Thanks for the entries I have received directly, in response to the call for some actually-true metaphor we can use in place of the "throw a frog into a pot of boiling water..." cliche, which is memorable but false. Entries via posts and comments on Matthew Yglesias's and Brian Beutler's sites qualify too.
Winners announced in a couple of days, and then I'll lug a bottle of choice Chinese wine back with me on an upcoming US visit (and will somehow get it to the winner). If you've got another suggestion - for the frog metaphor, I mean, not the prize -- send it now.
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James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. He and his wife, Deborah Fallows, are the authors of the new book Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America, which has been a New York Times best-seller and is the basis of a forthcoming HBO documentary.