Seeking solace in these times of insanity.
Not sure what it is about Tuesdays because exactly a week ago I wallowed in introspection with an essay Finding one’s true self and here we are again with another wallow!
The pain came about when good friend, Chris Snuggs, included a picture link that is on Facebook in an email exchange we were having. Here’s that picture.
Here are a couple of comments left on that Facebook page.
Oh Dear God in Heaven. This is just so so so so so wrong. I am so ashamed of my species.
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Armina,you have said it right. Animals never sin,they never commit crime, they don’t go to war against each other. Humans do all these and they face the negative results of it. Who will save them? Who will protect them? The very humans that are to protect and save them, are the very heartless wicked people killing them … Sometimes I cry when I see animals being treated badly …. the world is a wicked place and they should not have been here among humans …. I wish there could be a place where there are no humans and no human can be able to go there no matter how hard they may try. So that all animals may go and live there ever safe.
In his email Chris wrote, “Difficult to comprehend. And all in this bizarre quest to improve themselves, increase their sexual potency or some such tosh. Why do many humans not accept themselves for what they are, warts and all, and just try to do the best with what they can bring to the world?“
To which I replied, “That is so disgusting a picture. Sometimes, in fact too often these days, I seem to want to pull up the drawbridge and just forget this mad, insane world so many seem to ‘enjoy’.“
Then yesterday, over on the Wibble blog, there was a post with the title of Schrödinger’s Leopard that generated a comment from Mikestasse, “Yes, we humans think we own everything. Copyright the planet, patent its contents, run amok, screw it all. I’m often ashamed to be human ……. “
So all of this was reinforcing the pain I was feeling.
I then turned to my email and there was a further reply in from Chris.
Yes, it is a terrible photo, but no doubt there are far worse somewhere. One of the worst things about rhinos (and other large creatures) is that they clearly have largish brains and probably a lot more “consciousness” and/or “understanding” than we appreciate. And therefore are very much aware of what is going on, have pain and other “emotional” sufferings we can’t fully comprehend but which undoubtedly exist. I mean, they are not like fish I guess (though some maintain that even fish feel pain) or even more clearly insects.
Was it Voltaire who said in response to the world’s evils: “Il faut cultiver son jardin.“? [We must cultivate our garden.]
He had a point – sometimes one has to shut oneself off, but on the other hand and at other times if we all do that then the bastards can get on with their evil unchecked – or even uncommented. At least you in particular are spreading good vibrations and a moral view of the world. I feel the same about my political rants and blog entries. It may not do much to change the world but it could perhaps confirm to others that they are not alone in their protests about whatever. I would like to get engaged more actively in a particular “charity” or movement. One, since one cannot do everything. I might go for tigers and rhinos, etc. The last three years have been horrendous for me but I hope things will settle down a bit in coming months so I can do something more positive.
I would just say to you that you SHOULD completely detach sometimes and WHEN you do you should relax TOTALLY and clear your mind of negative thoughts in order to return fully charged to the fray at a later stage!!!
NO, you DON’T need a shrink for this but I understand that the US is well-equipped in this department if needs be!!!
Now because of the time difference between here and Europe it was too late for me to check if Chris was comfortable about me sharing his personal email. But I took a gamble that it would be OK because of the power of Chris’ advice; the plain common-sense of that penultimate paragraph.
Because if we end up consumed by the pain then, not to put too finer a point on it, the bastards have won! If we can feel the pain but stay grounded, remaining at peace, then that poor rhino did not die in vain.
So please go now and sign the petition Save the Rhinos!
Learning from Dogs 
Thank you Paul. Seeing such images has led me – like others no doubt – to query just how it is that some people can be so nasty. The funny thing about homo sapiens is that we all look more or less alike: legs, arms, face and so on, yet the workings of the brain are so extraordinarily different. So much so that the good guys often have difficulty appreciating just how nasty the bad guys can be. I’m sure that Neville Chamberlain, having talked to Hitler, hadn’t a clue about his real nature. The best con men are the most charming, and so on ….. One wants on meeting someone to give them credit for having the right stuff, but you never know, and by instinct most of us do not want to be cynical.
The other slightly depressing thing is that it seems to me that – on the whole – one very nasty person can do a lot more harm than one very good person can do good. Another way to put this is that nasty people (like those who cut off rhinos’ horns for a start) cause immense damage which is disproportionate to their actual number. Which is another way of saying that – thankfully – the majority of people DO have the right stuff but somehow – even though we are in the vast majority – we have such a hard time controlling the “evil bastards” as we are surely justified in calling them.
Not sure if this really applies to rhinos completely, since the very nasty guys who do the actual mutilation are supported by the vast iceberg market of nasty, ignorant Asians (an no doubt others) who seek to consume whatever it is the mutilators extract from the rhino horns.
Well, that’s enough idle musing for today, but this episode has certainly stimulated me to get more actively involved. And that of course is another message: the power of the image. Of COURSE I knew intellectually that rhinos were persecuted, but it was only SEEING that photo that stirred me into some sort of action. So those – like Paul – who spread the word and image ARE making a big contribution to awareness.
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While i’m sure that there are some who would no doubt do things like this without a care in the world, I’m willing to bet that much of the evil of this kind is perpetrated by folk who feel that they simply have no other choice, so as to provide for their families. Perhaps they lack perspective; maybe they don’t know how close to the edge we have come. You need a certain level of education to realise that one day soon there simply won’t be any more rhinos to hunt.
I think that there is a simple solution: reduce the inequality. There is plenty for all, but those who have far more than they need must be persuaded to share. Every day I get some pointer or other towards the exploits of the bad guys at the bottom of the food chain. There’s rarely a day when the society in which I live reminds me that there’s another set of bad guys — the ones at the top of the heap. Odd, that. There’s really no need for all this pain: if only we could find a way to spread the wealth so nobody need feel that they have no choice but to kill endangered rhinos, or cut down rainforest, or fish where they shouldn’t, and so on, and on, and on, just to feed their families.
Sometimes I really do think that we’re encouraged to point the finger in one direction simply as a distraction from pointing it in another.
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Both very interesting and deeply thoughtful comments. Thank you.
I am painfully aware that I don’t have any answers any more than the two of you seem also to be admitting.
All I sense is that millions of individuals are aware of the huge changes going on in so many societies and the power, the relatively new power, of communicating across frontiers both culturally and nationally.
Change is very much in the air now and in no time at all, we will look back and realise how profoundly our lives changed.
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Sorry if I am repeating myself but, despite being the founder of modern utilitarianism (which is the problem), 19th Century philosopher Jermey Bentham nailed the issue of human cruelty to animals when he said:
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Ooops – Any chance of inserting the missing HTML closure after the word utilitarianism?
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I think you might have to plead harder, Martin 😉
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Just done.
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Sorry gentlemen, late on parade today having had heating engineers in all day. Will catch up on these fabulous responses tomorrow.
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Paul – cannot give you a like on that one… such a sad sad image… however I am thankful that you bring that to our attention… Jurgen
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Jurgen, I know what you mean as I too couldn’t ‘Like’ the picture on Facebook. Good to have your comment. Paul
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