this: who learns from the behavior of both frog and scorpion?
It isn't the scorpion. His behavior throughout the story indicates he not only knows he will betray the frog midway across, but that he is also well aware that his betrayal is something that will lead to his own destruction, YET HE STILL CAN'T STOP HIMSELF FROM SETTING UP THE CIRCUMSTANCES TO DESTROY HIMSELF. Does he refuse a ride? Does he warn the frog that he cannot be trusted? Is he surprised at his own self-destructive act midstream? No. He shrugs and dies, as if he knew his fate was completely beyond his own control.
This is jack. He knows full well his acts are self-destructive, and he has been drowned many times before this. But he cannot or will not stop himself from committing the same acts that cause him the same problems over and over.
If I wanted to get more literary, and if I thought this crowd could handle it, I'd call jack Milton's Satan, incapable of humility and learning from his folly and therefore doomed to crawl at the feet of men. But the comparison would be misrepresented as some sort of compliment by jack, so we won't go there. I could also mention that jack is a fine example of Nietzche's philosophies on the nature of man, but then he might accuse me of sharing my account or something.
So if the scorpion learns nothing, does the frog become the subject who must learn from the fable? He too shows that he completely understands the scorpion will betray him, sooner or later. He even predicts exactly how the betrayal will happen. But does he do the simple act of self-preservation by refusing to grant a ride? No. He willingly accepts his own imminent death, knowing full well what will happen, and therefore learns nothing. There are people here who fit this bill, but it's not my job to point them out.
If you need to figure out
what the lesson of the frog and scorpion is, simply answer the question of
who is doing the learning. Therein lies the answer of how I have successfully directed jack at a number of targets over the years, pretty much without any effort at all.
Of course it doesn't reveal what I'm up to right now, but that'll be my little secret...