Day 132d: How to imprison the Innocent … (September 08, 2019)
And then I passed by another depressing casualty of callousness – a bastion of barbarity – a festering cultural wound that is so often found in places like this; places frequented by the vapidness of tourism and the vanity of mere tourists. There is nothing educational in imprisoning the innocent, my friends, just as there should be nothing even remotely entertaining or amusing in subverting another being’s dignity …
“All zoos, even the most ‘kind’ or ‘enlightened’ thereof, are built upon an idea that is as repellent as it is beguiling — namely, the still-savage notion that we humans can seek out the wildness of the world and behold its beauty, but that we must confine and subvert and dominate the same to do so. Indeed, zoos argue that they are fighting for the conservation of the Earth and that they educate the public and that they provide refuge for vanishing species. And yet the questions must be posed in response: What is the point in conservation if you are only conserving confinement & injustice? And what is the point of education when you are educating child and adult alike that it is OK to wrongly imprison & enslave those weaker than yourself? And what is the point in providing mere refuge when that concretely limited (and often concrete-ensconced) sanctuary is barely one worth inhabiting? … In essence, zoos are not places where humans can go and study the traits of nonhuman animals. Zoos are places to study the least admirable habits of Man.” ~ inspired by Thomas French & Evan Esar
“When you finally come to recognize that the vital life force and self-awareness that lives in all nonhuman animals is the very same essence and awareness that is in yourself, you will be compelled to finally begin to value the same just as much as you value your own. And that is the day you will finally break free from your morally limited traditions and unethical indoctrinations. That is the day you will finally rediscover and begin to enliven your true Higher Self. That will be a beautiful day, my friends, and thereafter, a most beautiful life.” ~unknown
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