Monday, June 11, 2012

Weighing The Evidence

Limped home last night, recliner-ized myself and watched 60 minutes. Carol and I are devotees - great show, you learn a lot and it challenges your brain. It might be hard to believe but I do occasionally enjoy thinking.
Had a piece about importing exotic animals from Africa to Texas. Endangered animals on the brink of extinction.
They showed them scampering around the wide open in Texas, looking so cool, so proud, so amazing. Initially they were talking about the people who breed these animals as saviours. If they didn't import them and breed them, they would eventually, and soon, be extinct.
But this is Texas. There is more to the story. They are bred to be hunted. Hunters want a chance at hunting these exotic animals and they pay dearly to do it. The land owner/breeders do quite well.
Of course, there is a huge argument about this. The Texas dudes say they are preserving the species because they breed them, which increases the population, and they only allow a small per centage to be hunted. There is some logic there.
Animal lovers abhor the situation, arguing that you don't breed exotic animals just to kill them, and that they are better off in their own habitat no matter what the outcome. There is some logic there.
I am an animal lover. I hate hunting, even though I understand it has it's function. Up to a point. But I also do not want to see beautiful animals go extinct because of human stupidity and greed.
The only species on this planet that should be allowed to go extinct is humans. And I am perfectly fine with that after I am dead. And after my kids are gone and all my friends and relatives. Unless my kids have kids. Then we'll have to wait and see what they are up to.
But generally, the human species is the only one that deserves extinction.
So how is a guy like me, with a tiny, much abused brain, going to pick a side in this fight?
Nothing is black and white in this world and I am consistently amused at people who try to paint everything that way.
Life is complicated.
Maybe the answer is to not take extreme positions, to weigh the evidence, allow for truth on both sides and then go with your soul and your heart.
I am a man of extreme positions. My initial reaction was how the hell can you kill these beautiful animals when they are so much more intelligent, so much more intuitive, so much more graceful and majestic than you?
Then I listened to the breeders and realized that I don't want these animals to disappear.
Of course there are lies and fanaticism wrapped up in this as well.
The breeders are businessmen so they are going to sugar coat the picture and not reveal the total truth. The animal lovers are fanatics, so they are going to overreact and exaggerate their side of the equation.
This is just too much for me. I am already disoriented today because I can't decide which socks to wear to work.
All I know is I ran a chipmunk over on my way to work yesterday and it upset me for a few minutes. I see the guy come out from the side of the road and hesitate, and I am rooting for him, coaching him, so he will avoid The Peace Mobile. 90% of the time they go the right way. This guy made the wrong decision and I heard the double thump.
Ultimately I don't know which way to go. But I do know that it would be a kick if aliens came down to earth one day with superior weaponry and hunted hunters.
We could have a reality show with hunters fleeing through the woods, ripping their clothes on branches, exposing their jiggling beer bellies and revolting ass cracks, as aliens polished off a couple of PBR's before lining the hunted up in their sites and blowing them away.
All in the name of promoting the survival of the human race.
I would watch a show like that.

No comments:

Post a Comment