Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Big_Bird]

When Animals Resist Their Exploitation

http://www.counterpunch.org/hribal12142006.html

[dogbert]

Interesting article. Thanks.

[jinju]

acst of resistance

All your examples are from the US.

[i_teach_esl]

wow. i didnt even know. im never going to a zoo or sea world or wild animal park or anything of the sort again.

still working on becoming full vegetarian, tho.

[wannago]

[Junior]

[mindmetoo]

It's like the Day of the Animals! Now there's a movie, boyee.

Wild animals are still wild animals. The only reason they're "trained" is trainers take their natural behaviors and reinforce them. There's no record of orcas attacking humans in the wild because when people see orcas in the wild they don't try to get on their backs and go for a ride or try to feed or pet them. We get away because we know they're big killers. Whale sharks are very gentle by nature but there are instances of them attacking humans in the wild when divers try to ride them or harass them in some way. Animals have an ability to be irritated. No biggy.

[Pligganease]

Why did you post only about American parks?

I read an article this week in one of my little kids English newspapers about elphants in Asia and Africa seeking revenge against human settlements.

Maybe its true?

[Gopher]

I agree that animal-rights is a serious issue. We might even potentially modify our behavior with respect to this or that.

But you might also want to reconsider your endorsing the article's choice of words and then clarify what your position is (and is not). Humans "exploit" animals. That is certainly true. The cosmetics industry especially comes to mind.

Know, however, that, ultimately, embedded or implicit in such criticism as you are participating in here (e.g., "animal resistance") is an environmentally-extremist, 12 Monkeys-style worldview that denounces the Neolithic Revolution (esp., in this context, animal domestication and labor) and indeed identifies human beings themselves as the problem. (Not to mention that it also ascribes a consciousness and global awareness to animals that may not even exist, dolphin and chimpanzee intelligence notwithstanding, thus anthropomorphizing and even giving the art of politics to animals.)

Is that how far your criticism goes, Big_Bird? If not, clarify your position. Mindmetoo's post might even serve as a clue to get into the actual issue this story presents -- that is, before your source politicized it.

And, in any case, if I were looking to expose and attack those who cruelly exploit animals, circus-style, I might start with Thailand's elephants, the starving ones we see walking Bangkok's streets where their handlers prey on our sympathies for them for a few baht. That is, there are far bigger fish to fry tha Sea World...

[Big_Bird]

[Leslie Cheswyck]

Was that on Discovery Channel?