We love to assign blame. Blame usually goes to those lowest on the totem pole and is a way to push a class of people even lower down that pole.
Nothing was so evident as when that child fell into the enclosure of the gorilla which was shot dead to save the child's life.
People automatically blamed the child's mother - "it was her fault for not watching her kid more closely". When I would ask where the father was - I was told it wasn't relevant where the father was.
To be honest, I don't know how many kids she had with her - perhaps she was momentarily distracted by a conversation with another mother - or offering someone help - I don't know why she took her eyes off her child, but she did - we all have to know we cannot watch another person with both eyes 24/7 - we sleep, we use the bathroom, we cook, we clean... especially mothers.
When we say the mother wasn't a responsible parent, and the ape was 'a wonderful creature' we are elevating the ape above the mother and by extension lowering the mother on our social totem pole under the ape.
We have this tendency to blame those with the least power, in this case the mother.
Some people blamed the practice of keeping animals in zoos, but then the gorilla was bred in the zoo and zoos are one of the few ways of being able to preserve animals at risk of extinction, like gorillas.
But the real fault belongs with the destruction of gorillas' natural habitat. Our establishment, our deference to rich, (white), old men have for decades been taking gorillas' natural habitat, or using the species as 'sport' - and this is why we have a breeding program in zoos.
But no one is blaming old rich (white) men - and they are getting away with destroying the planet in other ways too - by destroying the environment for oil, with their determination that we use oil, that we use absolutely awful farming practices and turning prime farming land into dust bowls, destroying our political system to get their way, the pursuit of wealth and status is destroying the lives of the poor...
Rich old men are the establishment, they own everything, they run everything, they have everything to gain by keeping things exactly the same and never being blamed.
Nothing was so evident as when that child fell into the enclosure of the gorilla which was shot dead to save the child's life.
People automatically blamed the child's mother - "it was her fault for not watching her kid more closely". When I would ask where the father was - I was told it wasn't relevant where the father was.
To be honest, I don't know how many kids she had with her - perhaps she was momentarily distracted by a conversation with another mother - or offering someone help - I don't know why she took her eyes off her child, but she did - we all have to know we cannot watch another person with both eyes 24/7 - we sleep, we use the bathroom, we cook, we clean... especially mothers.
When we say the mother wasn't a responsible parent, and the ape was 'a wonderful creature' we are elevating the ape above the mother and by extension lowering the mother on our social totem pole under the ape.
We have this tendency to blame those with the least power, in this case the mother.
Some people blamed the practice of keeping animals in zoos, but then the gorilla was bred in the zoo and zoos are one of the few ways of being able to preserve animals at risk of extinction, like gorillas.
But the real fault belongs with the destruction of gorillas' natural habitat. Our establishment, our deference to rich, (white), old men have for decades been taking gorillas' natural habitat, or using the species as 'sport' - and this is why we have a breeding program in zoos.
But no one is blaming old rich (white) men - and they are getting away with destroying the planet in other ways too - by destroying the environment for oil, with their determination that we use oil, that we use absolutely awful farming practices and turning prime farming land into dust bowls, destroying our political system to get their way, the pursuit of wealth and status is destroying the lives of the poor...
Rich old men are the establishment, they own everything, they run everything, they have everything to gain by keeping things exactly the same and never being blamed.
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