#title Tragedy and statistics — man vs. nature
#author Cristian-Dan Grecu
#SORTtopics humans, animals, ethics
#source Translated from Romanian on the 31st of August, 2012 from http://greculiniarism.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/cristian-d-grecu-tragedie-si-statistica-omul-vs-natura/
#date 22nd of June, 2012
#notes Original title in Romanian: “Tragedie şi statistică: Omul vs. natură” Translated by the author
#lang en
#DELETED pending discussion
I see a great ethical problem amongst the activists (and not only), revolving around the idea of death of somebody or something. In their own view, the death of some innocent people in a protest or direct action is a tragedy, since that person had nothing to do with that action. Or, if a cop dies, this too is a tragedy, as that person had a family, even if he or she was indoctrinated by the system to be a soldier, a person to protect the oppressor. But the death of a couple hundred or even thousands of animals (which also have a family, or die with it), or the cut of some forests is just a statistic...X animals die annually, and N acres of forest are being cut down annually. And this fact is for me an absurdity, something incomprehensible, and, moreover, a kind or racism, or, rather, a „nature phobia”. An ignorance rooted in the human mind. A possible fear of man to accept that he or she is part of nature and not the system or the city.
But from my point of view, we are all innocent in front of the system, but guilty in front of nature.
In the idea that each and every human being isn’t in a leadership position in the capitalist society is a victim, we are all innocent. We all pay dearly for our daily existence in this capitalist society. Whether physically or morally, we are the peons on the chessboard of that 1% that do and govern in their own name, in their own benefit. We are innocent because we are used by the system, killed, obliged to obey some laws that have been imposed by them, put to work, indoctrinated, et cetera.
But we are guilty, because we take part in the daily “massacres” of the system, directly or indirectly, because of our ignorance to the problems of others, the problem of nature itself and of our future and of the planet we live on.
My ethic dictates me that a man, as long as he or she takes part in the daily capitalist activities, by going to the bank, consuming products offered by the system, watching movies made by Hollywood, and so on and so forth, is a guilty person, even if outside these moments he or she is fighting for some human rights, or of animals or something else. I too am guilty of this, I admit it. So there are no innocent people. And this thing should be accepted by everybody, our fault in destroying nature, not out “fault” for the economical system that doesn’t work because we don’t consume enough.
So a presumed innocent person dies in a fire in a bank caused by a Molotov thrown for some reason. He or she died, it’s a tragedy, all the newspapers and TV news are talking about this, about the horrible way that person died, how the guilty ones are psychopaths, some primitives that don’t give a frank for human lives, all they want is to destroy, for the benefit of some impossible dreams, for a society that should live in perfect symbiosis with nature...well, I understood that. On another TV channel is a documentary about an animal species, of which I have never heard of, a species that is on the brink of extinction because its habitat has been “conquered” with fire and violence by people that wish to extend their farms, so that we, the civilised ones, can eat more and cheaper. Because the demand on the “free market” is big. Because we want to eat all the time. Because we like the food from McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, food that has already been cooked that needs only to be heated, because we don’t like to eat all that it is on the plate and to throw leftovers, because after 2 hours we are hungry again...
Dead animals, burnt, killed by hunters; a group of scientists came equipped to save the last ten pieces of this interesting endangered species. They save them because they are aware that man will not stop this morbid expansion. They sedate the animals, put them in a van, then they either take them to a natural reservation or in special places, where these animals will be kept in cages, they will be domesticated, hoping that these creatures will breed, so they won’t disappear for eternity. In any event, they take some blood samples, so when cloning will be possible on a larger scale and in case these animals have meanwhile disappeared, to be cloned...
I change the channel. Another documentary; this one is depicting the animal farms from Spain. Tens of acres with all sorts of equipment, places, cages, buildings, specially made for animals. Thousands and thousands of animals kept in very bad conditions, stuffed with hormones, antibiotics and genetically modified products, so that they produce more meat, as the demand for meat is high and it sells well. No matter is given for the quality of life of the animals; they need only to produce meat. That they’re sick, that they’re eating themselves, that they’re suffocating due to lack of space, that they’re killed in a very brutal manner, it doesn’t matter. The market needs meat because people demand it. Because humans are incapable to live a healthy life; the city doesn’t allow it. Stress, stress, stress, “How do I get money to pay the rent? How do I get money to pay the electricity bill?”, jobs, 10 hours a day, stress, stress, stress...so this meat is in high demand. It must be cheap and “good”, easy to prepare, as modern humans don’t have time.
The documentary is almost over. I see that another documentary about forests, pollution and what no, will follow shortly. Interesting, let’s see what this is about. Yes, the same good old story, the expanding human kind. Hundreds f acres of forest cut down every day just for the timber and the agricultural land. The wood can be used to make furniture, furniture that some civilised people will buy when money and time will allow. What remains will be used for paper, paper that will be used by the political parties for their campaigns, their propaganda, the corporations and their advertising, their propaganda, activists for their actions, their propaganda, by academics for their books, their propaganda, children for their notebooks where they will write down their first letters, will note down the propaganda imposed by others. And while solving the 2+2= problem, they will eat products grown on that land. It doesn’t matter they do not know how many animals have died or will disappear shortly after, that they do not know how many communities of humans that have been living in symbiosis with nature for thousands of years will have nature no more, not even their homes, because, hey!, they fought back and the corporation brought the police, they we’re beaten down, evacuated and obliged to learn to live in step with the Western world, as otherwise they will not resist, will not be accepted in society. Obliged to work in places they tried to avoid for tens and hundreds of years. Yes, a tragedy. But wait, I just found out that Adrian Năstase (i.e. a corrupt Romanian politician, ex-Prime-Minister) tried to commit suicide because he was condemned for 2 years in prison! Now this is a tragedy indeed! I wonder how many weeks will I hear stories about this.
Water contaminated by the heavy industry (but the corporation sell bottled water!), unbreathable air, polluted by the same industry (I live near the forest), infertile and toxic land (but there are greenhouses where fruits and vegetables are planted in special soils), the same culprits. Oil in the seas (not in my sea!), hundreds of thousands of dead fish (not my problem...), dead birds (I don’t like birds as they poo on my car!), unrecognisable black and sober beaches (I go to the Bulgarians or to Greece as I know they have beautiful beaches over there...so I don’t care).
Animals killed for pleasure or “out of necessity of survival”, animals killed so that the population of 7.000.000.000+ people on this planet do not starve and continue mass destruction, the massacres, pollution and ignorance – so, why are the people from Africa still hungry? Yes, I remember the slogan “survival of the fittest”, but I don’t remember to have heard of any species of animals or plants that have brought so much destruction on such a large scale in a very short amount of time. Only the animal known as man. And the meteorite that whipped out the dinosaurs – but that isn’t an animal, nor a plant.
I wonder...how did the humans come to be so bad and foolish. How did it get in this situation that he cares more for his neighbour, in this case, another human, than everything around him? Whether a dog or a tree is closer to him. They promote peace, elimination of crime in this society and the increase of birth, all of which are on an unsustainable basis. They promote this stupid and racist ethics and morality, where the human “race” is superior to all the other. We are the kings of this Earth, we decide the fait of all that lives and all the rocks on this planet. But we forget that the more we destroy what surround us, our comfortable lives will be harder, uncomfortable, unbreathable, shorter, sicker, stressed, stupid and pointless. We depend on nature as we are one with nature. Nature is the one that has created us, not the capitalist system or this pseudo-democracy, not the city, not God. This economical/political system makes us slaves, it uses us. The city limits our knowledge, creates us phobia of forest, plains, seas, heights. It obliges us, so that we may fear no more, to stand between its walls. It protects us, apparently. It only wants the best for us. Even if nature always “welcomes us with open arms” and offers us all that she has. But we abuse her, because she has no voice. And if she doesn’t protest verbally, nobody will hear her. We all know the problems of this world, but only few of us really care. That’s why we are guilty. Well, because we do not care and we do nothing to change the situation. We just want low criminality and cheap food. TV and good movies. Cars and money. Fame. Power. Well paid jobs and leadership positions. We help the destruction of nature, and the ethics that say that a human being is more important than a few hundred animals is downright, stupid and pointless. Because, at the end of the day still the dog remains man’s best friend, the cat, the animal of artists and individualists, the parrot, the children’s buffoon, the monkeys, the number one amusement at the zoo, the pig, the provider of man’s favourite meat, the crocodile, the reptile that makes nice handbags, the otter, the one that gives nice fur...and humans? What do they offer in exchange? Apart from destruction...nothing! Even the reactions to domestic animals are of supremacy, of inability to understand that you cannot make an animal behave like a human. You shout at that poor car because she climbs on the table, only because you perceive the table in a way and the non-human animal totally different. And, so that this will not happen again, you will oblige the animal not to climb on the table; because if she does it again, you will shout at her, you will beat her...does the human race have a messianic complex? And the individual, because he isn’t in a leadership position, seeks to find his own subjects? Aren’t we a frustrated race...?
Back to the previous news program. They continue to demonise those people who threw a Molotov in that building and that person died burnt alive. What a tragedy. A dead person, a innocent being died by those that wish to change the oppressive system, the closed inside and ignorant society, of the ethical and Christian civilization, that demonises all that isn’t “civilised”. And all that happens otherwise is just a statistic. X animals day annually, N acres of forests are being cut annually...